Some older folks will remember EvKL – he used to write a lot in National Review back in the days when it mattered. Upon this comment on X, another person noted that it really started with the Reformation. And then in the comments one wag noted it all started in the Garden. Which is true – it is because we’re Fallen that we’re ultimately in this mess…though we Christians believe we have been given the exit. But outside our hope in the life of the world to come, it is important to go back and see where the mistake was made. EvKL (who, like me, was a Monarchist at heart) believed it was in the tearing down of the old system of European Christendom with its monarchies and feudal loyalties. The problem being that the common people would not and really could not transfer their loyalty from their local lord and national king over to a parliament of fools endlessly arguing when they weren’t stealing. As the historian Edward Crankshaw noted, a king believing he rules by divine right is being pious…a elected official thinking he’s the only person in the world suited for the office is being arrogant. It is good to note here that EvKL fully approved of the American Republic at its founding. What happened since then he was much less pleased with but the concept of the Constitution with its king-like President, appointive Senate, popularly elected House and an independent but limited Judiciary combined the best of all government worlds.
All love to my Protestant brothers and sisters, I do fall into the camp where it was the Reformation which got the ball of destruction rolling. Not that reform isn’t periodically needed in the Church but that in denying there is a central authority outside of individual control it set the stage for all the destruction to follow. Sola scriptura might work if everyone always agreed on what the scriptura meant. Because we’re Fallen, we don’t. We can’t. And so a central body needs to exist which will decide in the end what it means. And to this decree all must bend. And that is how it was for a thousand years until some of the kings of Europe decided that backing Luther and the other Reformers was the way to go. This was mostly from mercenary motives (a Christianity lacking monks and nuns means there’s a huge amount of wealth available for confiscation) but the bottom line is that it worked. At the conclusion of the Thirty Years War in 1648, the unity of Christendom was broken forever. At first, it didn’t seem like much but the fact that people could now argue endlessly about the nature of God opened up a can of worms…worms eagerly devoured a century later by the so-called Enlightenment philosophers who proceeded to argue about the very nature of humanity and reality. All in the name of Liberty, of course. But as for Liberty:
Nothing is more pleasant, nothing more flattering to our self-esteem, than wholly unrestricted liberty. Liberty is the word which has supplanted the word religion in our enlightened century when every one thinks and acts in the light of his own convictions or calculations…They condemn the past for its ignorance and prejudice, while knowing nothing at all about the past and not much more about the present. Should I ever see that these so-called wise men and philosophers were happier in the undertakings and more content in their private lives, then I should be guilty of bias, pride, prejudice and obstinacy if I did not follow their example. Unfortunately, however, the experience of every day convinces me of the contrary. Nobody is weaker, nobody more cowardly than these strong spirits: nobody more servile, nobody more cast down by the least unpleasantness than they. They are bad fathers, sons, husbands, ministers, generals and citizens. And why? Because they lack foundations. All their philosophy, all their principles arise only from their own self regard; the least mishap throws them down, with no resources to fall back upon. – Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, 1717-1780
Maria Theresa was not one of those massively educated people. She had the normal education of a Princess of her time but, my goodness, did she get some experience of life. That was written in a letter to her younger son in regards to her older son and heir who was very much a fan of the Enlightenment. Her older son was arrogant, self-centered and cruel…so, a very modern man. He was trying to tell her how badly she was governing the Empire…and you think about it in context and its this privileged rich boy telling his mother who had governed for decades and had navigated the Empire through two massive wars that she had no idea what she was doing. You can see why mom was irritated in that letter! And she was right – if the Enlightenment was producing the better man, then she’d be a fool not to sign up for it…but she saw in her own son and his associates just what sort of person was being bred by Enlightenment philosophy and she was very much dismayed by what she saw coming.
And she saw correctly – take a look at our Left today. Our Progressives. Our people who claim they just want to be free to do as they like. Have you ever seen more servile and cowardly people? People more easily thrown into despair by the tiniest set back? The blue haired ladies putting out videos of themselves screaming in their cars about Trump are the final result of the Enlightenment. For heaven’s sake, get over yourselves! But, they can’t – because they have no foundation. They don’t really believe anything and so have nothing to ground themselves on. For us on our side, the joy remains…because we know that even if the very worst thing happens to us, God is there…we will be rescued. This allows for a sense of peace…and builds into us at least some measure of courage. We don’t want to die. We don’t want to lose all we have. But we can do both…knowing that in the end death is the path to life and what we have is nothing compared to eternal life.
