Lux Lucet

Mexico, Mass Migration and the Example of Moses Part 21: Robert Filmer, John Robbins and the Biblical Origin of Private Property

March 3, 2019 by Steve Matthews

Sir Robert Filmer

“The Prime duties of the second table [of the ten commandments] are conversant about the right of property. But if property be brought in by a human law (as Grotius teacheth), then the moral law depends upon the will of man. There could be no adultery or theft, if women and all things were common.”

– Sir Robert Filmer, Patriarcha

Rome’s teaching on migration, which is the theoretical basis for the ongoing migration crisis in both Europe and the United States, rests on the doctrine of the universal destination of goods.

The universal destination of all goods is the idea, repeated time and again in the official documents of the Roman Church-State, that in the original state of nature, before the fall of man, that God gave the world to mankind collectively. This idea, dating back to the pagan stoics, was picked up by the church fathers, repeated by Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae, and used by popes and other thinkers in the Roman Church-State as the foundational idea for socialist economic and political thought which characterizes the Social Teaching of the Church.

Since Rome’s teaching on migrants is one facet of the Church’s Social Teaching, it should come as no surprise to find that the universal destination of goods is foundational to the Church’s teaching on immigration, migration and refugee resettlement as well.

A second key point to this series is that the universal destination of goods is unbiblical. Rather than positing the idea that God gave the Earth to man collectively, the Bible teaches that private property was the original economic order of things.

The third key point is that, if it can be demonstrated from the Scriptures that Rome’s doctrine of the universal destination of goods is false, not only is Rome’s socialist migration doctrine likewise refuted, but the entirety of its Social Teaching is overthrown as well.

In this week’s post, we shall continue to examine the arguments against the universal destination of goods and for original capitalism made by 17th century English political philosopher Sir Robert Filmer as discussed in John Robbins’ doctoral dissertation, The Political Thought of Sir Robert Filmer.

Posted in Immigration | Tagged Antichrist, Exsul Familia, John Robbins, Mexico Mass Migration and the Example of Moses, Robert Filmer, Roman Catholic Social Teaching, Strangers No Longer | 2 Comments »

Do the Democrats Want to Start a Race War?

February 27, 2019 by Steve Matthews

Nancy Peolsi wants to study reparations.

Do the Democrats want to start a race war?

That, by the way, is a serious question. And it’s not at all clear to me that the answer is no.

So why do I bring this up now? In short, it seems to be the hip, new DNC talking point.

Oh, it’s not that the idea of reparations haven’t been floated before. Talk of that sort has been around since I was a kid. Over the past few years I’ve heard more talk about it, but it never seemed all that serious. And what with everything else in the world falling apart, well, there are only so many hours in a day, one has to pick and choose his battles.

That said, I was listening to a podcast with David Knight earlier today, and he spent a good deal of time talking about reparations and how talk of reparations was being taken seriously among Democrats.

Being the curious sort, I did a quick search and found out, lo and behold, that calls for reparations have indeed become a thing among top Democrats. What was once the province of fringe radicals is now a talking point of the Speaker of the House.

And they say Trump is divisive?

You could hardly come up with a more divisive, more destructive policy than reparations for slavery. According to The Hill, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) has a resolution with 35 co-sponsors and Nancy Peolosi has gone on record as supporting the study of the issue.

If you were to accuse Pelosi of supporting reparations for slavery, doubtless she would protest by saying that she only called for a study of the issue and has not come out in support of reparations.

But really, she kinda has.

You see, there are some issues that a responsible politician should never entertain.

Reparations for slavery is one of them.

Apart from the moral, practical and, probably, Constitutional issues involved with the suggestion, there’s the little problem that the idea, by its very nature, is designed to pit one American against another.

But then, maybe that’s the whole idea. Maybe the Dems really want to create racial animosity among Americans.

Maybe they see getting blacks and whites stirred up so they’re at one another’s’ throats as a winning strategy for 2020. Forget about the runaway debt. Forget about the predatory Federal Reserve. Forget about the endless foreign wars. Forget about the creeping surveillance state. Opening old wounds, that’s what we really need to focus on to move this nation forward!

