We are at a breaking point.
It's like T.S. Eliot said, “a Christian society only becomes acceptable after you have fairly examined the alternatives.”
Or, if you prefer Winston Churchill, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all others that have been tried."
These are two of the foundational systems of our civilization: Christianity and a democratic republic. If there is systemic racism, then it is because we have abandoned these foundations. Racism is not inherent--in fact, not compatible-- with or within Christianity or a democratic republic. Christianity teaches that every human being has equal dignity because they are all loved by God. Our democratic republic is founded on the principle that all men are created equal and have inalienable rights.
We are so unfamiliar with our own history and foundation that we forget how the fathers of our society knew they couldn't build a Utopia. They could only help steer people away from a dystopia with principles that have provided at least some sense of stability for societies in the past. Yet, here we are--so many of us decrying the flaws in our society and the mistakes of our past, claiming they know a better way. For all those who hanker for a better way to build a civilization, none have managed to build one as free and just as ours. For all of its flaws, the society we have is not so bad that it needs to be torn down. Through constructive change, we can iron out our wrinkles one by one. This is the heart of conservatism, and it is what has effected the most positive change in the past.
Every civilization has committed atrocious injustices. We're all guilty and we all know it.
"It was you, it was me. It was every man. We all got the blood on our hands. We only receive what we demand, and if we want hell then hell's what we'll have." ---Jack Johnson (Cookie Jar)
Trying to blame the mistakes of the past on one "race" is counterproductive to achieving unity and peace in the human race. Until we own our mistakes, all of us, we will keep thinking human nature discriminates by color, ethnicity, religion ... take your pick. Unfortunately, original sin has stung all of us. Are you going to tear it all down, then? Every civilization? Those who seek that solution must assume anarchy is better. And as history shows, people eventually revert back to order after anarchy--and what is built up in its place is usually worse than what the anarchists originally set out to destroy. If we destroy our civilization, there's no guarantee that what rises up in its place is going to be any better than what we have today.
Can a species go backwards? No. It either adapts or dies out. The same goes for civilizations. So if our civilization crumbles, it will likely just be replaced by another one. We'd then be leaving the freedoms we enjoy today up to chance.
Every vandal who helped take down a monument needs to be arrested. Enemies within our borders won't stop until there are no more borders, until America is no longer America, the flagship of nations where freedom reigns supreme. Please, let's get back to being America.
More on the Virus
I'm just reading and listening to the rhetoric and can't help but ask "Why can't I go to France? Who said so and why?" I really don't even care about not being able to go to France, but I'm still mad that I can't go. The "pandemic" has changed everything as a result of media giants and politicians spurting out numbers and words like "have died" and "increase in cases". You can't just say that kind of stuff. You need to back it up. Anyone can lie with statistics. All you need to do is not tell the whole truth, like how many died with Covid but not from it? How many died from being given the wrong drugs in the hospital? How many died on ventilators? How many deaths could have been avoided if those who had Covid weren't put in nursing homes? There hasn't been a single story I've read that offers both sides of the issue. No one questions the number of deaths (in the MSM). We're just expected to accept it all without a counterargument. That is not journalism.
It's very possible everyone is going to be expected to get a vaccine. And if you don't you may be called a grandma killer, along with being banned from public places. The problem with democracy is when the masses toss logic aside. Then everyone is expected to just go along with the faulty rhetoric of the mob.
Grandma killer. How much sense is in that accusation? Or, it's just a mask. Really? Is it, though? If obedience to authority overrules common sense, we live in a police state. Not America, though. No, it can't happen here. I think we've become so accustomed to the idea that America is a free country that we think no matter what happens, it will always be free without us having to do anything to keep that freedom. But if we don't fight for it, we don't get to keep it.
Through the lockdown and the aftermath, we will see how diligent, how alive the spirit of America, the spirit of freedom truly is in the world today. Will freedom reign? It's not looking good if you're rooting for her.
St. Jude and St. Rita, patrons of lost causes, pray for us.