Sarah, As usual excellent summary. At first I feel discouraged, but attempting to see through the eyes of God, we must be closer to a resolution than we believe. As you mention the most important issue is the question of Abortion, which will continue to be the measurement of our success as a society. Abortion is a personal sin, which is easily resolved by God who sees all the nuances that may affect the person, who must also bear the loss of a defeated potential mother. It is Society that bears the greater sin, which will slowly grind us to dust until and unless we see the truth. Every single one of us is the most precious construct of God, who alone determines our creation. When Society assumes the role of God over life and death, we inject ourselves with a mortal poison. It is society that will inevitably die. That is why it is easy to see the rule of satan (The great Divider) in the hate we see in one another. This will only increase unless and until we see the light.
The good news is that we are close to the nadir of our self inflicted consequences and society will soon find out that we have run out of options. There is no Canan to run to, we share the same lifeboat. We either decide that it is necessary to row together or we all perish.
Indoctrinated Americans have just rejected the only real leader I've seen elected president in my long life. Politicians don't lead they follow public opinion which will get them elected & reelected, some like Biden & Sanders, for life. Americans have chosen Godless communism & satanic islam. It was a good run but after 250 yrs. our once great republic is ending with hardly a shot fired. The Founders are weeping in their graves.
The Constitution was not set up for a two party system, such as it has devolved into. The fact that it has means that a combination of wholly illogical position alignments take place and, for the most part, voters are forced into voting for evil no matter what they do. By voting for the party that claims to oppose abortion (although in my state bordering Idaho that party is sitting on its hands), I have to implicitly support the death penalty, an illegal war that started off by killing innocent children, and ignoring the science on climate change. Indeed, I'm reminded that the Nazi Party strictly forbade abortion, at least for "Aryan" women, which would have provided cold comfort, I think, in voting in the 1932 German election.
Additionally, while Catholics do not seem to have realized it, yet, the Trump Administration is populated by people who barely regard Catholics as Christians at all, in many cases, and will be happy to stab us in the back should the opportunity present itself.
In contrast, if I vote against illegal wars and for a kinder treatment for aliens, I'm going to end up with the party that supports infanticide and which has more people who support mutilation of the body based on a sexual identity based mental illness.
Nifty.
None of this can be fixed until people realize they don't have to accept the straight jackets of the two parties. When I can, I vote American Solidarity Party. This year I was pleased to see the return of Blue Dog Democrats as well.
why is the demise of MAGA power a disaster for Catholics and other Christians ? The Trump regime never showed much interest in abortion or any LGBTQ+ issues, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade only led to more states drawing up laws or constitutional amendments protecting the rights of women. What we did see was a secretary of defense who inserted his vision of Christianity into the workings of the Pentagon. That may soon come to an end, but is that the disaster you fear ? Many Christians were appalled by the cruelty of ICE, and we all hope that their mode of operation will soon come to an end as well. What activities by the president and the federal government in general do you see whose ending would be a disaster for Catholics and other Christians. I can see none, but I can see quite a few whose stoppage would be a blessing.
If "MAGA power" was ending, to be replaced by a moral (or more moral) alternative, then we could rightly celebrate. However, the opposite is true. Because I have to follow the news daily for my regular job (the morning show), I end up reporting on a lot of what the admin is doing. So while I have been critical of the admin's embrace of IVF as a misguided fix for falling birthrates, for example, I have celebrated the attempts (now locked in court saga) to remove the abortion pill from mail order sale. Likewise the DOJ's targeting of hospitals and clinics that mutilated minors, now forced to pay out in restitution and even open free detransition clinics, the refusal to lock up men in women's prisons (when they "identify" as women), the investigation and prosecution of universities that discriminate against white and Asian students, etc.
Indeed, one of the first things that happened in this administration was an extreme embrace of pronatalism which resulted in our Catholic VP coming out for IVF, which in our view results in mass infanticide. Donald Trump, who is a serial polygamist with no real interest in faith at all, has a cabinet officer in a homosexual "marriage". We are murdering people off of the coast of South America based on mere suspicion that they are running drugs (for which the penalty is not death), we're in a war in the Middle East we cannot get out of, and and we're pondering invading Cuba. Added to that, Catholics are fooling themselves if they don't realize the real religion with influence in the Trump Administration is the Evangelical far right, which doesn't believe that we are Christian at all.