Not to be outdone, Elizabeth Warren says that reparations for Native Americans should be part of the conversation.

Yeah, that’s going to be a fun talk. I can hardly wait.

But why stop there? After all, there’s an almost limitless number of potential aggrieved minority groups who could lay claim to victim status. But for some reason, I think the Dem political strategists have already thought of that one. Why, they could keep the whole racket going for years!

Marianne Williamson, who announced her presidential candidacy – I admit I have no idea who Marianne Williamson is, nor do I care to find out – even put a price tag on her reparations program, calling for $100B.

The odd thing is, she didn’t say specifically who would pay. According to the article in Ebony, she said the United States needs to pay. Well, the United States is in no position to pay anyone. It’s the citizens of the United States who pay. Apparently, Ms. Williamson isn’t honest enough to say what she really means, which is that she thinks white Americans owe blacks.

These women are disgraceful. Anyone who pits, or even so much as hints that they wish to study pitting, Americans against one another to score political points has no business being anywhere near the levers of power.

What’s interesting is that while this monstrous regiment of liberal women score cheap political points with their reparations talk, no one in the press ever dares call them divisive.

Apparently laying the groundwork for a race war is their little way of bringing everyone together.

Posted in Politics | Tagged 2020 Presidential Campaign, Nancy Pelosi, Reparations | Leave a Comment »

Mexico, Mass Migration and the Example of Moses Part 20: Robert Filmer, John Robbins and the Biblical Origin of Private Property

February 24, 2019 by Steve Matthews

English political philosopher Sir Robert Filmer, c. 1588-1653

“[F]or it is not possible for the wit of man to search out the first grounds or principles of government (which necessarily depend upon the original of property) except he know that at the creation one man alone was made, to whom the dominion of all things was given, and from whom all men derive their title.

– Sir Robert Filmer, Patriarcha and Other Political Works, 203-204

One of the major, perhaps the major, overarching themes of this series of essays, which has now stretched to twenty installments, is that Rome’s faulty economic and political thought, which itself is derived from Rome’s faulty theology, is the primary cause of the migrant crisis in the United States and in Europe.

But while there are many problems with Roman Catholic theological, political and economic thought, the examination of which is beyond the scope of this series, one error in particular stands out as relevant to the topic of mass migration: Rome’s doctrine of the universal destination of goods.

This series has examined the universal destination of goods at some length in previous installments, and it is not my intention here to go over it again in close detail. Let it suffice for our purposes today to quote John Robbins’ magisterial work on the political and economic thought of the Roman Catholic Church, Ecclesiastical Megalomania,

The Thomistic notion of original communism – the denial that private property is part of the natural law, but that common property is both natural and divine – is foundational to all the Roman Catholic arguments for various forms of collectivism, from medieval feudalism and guild socialism to twentieth century fascism and liberation theology. The popes refer to this original communism as the “universal destination of all goods” (38).

As this quote points out, the universal destination of goods depends upon the idea that God, at the time of creation, gave the world, not to individual men, but to mankind collectively. This view, what John Robbins calls “original communism,” is the official position of the Roman Catholic church, having become part of the warp and woof of Roman Catholic Social Teaching, not only as a result of the Church-State’s establishment of Thomism as the official doctrine of the Church, but also through the many repetitions of this idea through papal encyclicals and other important church documents over the past 100 plus years.

The universal destination of goods resting on the idea of original communism is the foundational idea of all of Rome’s teaching on the issues of immigration, migration and refugee resettlement. If you doubt this, please read, or re-read the last two posts in this series where, quoting directly from Roman Catholic sources, this author has made this assertion abundantly clear. You may find these posts here and here.

Having the universal destination of goods as a unifying concept behind all its Social Teaching, including its teaching on migration, has allowed Rome to systematize its economic and political teaching in a way that would not otherwise have been possible. Instead of having random ideas strewn about, Rome’s teaching on political and economic issues is highly organized, with statements on one topic serving to reinforce the Church-State’s teaching on another topic. Roman Catholic Social Teaching is, for all its many errors, testament to the power of systematic thought.

