Pope An Anti-Capitalist! (oh and has something to say about Marxism too...)
p.s. In the "Welcome News" department: Fred Thompson gaining support of Christian conservatives... While in the category of "Couldn't Care Less" the Newt-meister looks to titillate the media with his "great possibility" of running... What's so great about it?
As usual, the Mainstream Media tries to twist the Pope's words to support their Liberal nonsensical view of the world. The AP's headlines, which the elite knows is mainly what most people read, sez it all: "Pope Assails Marxism, Capitalism" -- which of course is Liberal newspeak for an endorsement of Liberalism. Hilariously, the International Herald Tribune sees the Pope taking a hard-turn to the RIGHT these days!
Well, actually, no. On both scores.
The Pope well understands the origins of what we call Liberalism (its laissez-faire and Epicurean origins, and shift to moral relativism and state planning of economy), and has no doubt that Liberalism of the American variety leads precisely to most of the ills that confront the modern world. Liberalism is part of the problem, not the answer.
Yes, the Pope addressed the failures of the world's two great "secular" economic paradigms, or ideologies, to solve the fundamental issues of life. Marxism is MORE than an economic paradigm, of course, and "Capitalism" is LESS than a metaphysical and anthrolopological worldview. It would be a mistake to equate these two "systems" except in relation to note that as governing, practical moral and political philosophies they have FAILED to deliver on their promises, and have also created much evil and suffering in their wake. From mistaken assumptions about human nature, they both misdiagnose the problems that face human beings, and they wrongly prescribe policy cures. Duh.
So how about, as Paul Harvey would say, the "rest of the story"? Here is some explicaton of the Pope's latest speech...
The Church has the great task of guarding and nourishing the faith of the People of God, and reminding the faithful of this Continent that, by virtue of their Baptism, they are called to be disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ. This implies following him, living in intimacy with him, imitating his example and bearing witness. Every baptized person receives from Christ, like the Apostles, the missionary mandate: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized, will be saved" (Mark 16:15). To be disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ and to seek life "in him" presupposes being deeply rooted in him.
The Pope then wondered if the pursuit of the truth, the quest for God, might not risk becoming a kind of escapism, or flight from the difficulty reality of everyday life in favor of some denatured spirituality. Readers of the Dumb Ox are well familiar with the "I'm very spiritual, but not religious!" crowd...
As a first step, we can respond to this question with another: what is this "reality"? What is real? Are only material goods, social, economic and political problems "reality"? This was precisely the great error of the dominant tendencies of the last century, a most destructive error, as we can see from the results of both Marxist and capitalist systems. They falsify the notion of reality by detaching it from the foundational and decisive reality which is God. Anyone who excludes God from his horizons falsifies the notion of "reality" and, in consequence, can only end up in blind alleys or with recipes for destruction.
Yes, that's right. Laissez-faire CAPITALISM, what is technically known as "classical liberalism" shares the same anthropological and metaphysical assumptions as MARXISM. "Laissez-faire" actually captures the essence of the mistake that such "classical liberals" make about human nature. The Pope would be much more accurate to refer to "capitalism" as "classical liberalism" in discussing these things--but speeches, versus treatises, require some shorthand terms.
In fact, Marx got all of his economic thinking from the classical liberal economists, like Smith and Ricardo. He differed from them NOT in his and their religious gnosticism, thinking that the world was somehow directing itself to perfection, but only in his thinking that a revolution and socialist dictatorship would be a necessary step in the bringing of heaven to earth. Both these "naturalistic" capitalist and socialist systems shared an impersonal, materialistic but progressive way of thinking that drew inspiration from evolutionary idealism, historicism and biologism--and, most profoundly, from denatured providential, secularized Judeo-Christian, beliefs about the meaning of life. SOME meaning of life MUST be posited in every worldview.
The first basic point to affirm, then, is the following: only those who recognize God know reality and are able to respond to it adequately and in a truly human manner. The truth of this thesis becomes evident in the face of the collapse of all the systems that marginalize God.
But let us be precise, because the Pope understands exactly what is at stake. Capitalism per se as an approach to economic life is not strictly tied to the anthropological and metaphysical views of NATURALISM or MATERIALISM. Capitalism per se is simply the rational organization of ones ecomomic activities to strive towards maximum gain. Capitalism is simply smart, and corresponds to the glory of our human nature, all the while reflecting the poverty of our sinful condition. Work enobles us and allows us to be in a position to do good for others. Duh. I dare to say that capitalism, per se, is part of God's plan for our happiness in this world and salvation in the next. Indeed, the great capitalists in history have most frequently been persons with SUPER-NATURAL and spiritual beliefs. "Gain" rarely means hoarding money--which indeed would be a silly thing for a capitalist to do. While "greed" is definitely not good, providing for our material necessities with our own work definitely is good. These are not minor details!