The most important thing a person can have is humility. I can’t be emphasized enough how important it is to be humble. Remember, the most humble human being who ever lived was Jesus who is God. To understand that you can’t, on your own, figure it all out is the first step to sanity. We don’t bend to Authority because we’re slaves but because that is the path to real freedom. It is simply saying, “you know, I believe it might be this way and I won’t just accept what others say, but I admit that I may be wrong and I’ll accept reasoned correction”. That is what the arrogant moderns cannot accept. It is why we can argue with Progressives until we’re blue in the face and no matter the facts or logic provided, they won’t change. They have no humility – they believe they’ve figured it out. That they are the smartest people in the room.
I don’t know if we can, as it were, manufacture humility. That is, convince the arrogant to give up their pride. It might take events – lots of very bad events – to humble their pride. But no matter how you slice it, humility is the only path to victory here. That is, only by humbling ourselves are we going to find the right thing to do. That is what we lost between the Reformation and the Enlightenment…and that is what will be there when we do win.
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The most important thing a person can have is humility. I can’t be emphasized enough how important it is to be humble.
Of all the elements of faith, humility was the toughest for me to wrap my head around. Like loving my enemy, I still haven’t conquered it completely, but then I doubt many people ever do. I do believe God knows when we’re giving it our best effort.
It is hard, isn’t it?
I saw a meme where the phrase went along the lines of, “do you want to be a genuine warrior for Christ?” and then a picture of a knight on a horse…in small type at the bottom, “then pray for someone who irritates you”. So, too, being a bit humble. I’m much more so than I was before…this is partially a function of age, I’m sure, because as the mistakes have piled up, that whole Pride thing gets a little silly.
I could not agree more. Some things (besides wine) do get better with age.
Humility is the simple acknowledgement that there are greater things than oneself. I don’t find that too hard to accept, particularly when you consider the majesty of our universe and the wonders of our own world. I read a fascinating article the other day written by a Harvard scientist who says anti matter proves Gods existence. It’s a great read and should humble everyone who reads it. The other simple truth of life should also humble everyone and that is .. everything in this physical world is temporary. The mightiest of Kings have always died and left all their power and treasure behind. That should tell you something. Read this
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14465161/Harvard-scientist-says-God-formula-proves-creator.html
WHOA! (Or, as our illiterate friends insist on saying, “WOAH!” because nothing conveys a strong reaction like a made-up word)—
I had to get to the end of this letter to realize it was not written in the last couple of years, by any of countless Conservatives. It deserves a new category: THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME
Which prompts me to suggest another new category: IT’S ABOUT D**MNED TIME!
BAM! FBI Director Kash Patel Charges Three Traitors With Treason
So, no more delicately tiptoeing around treason because, well, to acknowledge it might be mean or something? (Vindman comes to mind.) OK, maybe not all violations of our espionage and secrecy laws are actually treason, like the acquisition and selling of classified information done by these three, but they are illegal, just the same. And the laws have been violated with confidence that nothing will be done. (Hillary comes to mind.)
Hopefully Patel is signaling a new era in enforcement of laws regarding various levels of espionage and violation of laws.
“For the average person, all problems date to WW II: For the more informed, to WW I: For the genuine historian, to the French Revolution.”
Like many if not most of us, I had bought into the usual narrative of the inspiration and virtues of the French Revolution. Then I read Ann Coulter’s dissection of this event and have never seen it the same. David Limbaugh addressed her descriptions of the revolution in an old article in Newsmax: emphasis mine
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“a select group of elites with absolutely no grasp of human nature will figure out the program (and) inflexibly impose it on the people” There can’t be a better illustration of Leftist governance.
Many years back I was banned from commenting on a particular blog – explicitly Catholic, no less! – because I pointed out that the real impulse behind the French Revolution was that the bankers wanted to get paid. The French government was bankrupt but sitting right over there, propped up by and propping up in return, was the French Catholic Church holding at least 10% of all real property in France. The only way to extract those funds was to overthrow the Ancien Regime. It is amazing how many people are totally committed to a Narrative even when it is obvious that Narrative is Leftist in nature and destructive to any religious or conservative ends.