But while Rome’s systematic approach to addressing political and economic questions is a great strength, at the same time, it’s also Rome’s great point of weakness. Why is this? For the reason that, if one can demonstrate from the Scriptures that the “community of goods” is false, that God did not, in fact give the Earth to mankind collectively, then the entire system of Rome’s Social Teaching comes crashing to the ground, including its dogmatic assertions about the right of migrants to impose themselves on host nations. Or, as Martin Luther might put it, one little word shall fell them.

It is the contention of this author that not only is it possible to demonstrate from the Scriptures that Rome’s community of goods is a fiction, but that this point already has been demonstrated in the works of 17th century political philosopher Sir Robert Filmer.

Today’s post, and, Lord willing, the next few posts will focus on showing that, far from endorsing the idea of “original communism,” the Bible instead posits a system of original private property. God did not give the Earth to mankind collectively, but rather he gave it to Adam individually, and it is from Adam that “all men derive their title” to private property. Far from being a late addition to the economic order, private property, original capitalism, was what was established by God at the time of creation.

Posted in Immigration, Philosophy, Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged John Robbins, Mexico Mass Migration and the Example of Moses, Robert Filmer, Roman Catholic Social Teaching, Universal Destination of Goods | 1 Comment »

Rome and the Green New Deal

February 24, 2019 by Steve Matthews

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Roman Catholics themselves and graduates of Jesuit Boston College, unveil the Green New Deal, February 7, 2019. Alex Wong/Getty Images

So I finally started reading the Green New Deal (GND) tonight in preparation for what I hope will be an upcoming series on socialism. With the rise of openly socialist politicians in the US, it is imperative for Christians to speak out against this ungodly political and economic system, both to preserve our remaining liberties and to witness to the system of truth as revealed in the pages of Scripture.

The GND is almost certainly the most aggressive attack on the Bible’s system of economics and politics, what John Robbins called constitutional capitalism, launched in my lifetime by an American politician. It’s so aggressive that my first thought is that the papal Antichrist must in some way be connected to it.

And guess what? It is.

The House Resolution “Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal” begins with the following sentence, “Whereas the October 2018 report entitled ‘Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ˚C’ by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change….”

So, the GND is to a large degree based on a report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which notes on the groups homepage that it “is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. Anyone with a passing familiarity with the UN and the politics of the Roman Catholic Church-State (RCCS) knows that Rome and the UN are intimately connected. As John Robbins noted, “In the judgment of the Church-State, the United Nations is, at the present time, the likeliest vehicle to achieve the political and economic world unification that the Roman Church-State desires” (Ecclesiastical Megalomania, 194).

Since the GND’s socialist call to action is based largely on the IPCC’s report, and since the IPCC is part of the UN, and since Rome has a long history of supporting the UN and it various programs designed to promote world government, it is worth reviewing what Rome has had to say about the document that is so foundational to the GND.

No big surprise here. Rome loves it. For example,

“The complexity of this task, however, is amplified by the great sense of urgency to act, as was unmistakably stressed in the last Intergovernmental Panel on climate Change (IPCC) Special Report.” Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin
“Catholics urge action as UN report forecasts climate crisis in coming decades” National Catholic Reporter
“Members of the Holy See delegation spoke clearly during the meeting of the need to listen to scientists, particularly in the latest IPCC report, which echoes the cry of the earth and shows clearly the devastating impact of climate change on communities around the world” Vatican press release, 12/12/2018.

Worth noting the two sponsors of the House Resolution, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) are themselves both Roman Catholics and graduates of Jesuit Boston College.

Doubtless there are further connections between the GND and the RCCS to be discovered, but it seemed good to point out even the little bit that has come to light in just a few minutes research.

Rome’s ungodly Thomistic philosophy combined with its undisguised ambition to usher in world government make it imperative that Christians not only not be ignorant of Antichrist’s devices, but also that they refute his ideas, including his destructive environmental teachings, from the Scriptures.

