I was frequently swayed by the media politically, especially after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. I found myself always angry at something and I wasn’t looking at the person, but the ideas that they held. If a woman was proud of her abortion, I saw her as evil, over a deeply pained woman that needs support. If someone was in a homosexual relationship, I saw them as disgusting individuals who were breaking the bonds of traditional marriage, instead of lost people who needed the love of Christ.
For Lent, I gave up all social media, because I saw how much it was plaguing my empathetic view of other people. It was by far the best decision I’ve ever made. Even without social media, though, it was impossible to avoid the negativity and now that I have social media back (even with more moderate usage), I can feel the hopelessness rising.
As a child, I was frequently taught that we were always supposed to leave something better than the way we found it. This applied to society and such too. For example, I have an early memory of planting a tree for Earth Day with my teacher and other classmates. Many children didn’t see the point of it since we wouldn’t get to see it grow to its maximum, including me. She told us that it is our duty to leave the Earth beautiful for the people that come after us. As a child, this lesson didn’t really stick with me, if I didn’t see the rewards of my efforts, it didn’t matter (I was kind of a selfish kid). Seeing it now though, it all makes sense. What makes me upset though is that this lesson had to have been taught to my parents generation and my grandparents generation, or else how would it come to me? Now, it’s my turn to be an adult and it’s impossible to survive. Gas is $4.30 where I live, everyone says they’re hiring but they never do, rent is at an all time high, the car and housing market are insane. How am I expected to leave this place better if I’m picking up the pieces from the generation that didn’t care?
At this point, I really try to stay out of the negative light of politics, but I can’t help but see our current president and blame him for some of it. Israel receives roughly 3.8 billion tax dollars from us every year, but we still have people sleeping on the streets in our country. Our priorities are in the wrong order. It truly doesn’t feel like American interest is in the president’s mind. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that he does what is right; but, currently, nothing is going right.
My friend Dick Peacock was a rail passenger advocate and also worked on maintaining trails in the mountains of Virginia. At the memorial service for him about nine years ago, the protestant minister, who knew Dick, compared him to someone in the Bible whose work benefited others he would never meet.
A few years later I was up in Vermont, and at Sunday Mass the pastor encouraged everyone to do something to benefit people they would never meet. The parish was having a collection for new hymnals, and with a certain donation you could have someone’s name in the hymnal, in memory of the person. After Mass I told the pastor how his sermon reminded me of my friend Dick Peacock, and now in a church in Vermont there should be a hymnal with his name in it.
I often joke that I have little-to-no empathy (my family on my Mom’s side is mostly German and my family on my Dad’s side is half German, half hill-billy : )
Both the act of abortion and homosexual acts are immoral and gross, but you are absolutely correct. We should will the good of others, even when they choose a path that is not good. We do not want to become so empathetic that we say that these behaviors are good, but we cannot control what choices others make in their own lives. You could outlaw the behavior and still fallen people will do fallen things. And most of the fallen politicians who make the laws have done fallen things. I’m not saying this to justify any fallen behavior. We should still will the good of others, especially when they sin.
This is why I thought (and still think cancel-culture was (and is) bad. Excommunication has always been about correction, not about destroying someone. Cancel-culture is about destroying someone. There seems to be little room for reconciliation in the culture of cancelship and that is my problem with it.
I’m not a fan of Stephen King (especially not his political views), but he did apologize for something he had said on Twitter and I think that was commendable. It was not some fake apology. I think he saw, genuinely, how he had made a mistake. I can’t remember what it was, but I saw some who refused to accept his apology and I thought this was just as bad as whatever he originally said.
This is by design. Both sides need their people outraged, because: 1) it is easy to manipulate someone who is angry or fearful and 2) it gets people to take action (whether that is voting, protesting, donating, or what have you).
There is a difference between being a good steward (what you are talking about) and pushing an ideology of climate change, which is a form of redistribution of wealth tied to emotion. Climate change is a political tool.
I am not a tree-hugger, but I recycle (though often recycling ends up in the landfills without us even knowing). I also don’t like the amount of plastic that our food is wrapped in and even the amount of grocery bags that they use when you do a pick-up (if anyone picks up their groceries). My daughter just got a job as a picker at a grocery store and when I complained to her about this, she said that you do have the option to say “no bags” and actually she would prefer this, because then she can just throw everything into the bins without having to think about which items need to be bagged by themselves (based on store policy) and which can be put in bags with other items. I usually say no bags. I can take multiple trips or bring my own bags from home.