Liberté, égalité, fraternité still held up as something worthwhile…as if they aren’t contradictory words. The bankers might have got the ball rolling (and they did get paid), but Marat, Danton and Robespierre had their own ideas – and did mobilize the mob to first get rid of the monarchy entirely, and then place themselves in control so they could remake France as it suited them. All three wound up dead (Marat by assassination, Danton and Robespierre on the same guillotine they had so eagerly employed on others). It was the fate of the three that inspired people like Lenin and Hitler to ensure they had a devoted bodyguard to kill anyone who might become a threat (Lenin’s Cheka, Hitler’s SS). All in all, the French Revolution was a horror and the basis for all the other hideous revolutions since then.
Democrats, says Coulter, “are heirs to the French Revolution, the uprising of a mob,” whereas “conservatives are heirs to the American Revolution and the harmonious order of a republic.”
I’m not a big Ann Coulter fan, but that is the most concise descriptive comparison of Left and Right that I’ve ever heard.
Until she contracted TDS she made a lot of sense and wrote some great books. She was also wickedly funny. I will give her credit—in spite of her obvious personal dislike of Trump she seems to be opening up to the good work he is getting done.
Update: Senator Kennedy has replaced the term “soy boy” with “tofu crowd”. (Though “soy boy” will always have Honorable Mention and a spot in the narrative.)
Another great opinion piece from amuseonX, this time on what might turn out to be the only true Constitutional crisis of our time. That is, when is a president not a president? Regarding the potential legitimacy, or illegitimacy, of the Biden “signatures” that were not done by him but by an autopen, with no evidence that he actually personally authorized them. (emphasis mine)
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Can we even say that Biden’s aides “act under his authority” if he repeatedly asserts that he did not know something was signed in his name, as he did in his meeting with Speaker Johnson? This leads to an even more important question: Was he mentally capable of having or exerting authority?
IMO, nothing signed by an auto-pen has authority…I mean, the letters I have for Reagan noting the passing of my grandfather and Obama that of my father were signed by an auto-pen and that’s fine. It isn’t a legal document. But a law or executive order? Something that can result in people dying? Oh, heck no. I’m sure they’ve got some law in there allowing it but that would need to be changed. The President must take personal responsibility for Executive actions.
It appears there is no legislated law, just an “opinion” from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in 2005 saying merely that “an autopen was permissible if authorized by the President”. That just takes us back to the two core questions: what was and was not actually “authorized by the President” and did the President have the mental capacity to understand and authorize anything?
I understand that if a questioned signature led to actions being taken, money being spent, etc. it is not possible to unring that bell. But in the case of batches of preemptive pardons, for “crimes” never specified or charged, the question takes on a different significance.
Its a tricky thing to do but Trump’s people should look into voiding any act allegedly done by Biden…as you noted, some bells can’t be un-rung but those late pardons! Such a massive number there was zero chance that even a cognizant Biden would have been able to be familiar with the cases before signature.
I know that there would be Dem hair on fire over canceling the pardons, but that would be a pro forma objection as the cancellation wouldn’t really have an effect on Dems in general. They don’t care about Hunter, and leaving the rest out in the cold to deal with whatever might come their way really wouldn’t make much difference to them. No one is going to go to war for Liz, or Fauci. But if a hearing could prove that Biden was not mentally competent, and more to the point that the party supported turning over the reins of government to unknown, unelected, ‘aides” or even Jill, that would do some harm to them. And it would defang the hysterics about “President Musk”.
The pardons could be a symbol of the train wreck that was the Biden presidency and a warning about having another Dem in the White House given the complicity of the party in hiding his deficiencies and lying about them.
That would be worth doing, for sure. Just to get in on the record, as it were.
Where are the people howling that “No one elected Musk” when unelected political appointees are making law by signing Joe Biden’s name to formal, legal, documents? At least Musk isn’t pretending to be the president, just representing an agenda of the president as an employee of the federal government, with no real personal authority.
But who came up with the extensive list of people who received preemptive pardons for unstated, uncharged, crimes, just in case they might be charged in the future? And who signed those “pardons”? Was it really Joe Biden?
Where are the people howling that “No one elected Musk” when unelected political appointees are making law by signing Joe Biden’s name to formal, legal, documents?
I’ve seen this question asked on several different forums without response. Silence often speaks louder than words.
That NO ONE on Team Donkey could have foreseen things like this speaks volumes about their level of intelligence: