It isn’t quietism. I’m not suggesting disengagement with politics. Why would it be more consistent to withdraw from politics? Because we now recognize that things are so far gone in our society that politics will offer little more for now than amelioration of the horrors to come?
As I've said repeatedly, we're not going to fix this stuff through politics because the real problems aren't political.
The guy who only has a hammer thinks every problem is a nail. So, too, with politics.
Of course we need to stay politically engaged. But a pagan society will not be led to a generally Christianity-congenial politics. Not by choice.
The culture has been captured by the enemies of God. From that post-Christian, Gospel-rejecting society flows a toxic, evil democratic politics. Pope Blessed John Paul II taught that democracy not founded in recognition of the Creator is tyranny. That's where we are. You wanna change the politics? You'll have to fight to regain the culture.
The problem is that we're not in a pre-Christian society, open to the Gospel, readily converted to the Good News of Jesus Christ. We are in a society that has rejected God, rejected the Gospel. We are no longer able to persuade, even if we must keep trying. We are no longer able to evangelize, even if we cannot cease our efforts.
Only if the Holy Spirit comes to renew the face of our American society and culture will we be lifted up from the awful fate that awaits us.
sitetest
Yes, of course. I find nothing to disagree about in your last post. But observe: compromise is inherent to politics. It is poison to culture. This is why, in my analysis, our chances are best not in a big tent where secularist pragmatists will dominate, but as a small ideological party lead by people with clear Christian convictions. You preserve a culture by keeping it pure.