Then you look at what food you have bought. So much is individually wrapped in plastic. Sure it lasts longer. We recently got rid of our plastic containers for left-overs and replaced them with glass ones.
I was against California banning plastic bags. I’m not about legislating the market. If you want to persuade individuals that they should use less plastic that is fine, but I’m not about politicians thinking they know best. There are always trade-offs to anything in life.
We know what causes inflation. Every politician (Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, and anyone else) should read “Basic Economics” by the great Thomas Sowell or “What Has Government Done to Our Money?” by Murray N. Rothbard. The Democrats blame Republicans and the Republicans blame the Democrats, while neither see themselves at fault.
We can blame the generations before us, but what are we doing? We let our children sit on tablets all day long, everything is becoming artificial (our foods, our jobs, and our intelligence). We are enslaving the next generation, because we have allowed ourselves to become enslaved.
When it comes to gas prices, I have a different frame of mind. Gas, until recently, has usually been cheaper than a gallon of milk. And if you and I had to do everything that goes into either a gallon of milk or a gallon of gas, we would gladly pay the $4.30 per gallon! I know I would. Think about all that goes into a gallon of gas. They have to pull it from the ground, put it in a truck, refine it, put it back into a truck and deliver it to a station, then we pump it into our cars. I also would like to point out that if you look on your gas pump, in most States, they have a sticker that tells you what percentage you are paying for a gallon of gas is taxes. You are paying more in taxes than you may be aware when you fill up your car.
I know individuals who gladly pay more for a drink at Starbucks than they do for an entire gallon of milk or gas. My Grandma, who went through the great depression, and forever lived as if she was still living in the great depression, would have lost her mind if she knew what our generation pays for a coffee drink at 7 Brew!
Do not let the fear-porn make you lose what is good, true, and beautiful. Do not lose hope. I have heard too many young people not wanting to have children, because they “don’t want to bring up a child in this world.” That is super sad! My Grandma & Grandpa had eight children during the great depression. Sure, they had to milk their own cow, grow their own food, and had their own gas pump that you had to hand crank, but could buy gas in bulk, so that it was cheaper than going to the station. My Grandma became a nurse and that also helped cut down on health care as well. There was less government regulation back then and she was already pretty much doing what Doctor’s did back then. She could even right prescriptions (though I’m not sure if the Doc had to sign off on them or not, but these are the stories that have been passed on to us over the years).
There is a lot of hope in this world, and you are right, you will have to unplug from the system where you can. And it will make your life harder, but what you will get out of it will be greater than those who are just going along with the push.
Local politics is where it is at. National politics is a joke. And even local politics can be a joke. But, if you begin to view everything through the lens of entertainment, you get less angry and the things that are out of your control begin to matter less.
We have allowed our federal government to violate our Bill of Rights. Government violets our privacy through private deals with tech companies. Politicians interfere with the market by giving subsidies and implementing tariffs. Healthcare is more expensive, because government has gotten involved and there is less competition. There is a reason that the largest companies push for regulation and team up with government, to make it so others cannot compete. They cannot afford to comply.
When government defaults on their debt ($39 Trillion and counting), and implements a global, digital currency (that can be programmable to dictate what you are allowed to use your earning on and what you are prohibited from purchasing, based on your compliance), then the control that they have on your and my life will be irreversible.
But, here is the good news. They make everything consensual, but will use fear, shame, and other forms of wizardry to get you and me to comply. They will sell it to you as a convenience, but what is the trade-off? There are always trade-off’s.
There was a documentary that came out a few years ago called, “The Creepy Line” and it was talking about how technology that we never would have gone along with a decade or two decades ago, are now accepted by most of us. And Google knows this, so they had a philosophy of going right up to “the creepy line” and not crossing it, while knowing that the creepy line changes as a society begins to accept things they never thought they would.