Normally I agree with you, but there is no "moral" argument to be made for blowing up 150 little girls at a girl's school, or cheerleading Israel's ongoing genocide, not just in Gaza, but now Lebanon. Not to mention the depopulation in Ukraine in the MIC/NATO meatgrinder against Russia. If you call never-ending war "moral", I'm sorry ... I don't know what to say. That's demonic.
Again, I've been critical of the Iran War, and I am still opposed to the never-ending wars in the Middle East. But that wouldn't keep me home while abortion kills over a million innocents every year in the US. They are just deaths that we don't see. Secondarily, I will say--From the rhetoric that I've seen, it's much more common to be opposed to the war for its effects on groceries and gas than it is on the basis of the war's more direct implications.
I don't discount anything you are saying here, but what that leads us to is the 1930s/40s German dilemma, doesn't it.
The Nazi Party was completely opposed to abortion, as long as that view was limited to German women. And it theoretically opposed normalized homosexuality, even while coddling it early on (just as the Trump administration is). But does that mean that voting for the NASDP in 1932 was morally justified, not realizing that it would lead to 1939-1945? Bishop Clemens August von Galen famously gave his heroic White Rose homily and letter, but in private correspondence he supported the German war in the east as it was against the USSR.
The point is that abortion is horrific, as is the death penalty, war, and the subversion of democracy itself. We're in extremely messy times, which is perhaps we were slack in how we approached such matters earlier. But, at any rate, we have to acknowledge, it seems to me, that no matter how we vote, we're balancing huge evils in supporting either party. The question is, looking forward, how do we advance a just cause?
Islam is an insane murder cult & the enemy of all civilizations. They slaughter each other, sunni vs. shia & even their own daughters in the name of "honor." Schools get targeted because the Iranian military places weapons in or near them.
Sarah, As usual excellent summary. At first I feel discouraged, but attempting to see through the eyes of God, we must be closer to a resolution than we believe. As you mention the most important issue is the question of Abortion, which will continue to be the measurement of our success as a society. Abortion is a personal sin, which is easily resolved by God who sees all the nuances that may affect the person, who must also bear the loss of a defeated potential mother. It is Society that bears the greater sin, which will slowly grind us to dust until and unless we see the truth. Every single one of us is the most precious construct of God, who alone determines our creation. When Society assumes the role of God over life and death, we inject ourselves with a mortal poison. It is society that will inevitably die. That is why it is easy to see the rule of satan (The great Divider) in the hate we see in one another. This will only increase unless and until we see the light.
The good news is that we are close to the nadir of our self inflicted consequences and society will soon find out that we have run out of options. There is no Canan to run to, we share the same lifeboat. We either decide that it is necessary to row together or we all perish.
There have always been term limits, they're called elections, but Americans refuse to use them!
We need leaders to step up. That's true. But there aren't any leaders to step up are there?
Indoctrinated Americans have just rejected the only real leader I've seen elected president in my long life. Politicians don't lead they follow public opinion which will get them elected & reelected, some like Biden & Sanders, for life. Americans have chosen Godless communism & satanic islam. It was a good run but after 250 yrs. our once great republic is ending with hardly a shot fired. The Founders are weeping in their graves.
The Constitution was not set up for a two party system, such as it has devolved into. The fact that it has means that a combination of wholly illogical position alignments take place and, for the most part, voters are forced into voting for evil no matter what they do. By voting for the party that claims to oppose abortion (although in my state bordering Idaho that party is sitting on its hands), I have to implicitly support the death penalty, an illegal war that started off by killing innocent children, and ignoring the science on climate change. Indeed, I'm reminded that the Nazi Party strictly forbade abortion, at least for "Aryan" women, which would have provided cold comfort, I think, in voting in the 1932 German election.
Additionally, while Catholics do not seem to have realized it, yet, the Trump Administration is populated by people who barely regard Catholics as Christians at all, in many cases, and will be happy to stab us in the back should the opportunity present itself.
