A watershed election. A Weimar election?

The Catholic World Report ^ | November 8, 2012 | James V. Schall, S.J.

[SumProVita]

The state, with its main duties, the taking care of everyone, defines what is important from now on. One might say that our people coldly looked the Leviathan in its eyes. They did not flinch as he brought them into his body. These are dramatic observations, no doubt. We now wait to see what happens next. We have established who is in power. We will not pass this way again.

And in establishing who is to rule us, we reveal our own souls. The liberty to do whatever we want that Aristotle spoke of while describing democracies is now firmly rooted among us. No real opposition will be tolerated. Liberty means doing what state demands.

[SumProVita]

"We have just witnessed a watershed election. The earliest years of the 21st century are rapidly seeing the logic of political and philosophical ideas that, in their origins, were deviations from the truth. We witness not merely a voluntary acceptance of these ideas in the political order through election, but also an abdication of serious reasoning about them in the public order."

Per usual, an excellent analysis from this professor of political philosophy.

[HiTech RedNeck]

In all the election chaos, has anyone figured out yet what happened to the Catholic (and evangelical Christian) segment of the vote, compared to 2008? Obama ought to have suffered badly there, given the way he has punked the Catholics, a situation which does not make, say, Baptists any happier.

[SumProVita]

Regarding the Evangelicals...I am not exactly sure...though some have posited that it had to do with his Mormonism. As for Catholics, almost everyone should understand by now that, due to a variety of factors, approximately half of those who identify themselves as being Catholic, do NOT, in fact, embrace the Teachings of the Church.

In my humble opinion, I think it may have had more to do with the fact that the real issue of this election was FAR more than just the economy...and a clear case NEEDED to have been made about what is really at stake in this. THAT case wasn’t made....AND the liberal press, taking the lowest road, made a profound ad hominem case (which included lies and distortion) against Gov. Romney in the swing states.

Again, with regard to the Church, Father Phillip W. De Vous (Adjunct scholar of public policy at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty), had this to say:

“Last night’s election illustrates that Americans have become a people more dependent on the government. The country will continue to trend culturally and politically to the left. This means that conservative causes that take their impetus from the truths and moral rationality offered by the Judeo-Christian political and philosophical tradition will continue to be marginalized, the Church’s liberty restricted, and the cultural, moral, political, and spiritual leftism, hedonism, and materialism, with its attendant anomie and nihilism, will continue the long march through all of our cultural and governmental institutions. . . Given the Catholic Church’s failure to adequately address the cultural, political, and even existential threat posed to it by President Obama’s agenda, the credibility of the Church’s witness has been further eroded and enervated, making the Church less likely to be courageous and effective in speaking the hard truths necessary for personal, ecclesial, and national renewal. Because of this, the leftist cultural and moral agenda will continue to increasingly form and even invade our personal, familial, and communal lives. The effect on our national life and civil society will be devastating. Trends of cultural degradation, the normalization of what has until recently been widely understood as moral turpitude, along with debt, deficits, and fiscal ruin will likely be accelerated.”

My summary: The moral case for the America of the Founders is NOT being made. The probability for marginalization of Christians...and inevitably their persecution has just risen.

[GOPJ]

Romney would pull in 30,000 supporters for a speech. Obama couldn’t fill half a small stadium when he was ALSO offering a free concert. They didn’t win the election - unless what you call what a thief does as ‘winning’.

[HiTech RedNeck]

This lukewarm reception could have been part of a Democrat feint, though. Acorn and Son Of Acorn never urged anybody to go to an Obama rally. Why put their puppets to any more trouble than needed to take the election itself?

[GeronL]

We will never ever have a free and fair election again

[SumProVita]

I have no doubt that fraud took place. However, the fact remains that most Americans still DO NOT GET what is really happening yet.

Our battle is great....and it is not merely political.
It IS a spiritual battle or the soul of this nation!

[grumpygresh]

We don’t know if a revolution against the emerging hard tyranny would be much worse. All of the Eastern bloc and Soviet Union/ Russia improved after the hard line communist regimes were toppled. We also have our own revolution as an example of a positive outcome.
As far as the Weimar Republic was concerned, the socialist leader did institute a temporary military dictatorship when Germany was in the throes of hyperinflation.
That being said, it does appear that 50+% of people in this country do not understand liberty. We also see more polarization among individuals and now even regions. Secession and/or a civil war may be the best outcome. Damn if I’m going to live in a Leftist dictatorship.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I mean what happened numbers-wise, not an explanation for it. Our good pal Weird is telling me that the proportion of self identified Catholics voting for Obama went to 50% which would be to go up, not down, from 2008.

Perhaps Mitt got a bit of a late start. Obama was busy beating on Romney when he hadn’t even formally won the approval of the GOP convention. Had Romney answered right then and there, he would have then gotten lambasted for being presumptuous. (Of course Obama gets a free pass for having presumed that Romney would be it. That’s liberal morality for ya.)

[HiTech RedNeck]

It might have to come down to a cities-burning situation before people take it seriously.

[SumProVita]

Meant to say: It IS a spiritual battle FOR the soul of this nation!

[HiTech RedNeck]

It might have to come down to a cities-burning situation before people take it seriously.

[SumProVita]

“liberal morality”

_________________

Now THAT is what I call an oxymoron! LOL...

[HiTech RedNeck]

technically ‘souls’ — a country as such does not have a ‘soul’

[SumProVita]

it does appear that 50+% of people in this country do not understand liberty.

__________________________________

That, grumpy, is exactly correct. It is a BIG problem.

And why are we in this situation?

“Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” ... Alexander Solzhenitsyn

[SumProVita]

;-)

Yes...I almost used the word, “citizens,” but thought you’d understand what I meant.

[timestax]

[timestax]

And who can forget THIS ?

[SumProVita]

I always wondered...REVENGE for WHAT?

It was simply an appeal to the lowest common denominator. Sad.

[itsahoot]

In my humble opinion, I think it may have had more to do with the fact that the real issue of this election was FAR more than just the economy...and a clear case NEEDED to have been made about what is really at stake in this.

Exactly, but that opinion is not popular here. It was the SocCons fault.</sarcasm>

They don't like this either, and it is a Christian site, go figure.

>My summary: The moral case for the America of the Founders is NOT being made. The probability for marginalization of Christians...and inevitably their persecution has just risen.