Progressivism is not only evil, but understand that it cannot achieve its goals without in incrementalism [insert frogs in a boiling pot analogy here]. How did we get to transgenderism as being a cultural norm? First they had to get you comfortable with homosexuality. Not only comfortable, but celebrate it. It became the push on every form of entertainment (even true crime) and part of that push was making anyone who made their disordered attraction their identity, either a victim and/or a saint. They had to sanitize the behavior, so that it was more palatable to women and children. And I told my Wife back then (who watched a lot of shows where they were pushing LGB (there was not “T” yet) that the next push would be the trans stuff (and she thought I was crazy, because she was not comfortable with the LGB, and is still not thankfully).
I grew up listening to Gangsta Hip-Hop and Tupac once said in an interview that he makes music for the ladies, because the men who want the ladies will follow whatever they are pushing. And I think a lot of this is true. I look at my CD collection and there was a time in my life where a lot of the music I was into was the same music that some of the girls I liked were into.
When I found out as an adult that Tupac and a lot of these Rappers went to acting school before becoming “gangsta” rappers. How much of my were lies and manufactured persona?
Back to Charlie Kirk. Do you buy the narrative that he was shot by a kid who was dating a trans (furry) with his grandfather’s antique rifle? This should be discussed over on the Conspiracy Theories thread ; ) Because I’m not buying it.
Interesting post and you’ve filled in a gap where I have been wondering about where the US is in its position regarding worldwide socialism (Globalism). I watched a cartoon which came out of the US (I can’t remember the name; it was about a family) and they seemed to me to be socialist prototypes and was the most ghastly excuse for entertainment I’d ever had the misfortunate of sitting through.
Socialism is never good - think USSR and Nazi, both socialist. It is totalitarian by its very nature and which is policy. Always immoral.
It is not democracy which fails but those who wield authority in their misuse of power via an applied manipulation of the economy. Socialism can never be argued against because it is of no substance and has to simply be removed. You can’t argue with thin air, just as you can’t run through a brick wall.
Monarchies are only an ideal in a utopia because rule can turn into a dictatorship. Watch ‘The War of the Roses’ series with Cumberbatch. Absolutely not for the vulnerable or faint-hearted as it is extremely violent, graphic, in fact, while it gets the point across.
A senate in place within a republic is the closest you will get to a utopian ideal. Along with capitalism or ‘distributism’ and which I don’t know too much about. Capitalism always has to be aligned with an economic safety-net for the disadvantaged, while correct in itself as an economic system in support of one’s right to earn and make a profit and own.
[ The Liberal Democrats can be considered as the likely party in the US to adopt socialism; in the UK, the Left, although the Right has let everyone down and turned a blind eye to the needs of the populace and hoodwinked those who don’t wish to live under totalitarian governance. ]
“Both the act of abortion and homosexual acts are immoral and gross, but you are absolutely correct.”
Funny, while being totally true.
“There is a difference between being a good steward (what you are talking about) and pushing an ideology of climate change, which is a form of redistribution of wealth tied to emotion. Climate change is a political tool.”
Concise.
“When I found out as an adult that Tupac and a lot of these Rappers went to acting school before becoming “gangsta” rappers. How much of my were lies and manufactured persona?”
Acting school doesn’t do away with the fact that someone lived ‘in the hood’ and neither does it mean he can’t ‘rap’. Most rappers probably are creatives but just not all of them have attended a school for the arts.
(the final paragraph says nothing of my position regarding Catholics listening to the rap-music genre).
I’m not american, so I do not vote for US presidents. However, if i would vote, i would never vote in Trump. I havent selected ony othet, as I have low info about them, as I dont vote there I do not research other candidates.
I have never voted for President Trump, nor did I vote for the Democrats (they are also terrible). I am a Libertarian. In the last election, I voted for NOTA (none of the above). I did not like the Libertarian nominee either.
I second that affirmation. Being or supporting a Democrat is like calling the Devil your friend, buddy, pal, and comrad. “Do what you want, when you want, how you want, and to hell with everyone else”.
When you say “life-long” Democrat, do you mean that you have been voting Democrat all your life or that you have a life-time membership with the Democratic Party? Just curious what you mean.
When you say that you are a Cradle “Practicing” Catholic, does this mean that you agree that Abortion is immoral and an evil act (even in cases of incest and rąpe)?
What evidence do you have? Do you mean, because you identify as Catholic and support pro-abortion candidates that this is the evidence that “You can be both Catholic and a Democrat”?