In contrast, if I vote against illegal wars and for a kinder treatment for aliens, I'm going to end up with the party that supports infanticide and which has more people who support mutilation of the body based on a sexual identity based mental illness.
Nifty.
None of this can be fixed until people realize they don't have to accept the straight jackets of the two parties. When I can, I vote American Solidarity Party. This year I was pleased to see the return of Blue Dog Democrats as well.
Hi Sarah,
why is the demise of MAGA power a disaster for Catholics and other Christians ? The Trump regime never showed much interest in abortion or any LGBTQ+ issues, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade only led to more states drawing up laws or constitutional amendments protecting the rights of women. What we did see was a secretary of defense who inserted his vision of Christianity into the workings of the Pentagon. That may soon come to an end, but is that the disaster you fear ? Many Christians were appalled by the cruelty of ICE, and we all hope that their mode of operation will soon come to an end as well. What activities by the president and the federal government in general do you see whose ending would be a disaster for Catholics and other Christians. I can see none, but I can see quite a few whose stoppage would be a blessing.
If "MAGA power" was ending, to be replaced by a moral (or more moral) alternative, then we could rightly celebrate. However, the opposite is true. Because I have to follow the news daily for my regular job (the morning show), I end up reporting on a lot of what the admin is doing. So while I have been critical of the admin's embrace of IVF as a misguided fix for falling birthrates, for example, I have celebrated the attempts (now locked in court saga) to remove the abortion pill from mail order sale. Likewise the DOJ's targeting of hospitals and clinics that mutilated minors, now forced to pay out in restitution and even open free detransition clinics, the refusal to lock up men in women's prisons (when they "identify" as women), the investigation and prosecution of universities that discriminate against white and Asian students, etc.
Indeed, one of the first things that happened in this administration was an extreme embrace of pronatalism which resulted in our Catholic VP coming out for IVF, which in our view results in mass infanticide. Donald Trump, who is a serial polygamist with no real interest in faith at all, has a cabinet officer in a homosexual "marriage". We are murdering people off of the coast of South America based on mere suspicion that they are running drugs (for which the penalty is not death), we're in a war in the Middle East we cannot get out of, and and we're pondering invading Cuba. Added to that, Catholics are fooling themselves if they don't realize the real religion with influence in the Trump Administration is the Evangelical far right, which doesn't believe that we are Christian at all.
Normally I agree with you, but there is no "moral" argument to be made for blowing up 150 little girls at a girl's school, or cheerleading Israel's ongoing genocide, not just in Gaza, but now Lebanon. Not to mention the depopulation in Ukraine in the MIC/NATO meatgrinder against Russia. If you call never-ending war "moral", I'm sorry ... I don't know what to say. That's demonic.
Again, I've been critical of the Iran War, and I am still opposed to the never-ending wars in the Middle East. But that wouldn't keep me home while abortion kills over a million innocents every year in the US. They are just deaths that we don't see. Secondarily, I will say--From the rhetoric that I've seen, it's much more common to be opposed to the war for its effects on groceries and gas than it is on the basis of the war's more direct implications.
I don't discount anything you are saying here, but what that leads us to is the 1930s/40s German dilemma, doesn't it.
The Nazi Party was completely opposed to abortion, as long as that view was limited to German women. And it theoretically opposed normalized homosexuality, even while coddling it early on (just as the Trump administration is). But does that mean that voting for the NASDP in 1932 was morally justified, not realizing that it would lead to 1939-1945? Bishop Clemens August von Galen famously gave his heroic White Rose homily and letter, but in private correspondence he supported the German war in the east as it was against the USSR.
The point is that abortion is horrific, as is the death penalty, war, and the subversion of democracy itself. We're in extremely messy times, which is perhaps we were slack in how we approached such matters earlier. But, at any rate, we have to acknowledge, it seems to me, that no matter how we vote, we're balancing huge evils in supporting either party. The question is, looking forward, how do we advance a just cause?
Islam is an insane murder cult & the enemy of all civilizations. They slaughter each other, sunni vs. shia & even their own daughters in the name of "honor." Schools get targeted because the Iranian military places weapons in or near them.