Thus, Marxism and "capitalism" are not at all to be equated, as the Mainstream Media would have you believe, as some equidistant "evils" to be avoided from some imaginary, Liberal center. Evil nonsense.
In truth, just structures are a condition without which a just order in society is not possible. But how do they arise? How do they function? Both capitalism and Marxism promised to point out the path for the creation of just structures, and they declared that these, once established, would function by themselves; they declared that not only would they have no need of any prior individual morality, but that they would promote a communal morality. And this ideological promise has been proved false. The facts have clearly demonstrated it. The Marxist system, where it found its way into government, not only left a sad heritage of economic and ecological destruction, but also a painful destruction of the human spirit. And we can also see the same thing happening in the West, where the distance between rich and poor is growing constantly, and giving rise to a worrying degradation of personal dignity through drugs, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness.
Just structures are, as I have said, an indispensable condition for a just society, but they neither arise nor function without a moral consensus in society on fundamental values, and on the need to live these values with the necessary sacrifices, even if this goes against personal interest.
The great issue facing modern society, not just in Latin America obviously, is how to afford the opportunity for the flourishing of human life, in its integrity and entirety, everywhere. Mass communication, mass transportation, and, need I mention, mass destruction make answering these questions imperative no longer for merely spiritual reasons.
What laws and institutions are needed, or need to change? The rule of law, protection of property, the laws protecting and enhancing the biological family are fundamental. The institutional side of the issue is actually quite simple, and a consensus of right reasoning individuals, in a pluralistic society, is not at all unattainable.
BUT, and this is the big but, laws and institutions themselves are NEVER the solution to any human problem. The solution always lies within hearts. Within conscience. The virtue, strength, moral determination to live a life of love and sacrifice for others must always come from inside. It cannot be imposed by some outside "structure." Human beings are always motivated by their loves, and failing that, by their fears... by conscience or by bayonets.
Where God is absent -- God with the human face of Jesus Christ -- these values fail to show themselves with their full force, nor does a consensus arise concerning them. I do not mean that non-believers cannot live a lofty and exemplary morality; I am only saying that a society in which God is absent will not find the necessary consensus on moral values or the strength to live according to the model of these values, even when they are in conflict with private interests.
On the other hand, just structures must be sought and elaborated in the light of fundamental values, with the full engagement of political, economic and social reasoning. They are a question of recta ratio and they do not arise from ideologies nor from their premises. Certainly there exists a great wealth of political experience and expertise on social and economic problems that can highlight the fundamental elements of a just state and the paths that must be avoided.
Political elites have created an anti-human tendency in the world, by fostering dependency and submissiveness to their allegedly "enlightened" programs and ideals. They have brought the developed world prosperity, yes, and also to the brink of a degenerate democracy, to the brink of perversion and anarchy.
The very real problems of modernity are problems of morality and of culture, problems that Marxism NEVER understood, and that laissez-faire "capitalism" also gets wrong: but they are problems of natural morality and of "right reason" -- both of which have been degenerating under "enlightened" political elitism, of both the Left and the Right.
Moral conscience must be learned, as every person grows to maturity, by free individuals, learning from the best examples of virtuous men and women, cultivated in the home, in education, and in public life.
And of course, emphasizing the natural family as the foundation for the moral and social order is what Libs describe as veering to the "Right". If you don't think people should be "free" to define the meaning of the universe with their genitals, and to promote perversion to children, then Libs will call you a Nazi.
True American Conservatism understood and understands these things. That government governs best which governs least... among other things. American Conservatism has always been closer to Catholic social teaching than most such Conservatives would have imagined!
So in case you missed the point: the Pope is NOT an anti-capitalist. The Church teaches only that the pursuit of profit must be remembered always as a means to an end, not an end in itself. Happiness, the goal of all of our pursuits, is not the product of material comfort or pleasures. Natural reason tells us this. What the faith adds is the model of Christ as the way to happiness, and the faith offers the grace of God to strengthen our intellects and wills to see and to live as truly human beings.
For too long GOVERVERNMENT, technocrats, pseudo-intellectuals and political elites have tried to MANAGE the world... while the point is to CHANGE it!
