Saturday, December 23, 2017

Catholicism And Politics

One of our sons and I were texting yesterday, laughing about the tax bill and Net Neutrality hysteria. I had asked him if the offices where he worked were filled with dead bodies. I told him that our dumpsters had been convereted to emergency mass-burial sites. He asked me if the insane responses we're seeing from the left were normal. I thought about it and said I'd never seen anything like this in my life.

Since then, I've been trying to come up with a reason for the madness and I think I've got it. In the past, I've said that progressivism is a religion.
The young man (a San Diego public school teacher) is a standard prole. He has faith in the progressive religion and "knows" his positions are morally right. When teachers, who care only about children and have the most important jobs in the Universe because the youth are the future tell them that the Democrats are kind and Republicans are greedy and evil, they ingest their catechism without critical thought and go back to their lives.

The fact that the progressivism has sold us all into debt slavery cannot pierce the bubble of faith encasing this fellow in a warm feeling of moral righteousness. Even if he loses his job because of debt loads inflicted on us all by the left, it's doubtful he'll ever do the hard work of learning how and why it happened. He has his progressive religion and it gives his life meaning and value even when things fall to pieces because of it.
The hysteria we're seeing in the media and politicians over taxes and the ISP regulations is faithful progressives reacting in rage against what their religion tells them is evil. It's not measured or rational because it's not based on reason or logic. It's good vs evil in its purest form.

Almost everything I do is guided by my Catholic faith. I reflexively compare decision options against Catholic teaching. I try to pray throughout the day for guidance when going into a situation that I know will tempt me to do wrong.

For example, yesterday, while driving around, shopping, I prayed about what I ought to do that evening. My wife's birthday is today and I've been working long hours and travelling almost non-stop to the point that I'm exhausted. I decided the best thing I could do to be a good husband was to get plenty of sleep that night so that today I'd be full of energy so I could help make the day a happy one for her.

I'd argue that the left has become so religious that they are doing the same things, but to a degree beyond anything I'd do. That's the source of the insane claims of racism over almost everything. Dig this list of 100 racist things from Tucker Carlson. This might be my favorite.

I am absolutely sold on Catholicism. It exudes from my pores. Even I, deranged Papist that I am, would never think to try to apply my faith to flavored coffee drinks. If any of the radical traditionalists on Twitter, who want to return to the Latin Mass, even suggested that Pumpkin Spiced Lattes were a sin, we'd all howl at them in laughter. That's part of it, but there's something bigger at work.

Under Catholicism, I contemplate my sins. Under progressivism, you contemplate my sins as well. I see my sins as my own evil and struggle against them. Progressives see my political beliefs as evil and fight that with the same determination, if not more. They reacted with rage this week, not because people disagreed with them won some legislative victories, but because evil was triumphant. They couldn't moderate their reactions because they were religious reactions, not reasoned ones.

There. That's it for now. The Newcastle United game is on. Have a nice day!

1 comment:

lee said...

I've been formulating something similar -- that atheism had become a religion. Heck, they now have atheist "chaplains" in the military. They have turned into into a religion that they are trying to cram down our throats.

Merry Christmas to you!