Posted in Politics, Socialism | Tagged Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Green New Deal, Jesuits, Rome and World Government, Socialism | 6 Comments »

Mexico, Mass Migration and the Example of Moses Part 19: The Universal Destination of Goods and Rome’s Ungodly Doctrine of Migration

February 17, 2019 by Steve Matthews

Thomas Aquinas, official philosopher of the Roman Church-State and conduit for the unbiblical notion of the universal destination of goods, an idea central, not just to the Social Teaching of the Church, but to Rome’s destructive doctrine of migration. A doctrine that the Church-State is using to destroy the remnants of the Protestant West.

In Roman Catholic economic thought, there is a hierarchy of principles, and the most important principle, to which all others are subordinate, is the principle of the universal destination of goods.

– John W. Robbins, Ecclesiastical Megalomania, p.39

Last week, we began a more detailed look at the Roman Catholic principle of the universal destination of goods. That post, I emphasized the point that Rome’s doctrine of mass, taxpayer subsidized immigration, migration and refugee resettlement is not some isolated teaching, quite apart from other ideas advanced by the Roman Church-State. Rather, it is part of a larger body of teaching by Rome known as the Social Teaching of the Church.

Economics is part of the Roma Catholic Church’s Social Teaching. And, as noted in the quote at the top of this post, the most important principle in Roman Catholic economic thought is the universal destination of goods. The universal destination of goods rests on the false idea – a false idea promulgated by Greek and Roman philosophers, transmitted by the early church fathers, taught by Thomas Aquinas, the official philosopher of the Roman Church-State, and which serves as the foundation of all of Rome’s Social Teaching – that God originally gave the Earth to all men in common. That is to say, Rome believes in original communism.

Remember, Roman Catholicism is not a random collection of ideas. It is a system of thought. As such, it is held together by certain common ideas. The latent original communism found in Roman Catholic economic thought, what the popes call the universal destination of goods, is one of the consistent threads binding together the vast body of Rome’s Social Teaching, of which its teaching on immigration is a part.

To give you a visual representation of the relationship that exists between Roman Catholic Social Teaching, it’s general position on immigration, and the specific application of its teaching on immigration to the United States. a simple outline will suffice.

The Social Teaching of the Church (begins with the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum, 1891) >

General statement of the church on migration (Exsul Familia Nazarathana, 1952) >

Specific application to the Church’s teaching on migration to the United States (Strangers No Longer, 2003)

Last week, I provided a quote from The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church illustrating the fundamental importance of the universal destination of goods in Roman Catholic Social Teaching. In part, the quote read, “The universal right to use the goods of the earth is based on the principle of the universal destination of goods…The right to the common use of goods is the first principle of the whole ethical and social order’ and ‘the characteristic principle of Christian social doctrine.’ ”

Lord willing, perhaps as soon as next week, I will make the Biblical case against the universal destination of goods. Since Rome’s Social Teaching is systematic, and since the universal destination of goods is, by Rome’s own admission, central to The Social Teaching of the Church, a Biblical refutation of the universal destination of goods constitutes a refutation, not just of Rome’s doctrine of immigration, but of the entire body of Rome’s Social Teaching. That is to say, the whole structure of Rome’s Social Teaching, including its ungodly doctrine of immigration, collapses like a house of cards.

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. But before laying the axe to the root of Rome’s Social Teaching, I would like to demonstrate to you just how systematically Rome has worked the universal destination of goods into it teaching on immigration.

Posted in Immigration, Politics | Tagged Antichrist, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Exsul Familia, John Robbins, Roman Catholic Social Teaching, Strangers No Longer, Universal Destination of Goods | 2 Comments »

Mexico, Mass Migration and the Example of Moses Part 18: The Universal Destination of Goods and Rome’s Ungodly Doctrine of Migration

February 10, 2019 by Steve Matthews

The popes have expressed their hatred, not only of Protestantism…but also for the political and economic expression of Christianity: capitalism..such statements…are part of a system of thought that is one of the most impressive systems yet devised by men.

– John W. Robbins, Ecclesiastical Megalomania, p.24

One of the many problems with Protestantism in its dilapidated, early 21st century manifestation is the refusal of both its leading thinkers and church members to think systematically. One of the hallmarks of the Reformation was the rejection of logical contradiction by Luther, Calvin and others. But today, the heirs of the Reformation think rejecting logical thought to be the very height of piety.