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson's Website, third world county, Stageleft, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, DragonLady's World, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Cao's Blog, Outside the Beltway, The Magical Rose Garden, The Random Yak, Right Truth, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, The Bullwinkle Blog, Conservative Cat, High Desert Wanderer, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
As usual, the Mainstream Media tries to twist the Pope's words to support their Liberal nonsensical view of the world. The AP's headlines, which the elite knows is mainly what most people read, sez it all: "Pope Assails Marxism, Capitalism" -- which of course is Liberal newspeak for an endorsement of Liberalism. Hilariously, the International Herald Tribune sees the Pope taking a hard-turn to the RIGHT these days!
Well, actually, no. On both scores.
The Pope well understands the origins of what we call Liberalism (its laissez-faire and Epicurean origins, and shift to moral relativism and state planning of economy), and has no doubt that Liberalism of the American variety leads precisely to most of the ills that confront the modern world. Liberalism is part of the problem, not the answer.
Yes, the Pope addressed the failures of the world's two great "secular" economic paradigms, or ideologies, to solve the fundamental issues of life. Marxism is MORE than an economic paradigm, of course, and "Capitalism" is LESS than a metaphysical and anthrolopological worldview. It would be a mistake to equate these two "systems" except in relation to note that as governing, practical moral and political philosophies they have FAILED to deliver on their promises, and have also created much evil and suffering in their wake. From mistaken assumptions about human nature, they both misdiagnose the problems that face human beings, and they wrongly prescribe policy cures. Duh.
So how about, as Paul Harvey would say, the "rest of the story"? Here is some explicaton of the Pope's latest speech...
The Church has the great task of guarding and nourishing the faith of the People of God, and reminding the faithful of this Continent that, by virtue of their Baptism, they are called to be disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ. This implies following him, living in intimacy with him, imitating his example and bearing witness. Every baptized person receives from Christ, like the Apostles, the missionary mandate: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized, will be saved" (Mark 16:15). To be disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ and to seek life "in him" presupposes being deeply rooted in him.
The Pope then wondered if the pursuit of the truth, the quest for God, might not risk becoming a kind of escapism, or flight from the difficulty reality of everyday life in favor of some denatured spirituality. Readers of the Dumb Ox are well familiar with the "I'm very spiritual, but not religious!" crowd...
As a first step, we can respond to this question with another: what is this "reality"? What is real? Are only material goods, social, economic and political problems "reality"? This was precisely the great error of the dominant tendencies of the last century, a most destructive error, as we can see from the results of both Marxist and capitalist systems. They falsify the notion of reality by detaching it from the foundational and decisive reality which is God. Anyone who excludes God from his horizons falsifies the notion of "reality" and, in consequence, can only end up in blind alleys or with recipes for destruction.
Yes, that's right. Laissez-faire CAPITALISM, what is technically known as "classical liberalism" shares the same anthropological and metaphysical assumptions as MARXISM. "Laissez-faire" actually captures the essence of the mistake that such "classical liberals" make about human nature. The Pope would be much more accurate to refer to "capitalism" as "classical liberalism" in discussing these things--but speeches, versus treatises, require some shorthand terms.
In fact, Marx got all of his economic thinking from the classical liberal economists, like Smith and Ricardo. He differed from them NOT in his and their religious gnosticism, thinking that the world was somehow directing itself to perfection, but only in his thinking that a revolution and socialist dictatorship would be a necessary step in the bringing of heaven to earth. Both these "naturalistic" capitalist and socialist systems shared an impersonal, materialistic but progressive way of thinking that drew inspiration from evolutionary idealism, historicism and biologism--and, most profoundly, from denatured providential, secularized Judeo-Christian, beliefs about the meaning of life. SOME meaning of life MUST be posited in every worldview.
The first basic point to affirm, then, is the following: only those who recognize God know reality and are able to respond to it adequately and in a truly human manner. The truth of this thesis becomes evident in the face of the collapse of all the systems that marginalize God.
But let us be precise, because the Pope understands exactly what is at stake. Capitalism per se as an approach to economic life is not strictly tied to the anthropological and metaphysical views of NATURALISM or MATERIALISM. Capitalism per se is simply the rational organization of ones ecomomic activities to strive towards maximum gain. Capitalism is simply smart, and corresponds to the glory of our human nature, all the while reflecting the poverty of our sinful condition. Work enobles us and allows us to be in a position to do good for others. Duh. I dare to say that capitalism, per se, is part of God's plan for our happiness in this world and salvation in the next. Indeed, the great capitalists in history have most frequently been persons with SUPER-NATURAL and spiritual beliefs. "Gain" rarely means hoarding money--which indeed would be a silly thing for a capitalist to do. While "greed" is definitely not good, providing for our material necessities with our own work definitely is good. These are not minor details!
