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nChrist
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« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2015, 07:31:43 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 9-28-2015
From The Federalist Patriot
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When he addressed17 a joint session of Congress on Thursday, he offered a similar take, further implying America has a unique responsibility in that regard. “On this continent, too, thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life,” he said. “Is this not what we want for our own children?” One sentence later his agenda became far more transparent18: “We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation.”
That is a profoundly Christian view individuals must heed, but it requires nuance and adjustment when applied to national policy.
Americans are taken aback by the free-for-all at our southern border and, frankly, what they want and what the Catholic Church wants are hardly in alignment. While many Americans have been cowed into silence by the political Left and its media enablers who label any resistance to the fundamental transformation of America into a polyglot of statist-loving sub-groups as xenophobic or nativist, there is little doubt they believe America should prioritize the interests of Americans19.
The priorities of the American Catholic Church are another matter altogether. There has been a precipitous decline20 in America’s Christian population, with Catholics and mainline Protestants taking the biggest hit over the last seven years, according to a Pew Research Center survey. And while the Conference on Catholic Bishops seemingly recognizes21 a right for a country to maintain its territorial integrity, they ultimately insist that “the first principle of Catholic social teaching regarding immigrants is that people have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and the lives of their families,” and that the “native does not have superior rights over the immigrant.” In 2013 the Church announced22 a coordinated effort aimed at pushing Congress to embrace the pro-amnesty agenda known as “comprehensive immigration reform,” even as it was revealed Hispanics have become the Church’s largest demographic group.
In other words, despite all the pieties, practicality explains the Church’s motivation: More Hispanic immigrants, legal or illegal, equals more Catholics sitting in Church pews on Sunday.
The immigrants' motivation to move northward is primarily economic — as in away from the basket cases in Central and South America to the so-called land of plenty. Ironically, Pope Francis embraces23 the Marxist-influenced, anti-capitalist ideas emanating from the “liberation theology” that gained popularity24 in the ‘70s, especially in the pope’s home country of Argentina. “And he carried that into the Vatican,” explains25 columnist Charles Krauthammer. “So, it’s completely understandable that he would complete and repeat and amplify the anti-capitalist message.” Krauthammer further notes that “if you adopt liberation theology economics, the ones who suffer most, as in Argentina, are the poor.”
Thus, whether Pope Francis realizes it or not, he is taking a typically leftist position of embracing a disastrous idea that creates a big problem, while calling for a “solution” that creates an even bigger problem. In other words, if Latin American countries embraced genuine free market capitalism and an affinity for Rule of Law, the need to “travel north in search of a better life” would become moot. And while the pope may be sanguine about the current influx levels, a Senate report reveals26 the sobering details: America already has 10 million more foreign-born citizens than the entire European Union, and more immigrants admitted than all 21 Latin American and 27 EU nations combined.
Which brings us to the “do as I say not as I do” part of the equation regarding the pope’s current “country,” more familiarly known as Vatican City. As The Washington Times indelicately reveals27, while the Vatican welcomes millions of visitors on an annual basis, “only a very select few, who meet strict criteria” are admitted as citizens. According to a 2012 Library of Congress report, such citizens include church cardinals, the pope’s diplomats around the world, and those with job-related citizenship, such as the Swiss Guard and maintenance workers. The Times notes that Francis has responded to criticism from Italian leaders who bristle at the pope’s call for immigration leniency with “a vow that the Vatican itself would take in a couple of refugee families” [emphasis added].
Two refugee families is a symbolic commitment. Amnesty for 11 million illegals is not. Furthermore, while the pope advocates for what is essentially a borderless world, the massive walls28 that surround the Vatican remind us that no one is immune from leftist double-standards. Double standards that extend to championing the huge financial burdens that accrue for nations tasked with absorbing millions of migrants, even as the vast29 and largely inestimable wealth of the Catholic Church will never be sold off to mitigate those burdens.
New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin calls30 Pope Francis “an inspiring example for all mankind” — politics aside. That idea was put a far better way31 more than 2,000 years ago. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” said Jesus Christ. Amen to that.
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OPINION IN BRIEF
John Goodman: “The marketplace uniquely melds altruism and self-interest. Take Bill Gates, the man who pioneered the personal computer revolution. By empowering computer users everywhere, he became the world’s richest man; and now he is giving all his wealth away. Was he motivated by selfishness? Or was he altruistically trying to create the greatest good for the greatest number? The beauty of the marketplace is that Gates’ motivation doesn’t matter. You get pretty much the same result either way. In a voluntary exchange, both parties are made better off. Moreover, new entrants into a real market are opportunities for more mutually beneficial exchanges. But under zero sum rationing, other people are a threat. One person’s gain is invariably another person’s loss. One person’s place in the bread line is a place another cannot have. One person’s state-owned housing unit is an apartment another cannot have. It is under statism, not capitalism, that the powerful exploit the powerless. And unlike Bill Gates, socialist rulers derive their income by theft, not by trade.” |