In the decadent early 21st century, many of those who lay claim to the mantel of Luther and Calvin seem to long for a sort of theological medieval magical mystery tour where logic is curbed and paradox rules the day. To the extent that they reject logic in favor of intuition, paradox mystery, these men unfit themselves not only to proclaim the Gospel of Justification by Belief Alone, but also to deal with the massive and ongoing assault by the Roman Church-State on the remnants of Western Civilization, a civilization born out of the preaching of the Gospel in 16th century Europe.

As this author has discussed throughout this series, the mass migration of Mexicans and people from other Latin American nations into the United States though our southern border with Mexico is the practice of the migration theory of the Roman Church State. Further, the migration theory of the Roman Church-State is itself derived from a larger body of Romanist thought know as the Social Doctrine of the Church.

Not only does Rome teach heresy, but it teaches organized, systematic heresy.

Were its teaching on immigration, migration and refugee resettlement merely ad hoc doctrines, they would be dangerous enough. But because Rome has integrated its teachings in these areas into “one of the most impressive systems [of thought] yet devised by men” to borrow John Robbins’ turn of phrase, its teachings on migration have become a category five hurricane that threatens to blow away the tottering structure of what remains of Western Civilization.

Posted in Immigration | Tagged Antichrist, Ecclesiastical Megalomania, Immigration, John Robbins, Roman Catholic Social Teaching, Roman Church-State | 5 Comments »

WAPO to RBG Doubters: Just Shut up and Believe Us Already

February 10, 2019 by Steve Matthews

According to a recent article in the Washington Post, if you don’t believe Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the very picture of physical health, you’re a nutjob, a wingnut, and an internet conspiracy theorist.

The piece by Eli Rosenberg and Abby Ohlheiser cites WaPo veteran Robert Barnes as being amazed that anyone, ANYONE!, would doubt that RBG is anything other than hale and hearty.

“A falsehood has been spreading in dark corners of the Internet that Ginsburg is dead,” write Rosenberg and Ohlheiser. The article then goes on to take shots are fringe “right wing Internet culture,” the sort of fringe culture that dares to raises doubts about official narratives put forth in the MSM.

The article even attempts to pin on the egregious fake news reports from a few weeks back – fake news reported on CNN and in WaPo itself about how MAGA hat wearing students from Covington Catholic High School were supposedly responsible for harassing a Native American Vietnam Veteran at the Indigenous People’s March in Washington D.C. – on independent journalists on Twitter.

Yes, we’re to believe that the mighty WaPo was taken in by “Two anonymous Twitter accounts,” that it was just following these anonymous accounts’ lead when it wrote about the “racist” actions of the high school students, and that it is in no way responsible for pushing a false narrative by publishing stories with headlines such as this: ” ‘Opposed to the dignity of the human person’: Kentucky Catholic dioceses condemns teens who taunted vet at March for Life.” If that’s true, then WaPo’s an even more pathetic joke of a newspaper than I thought.

But perhaps there’s a method to WaPo’s lame attempt to lay the blame on Twitter for their editorial mistake, they, along with a number of other news organizations and individuals, have been served a legal hold notice by the lawyer representing the students in anticipation of a possible lawsuit.

But what’s really odd about this piece from WaPo is its complete lack of evidence that RBG is, in fact, alive. There are no recent photos of her out in public. There are no videos. There are no quotes of any recent public statement from the judge.

The only “proof” offered to readers is Robert Barnes’ report that he saw RBG at a public performance, where, conveniently, we are told that “Photos were not allowed.”

Once you strip out the article’s rant on independent internet journalists, what you have is a very obvious appeal to authority. The fallacious argument runs thus, You have to believe that RBG is alive and well, because veteran WaPo reporter and editor Robert Barnes said so.

For my part, I don’t pretend to know the status of RBG’s physical health. It may be that she’s hale and hearty. Perhaps she’s alive but is seriously impaired, physically, mentally or both. It may be that she’s shuffled off this mortal coil.

The disappearance of Ruth Bader Ginsburg from the public eye is no small matter. Americans have a right to know whether government officials, elected or appointed, are capable of carrying out the duties of their office. Raising questions about Ginsburg’s physical fitness for office is not conspiracy theory, it’s a matter of national security.

If she’s healthy enough to serve as a judge, this is easy enough to prove. Let her make a public appearance and remove all doubt. If her health prevents her from sitting on the bench to hear arguments, the American people need to know this. Further, if this is the case, judge Ginsburg has an obligation to resign her post and allow the Senate to confirm a new judge in her place.

If judge Ginsburg is dead, then those who are hiding this fact are committing one of the greatest frauds in American political history and need themselves to be held accountable.

But whatever the case may be, WaPo’s readers, and Americans generally, deserve better than condescending reports about the health of a Supreme Court justice that tell them in so many words, just shut up and believe us already.

Posted in Politics | Tagged Fake News, MSM, SCOTUS | Leave a Comment »

Mexico, Mass Migration and the Example of Moses Part 17: What Christians Must Do to Defeat Rome’s Ungodly Immigration Policies

February 3, 2019 by Steve Matthews

Pope Francis holds mass in Juarez on the U.S.-Mexico border, February 17, 2016. Shortly afterward, Francis attacked then presidential candidate Donald Trump for his promise to build a border wall to prevent illegal immigration from Mexico to the U.S.

“We can no longer sustain unacceptable economic inequality, which prevents us from applying the principle of the universal destination of the earth’s goods.”

– Pope Francis

Of all political issues of our time, immigration has to rank among the most likely to trigger a viscerally emotional response. This is true regardless of which side of the debate one is on. Daniel McAdams – a Libertarian, former Congressional staffer for Ron Paul and current co-host of the Liberty Report – has said that immigration was his least favorite topic to discuss for this very reason.

On the other hand, there are few topics that this author finds more interesting and perhaps none on which he has written more extensively. Although immigration can bring out the emotions as few issues can, ultimately the immigration debate is not one of competing emotions, but of competing ideas. As such, it has been this author’s endeavor to keep the focus of this series on ideas, not on people. My hope in doing so is to make the case that, contrary to the propaganda one hears from the globalists, immigrants, migrants and refugees have no claim on the goods of the citizens of host nations. Further, there exists no concomitant obligation on the part of the citizens of host nations to meet the perceived needs of the migrants.

Anyone who makes such an argument has opened himself up to charges of racism, bigotry, xenophobia and selfishness. Such is the underlying assumption in nearly every article that appears in the mainstream press. All such assumptions are rubbish.

Rather than asking why those who oppose the sort of mass migration prompted by the globalists in general, and by the Pope and the Roman Church-State in particular, are such bigots, the proper question is to ask why those who promote mass, taxpayer subsidized, nation breaking immigration, migration and refugee resettlement are such thieves. For the sort of immigration programs supported by the Pope are in reality nothing less than an attempt to justify theft, and theft on a global scale at that.

As John Robbins noted in his lectures on economics, the concept of theft logically depends on the prior concept of property. The context for his remarks was his discussion of the famous maxim of French anarchist Pierre Joseph-Proudhon “Property is theft.” Robbins argued that Proudhon’s statement was nonsense. Theft, said Robbins, depends on the idea of property. If one believes that the idea of property itself is illegitimate, as Proudhon’s statement implies, it is pointless to talk about theft.

It may come as a surprise to many on both sides of the immigration debate – both those promoting Rome’s vision of unrestricted mass immigration, migration and refugee resettlement and those opposed to it – to hear that having a correct, that is to say a Biblical, view of property is the key to settling the issue of immigration. Yet this author is convinced that such is the case.

Lord willing, this discussion about property will look at the issue from two angles. First, I would like to recap some of what has already been written in the series about Rome’s antichristian, collectivist theory of property known as the universal destination of goods. Second, I shall refute Rome’s false doctrine of property with the words of Scripture, using John Robbins’ doctoral dissertation on Sir Robert Filmer to highlight what the Bible says on the subject of the origin and transmission of property.