Thus, Marxism and "capitalism" are not at all to be equated, as the Mainstream Media would have you believe, as some equidistant "evils" to be avoided from some imaginary, Liberal center. Evil nonsense.
In truth, just structures are a condition without which a just order in society is not possible. But how do they arise? How do they function? Both capitalism and Marxism promised to point out the path for the creation of just structures, and they declared that these, once established, would function by themselves; they declared that not only would they have no need of any prior individual morality, but that they would promote a communal morality. And this ideological promise has been proved false. The facts have clearly demonstrated it. The Marxist system, where it found its way into government, not only left a sad heritage of economic and ecological destruction, but also a painful destruction of the human spirit. And we can also see the same thing happening in the West, where the distance between rich and poor is growing constantly, and giving rise to a worrying degradation of personal dignity through drugs, alcohol and deceptive illusions of happiness.
Just structures are, as I have said, an indispensable condition for a just society, but they neither arise nor function without a moral consensus in society on fundamental values, and on the need to live these values with the necessary sacrifices, even if this goes against personal interest.
The great issue facing modern society, not just in Latin America obviously, is how to afford the opportunity for the flourishing of human life, in its integrity and entirety, everywhere. Mass communication, mass transportation, and, need I mention, mass destruction make answering these questions imperative no longer for merely spiritual reasons.
What laws and institutions are needed, or need to change? The rule of law, protection of property, the laws protecting and enhancing the biological family are fundamental. The institutional side of the issue is actually quite simple, and a consensus of right reasoning individuals, in a pluralistic society, is not at all unattainable.
BUT, and this is the big but, laws and institutions themselves are NEVER the solution to any human problem. The solution always lies within hearts. Within conscience. The virtue, strength, moral determination to live a life of love and sacrifice for others must always come from inside. It cannot be imposed by some outside "structure." Human beings are always motivated by their loves, and failing that, by their fears... by conscience or by bayonets.
Where God is absent -- God with the human face of Jesus Christ -- these values fail to show themselves with their full force, nor does a consensus arise concerning them. I do not mean that non-believers cannot live a lofty and exemplary morality; I am only saying that a society in which God is absent will not find the necessary consensus on moral values or the strength to live according to the model of these values, even when they are in conflict with private interests.
On the other hand, just structures must be sought and elaborated in the light of fundamental values, with the full engagement of political, economic and social reasoning. They are a question of recta ratio and they do not arise from ideologies nor from their premises. Certainly there exists a great wealth of political experience and expertise on social and economic problems that can highlight the fundamental elements of a just state and the paths that must be avoided.
Political elites have created an anti-human tendency in the world, by fostering dependency and submissiveness to their allegedly "enlightened" programs and ideals. They have brought the developed world prosperity, yes, and also to the brink of a degenerate democracy, to the brink of perversion and anarchy.
The very real problems of modernity are problems of morality and of culture, problems that Marxism NEVER understood, and that laissez-faire "capitalism" also gets wrong: but they are problems of natural morality and of "right reason" -- both of which have been degenerating under "enlightened" political elitism, of both the Left and the Right.
Moral conscience must be learned, as every person grows to maturity, by free individuals, learning from the best examples of virtuous men and women, cultivated in the home, in education, and in public life.
And of course, emphasizing the natural family as the foundation for the moral and social order is what Libs describe as veering to the "Right". If you don't think people should be "free" to define the meaning of the universe with their genitals, and to promote perversion to children, then Libs will call you a Nazi.
True American Conservatism understood and understands these things. That government governs best which governs least... among other things. American Conservatism has always been closer to Catholic social teaching than most such Conservatives would have imagined!
So in case you missed the point: the Pope is NOT an anti-capitalist. The Church teaches only that the pursuit of profit must be remembered always as a means to an end, not an end in itself. Happiness, the goal of all of our pursuits, is not the product of material comfort or pleasures. Natural reason tells us this. What the faith adds is the model of Christ as the way to happiness, and the faith offers the grace of God to strengthen our intellects and wills to see and to live as truly human beings.
For too long GOVERVERNMENT, technocrats, pseudo-intellectuals and political elites have tried to MANAGE the world... while the point is to CHANGE it!
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson's Website, third world county, Stageleft, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, DragonLady's World, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Cao's Blog, Outside the Beltway, The Magical Rose Garden, The Random Yak, Right Truth, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, The Bullwinkle Blog, Conservative Cat, High Desert Wanderer, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
posted by Dumb Ox at 5/14/2007
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