I know Pro-Life Democrats and when I have reached out to them to explain to me how they can justify voting for pro-abortion candidates, I never get a response.
As a Libertarian, we have both pro-life and pro-abortion candidates. And I vote on a case-by-case basis:
I have voted for candidates who oppose the use of tax dollars to fund abortion and unjust wars, but who are quiet on their position on abortion (meaning that they are not celebrating abortion like many Democrats today do).
If a candidate gets the issue of life wrong, he/she loses credibility with me. This included Neo-Cons who support unjust wars.
If you could clarify for me what you mean by “life-long Democrat” and “practicing” Catholic for me that would be helpful. Because definitions matter. Many individuals call themselves “Catholic,” but do not adhere to the teachings of the Holy Bible and the successors of the Apostles (Sacred Tradition).
The Bible says we cannot serve two masters. If the Democratic Party asked you to support something that the Church (given the authority & responsibility by God) does not support, which would you be loyal to? Your Politics or your Faith?
For me, I do not make my Politics my Religion. The Party does not come before God, nor before what is right and just. And when what the Party claims to be right & just does not align with what God says is right & just, I submit to God, not man.
Now, Republicans sometimes claim to be on the side of what God says is right & just, but are not truly when you get down to it. They might say the right things, but their actions speak otherwise.
And I would never make the claim that Libertarians are on the side of what God says is right & just, but I also know many Libertarians who are.
I do not play the game of “lesser of two evils,” because you are going to say your candidate is the lesser of two evils and “they” are going to say that their candidate is the lesser of two evils. Neither side is discerning objectively, but rather are playing a team sport. For if they were looking objectively, they might find that NOTA is the best candidate. None of the Above is a part of libertarian tradition. We treat NOTA as a candidate (though some Libertarians might disagree, and that’s okay).
In the 2024 Presidential Election, I voted for NOTA. Chase Oliver perverts Christianity. And so does President Trump and President Biden/Kamala Harris (whom Democratic elites undemocratically swapped out later in the campaign).
I’m not asking for a candidate to legislate morality. I simply do not support someone who perverts morality.
As much as I have a lot to say on politics I have a lot of serious things going on in my life and will probably not have the time to enter into lengthy and elaborate discussion. I am a social Democrat in the Western European tradition. I feel much like the current pope,ie, between a rock and a hard place. I am opposed to abortion rights, respect the political rights of the lgbtq community without approving their morality and lifestyle. However I am appalled at the mistreatment of migrants and retrenchment in social welfare policy. I believe in universal health care and social programs that help the poor and marginalized. I believe that this is consistent with Christian values. Unfortunately in America there is no viable alternative except the Democratic and Republican parties. There is the American Solidarity Party, started mainly by Catholics, which supports universal health care and is opposed to abortion. But it is not on the ballot in nearly every state. The alternative is to not vote like a Jehovah’s Witness or violate your conscience and vote anyway for the lesser of the 2 evils whatever that is. There is an excellent song by Paul Simon called an American Tune which I think accurately describes our times. If I knew how I would attach it to this thread. Hope you look up the song.
Many people mistake democrats as representing democracy simply because the terms sound the same. I think that was just cheaty of the democrats to pick a similar sounding title for their party. Republicans are closer to Catholic tenets. Democrats come across in their representatives view on all things moral as anti-Christian (pro-choice, etc…).
I think that this statement is what Suzanne was calling a sweeping generalization.
I joined the American Solidarity Party a few years ago, and when we don’t have a candidate on the ballot and no one I want to vote for on the ballot, I write in a candidate’s name. I never wrote in a name on a ballot in more than 50 years of voting until a few years ago, but sometimes the choices on the ballot are between bad and worse.
Susanne do you have anything else to add? I am very concerned with the Trump Administration and I believe we are sliding into a kind of authoritarianism and I am not sure that we will be able to claw our way back.
Turn off the fear-porn. Not to sound all black-pilled, but the bad is coming, and both Republicans and Democrats keep kicking the can down the road.
Democrats want government healthcare, but there are a few problems with this:
Government has no money! Republicans and Democrats have racked up more than $40 Trillion in debt!