To summarize what shall follow, it is this author’s contention that the Bible’s teaching on property represents a complete refutation of Rome’s false doctrine of the universal destination of goods. Since the universal destination of goods is the philosophical foundation of all Rome’s teachings on immigration, migration and refugee resettlement, by refuting it, one refutes the entire theoretical body of Antichrist’s teachings in these areas and exposes his practices of them as the enormous sins and crimes which they truly are.

Posted in Immigration, Politics | Tagged Antichrist, Pope Francis, Roman Catholic Social Teaching, Roman Church-State, Universal Destination of Goods | 2 Comments »

Say It Ain’t So! Trump and the Times Agree, Maduro’s Gotta Go

January 30, 2019 by Steve Matthews

Nicholas Maduro, who at least for today is President of Venezuela.

“…Large protests all across Venezuela today against Maduro. The fight for freedom has begun!”

– Donald J. Trump

“To end the Maduro regime with the minimum of bloodshed, we need the support of pro-democratic governments, institutions and individuals the world over.”

– New York Times Editorial, January 30, 2019

Much is made of the current acrimony in American politics. Trump supporters can’t stand Nancy Pelosi, and the SJW’s in the orbit of the Democratic party detest the very mention of Trump’s name.

What is more, the longest government shutdown in American history just ended with a temporary cease fire between the White House and Congressional Democrats over funding for the border wall.

America is a house divided, so we’re told. Quite obviously, the cold American civil war some have written about is ready to explode into a real civil war. Right?

Well, not so fast. It seems there’s more unity, at least among the American establishment, than one would gather from watching the evening news.

Want proof? Just consider the two quotes above, one from a recent Tweet by President Trump, the other from today’s New York Times editorial page.

Some may find the agreement between Trump and the Times surprising. After all, the Donald and the Times have pretty much been locked in a state of verbal warfare ever since the New York billionaire declared his candidacy in the summer of 2015. Trump is the Yin to the Times’ Yang, how is it possible for them to agree on anything?

And yet, they do.

In this case, they both believe in America’s exceptional right to decide who the leader of a foreign country will be.

Posted in Foreign Policy | Tagged Donald Trump, Westphalian Sovereignty, Westphalian World Order | Leave a Comment »

The Wall, The Donald and the Democrats: Part 3

January 27, 2019 by Steve Matthews

american gothic

“In a short while, I will sign a bill to open our government for three weeks.”

– President Donald J. Trump

Today’s post is the third and final installment of this series titled The Wall, The Donald and the Democrats, the purpose of which has been to analyze the debate over the border wall.

This post was written last weekend, before President Trump’s decision to temporarily end the government shut down without first securing funding the border wall.

This is a deeply disappointing development from the perspective of those, this author included, who had hoped, for once!, that the Republicans would stand up to the Democrats and actually do something about border security.

Perhaps the wall still will be built, but I’m less optimistic today than I was before Trump’s announcement on Friday 1/25 when he indicated that he was bringing the government shut down to a temporary end.

But even if the wall is built, Trump’s decision to fold on the shut down raises an important question. Namely, even if the wall gets built, will the political price be so high as to strip it of all benefit to the American people?

The word is that Jared Kushner is floating the idea of giving green cards to the DACA recipients. Who knows, Kushner may even offer them citizenship. If either of these two options occurs, then we’re right back to the same situation where we’ve been in the past: The Democrats get the immediate benefit of new Democratic voters via immigration amnesty while Republicans get promises – promises which somehow never seem to materialize – of future border security.

In other words, once again Lucy will have tricked Charlie Brown by pulling the football away.

Posted in Immigration, Politics | Tagged Donald Trump, Immigration, Oligarchy, The Wall | Leave a Comment »

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Lux Lucet

The Bible alone is the Word of God.

Do the Democrats Want to Start a Race War?

Rome and the Green New Deal

WAPO to RBG Doubters: Just Shut up and Believe Us Already

Say It Ain’t So! Trump and the Times Agree, Maduro’s Gotta Go

The Wall, The Donald and the Democrats: Part 3

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