Once government is paying for your healthcare, they then own your health (and ultimately your life). They can mandate what you must eat and what you are forbidden to eat.
They can pull the plug on you if they view you unviable (which is why I hate when Democrats and Republican use this term to describe anyone outside of the Two Party enslavement). It is conditioning you to view others as “waste.”
President Trump is serving Israel. Make Israel Great Again (MIGA) is trending often on Twitter. Call me a conspiracy theorist (I don’t care), but I don’t think it matters if a Democrat nor a Republican gets elected leading up to 2030. There is already a plan in place and those who are not on board with the 2030 agenda are politically assassinated.
Both Democrats and Republicans are in the Epstein files and no one is going down for these evils that they have voluntarily participated in. And we see the cults of both wings defending “their guy.” And those who do not are, I’ll say it again, politically assassinated.
Charlie Kirk began changing his tune on some things and he was literally assassinated. I think Trump’s assassination attempt was staged to secure his re-election (and it did), but I’m not saying that there are not unhinged individuals who do not dream of President Trump being vaporized every waking moment. There are mentally insane individuals on all camps.
Shoot, Philadelphia Eagles Fans riot, loot, and eat horse poop even when their team wins!
Do not fear @Jesusislord1. Jesus, who is neither Democratic nor Republican, will win in the end. Jesus did not come to implement a political ideology. He came so that we might live in God and be free from sin & distress.
Playing the blame game of politics and not looking at the plank in your own team’s eye only divides us. Jesus Prayed that we might all be one as He and the Father are one. This does not mean all Christians must therefore join this Party or that Party. It means treating all politicians (no matter who’s team they are on) the same scrutiny and Praying for their souls all the same.
It is mainly a matter of priority. Western European countries with a considerably lower GDP can afford universal healthcare because they prioritize it. The US prioritizes tax cuts for the wealthy and bloated military budgets.
I may have to take a hiatus from some of the threads from time to time as I have other serious matters I must devote my time to. I also want our discussions to remain respectful even though we may have contrary opinions.
And because they depend on the U.S. to protect them militarily. If the United States said, good luck, you are on your own. Things would be much different for them.
Personally, I think taxation is legal plunder. The government is more like a mob. They take a cut of your earnings, and it would be a shame if something were to happen to you or you business if you don’t pay up.
I agree that the United States spends way too much on “defense,” though it doesn’t seem like we do too much “defense” these days. We do more funding of Israel’s wars these days. Or we fund factions in warring countries to only fund another factions years later to take out the ones we helped take power.
Take as much time as you need and many Prayers.
I think Libertarians are better at disagreeing with others than the two other extremes. Shoot, most Libertarians disagree with one another on many things. I like to compare us to one dysfunctional family. You have your drunk uncle over there, you have your overly zealous aunt over there, your nephew who believes in socialism, your cousin who believes in conspiracy “theories”, your niece who promotes her 𝑂𝑛𝑙𝑦𝐹𝑎̨𝑛𝑠, your other uncle who’s wardrobe consists of stars & stripes, the brother who is a lawyer, the sister who loves to gossip and stir up drama, and then the normies who just wishes their family could be normal, but we are still family.
It is easy to see the hypocrisies of others. It is harder to be critical of your own.
I recently heard an independent journalist, who makes a living off of confronting mostly Republicans, criticize the Democratic candidate for Governor (as a real journalist should be equally honest) and the blow-back he got was very telling. “Are you trying to make Democrats lose?!” That kind of stuff. It is almost as voters do not really want to know who or what they are voting for. They simply support a color. Gangs do this. We only wear red and don’t use words that start with the letter “C”. Well, we only wear blue and don’t use words that start with the letter “B”. It is all silly.
The reality is that both Democrats and Republicans got us in this financial trouble and both blame each other. This will ultimately end in a National Divorce or Domestic Violence.
We already are under an authoritarian government, sadly. All that is left to effect change now is our (increasingly threatened) right to vote. Do not stay home do not vote no viable “protest “ votes! The authoritarian in the White House is counting on all of us to be easily cowed and confused. Show up vote against Trump help your friends and neighbors to do the same. Good luck.
You are not entitled to my vote! I though you value democracy and are against voter suppression (or do you not really mean that)?
The only one easily cowed and confused is one who votes Party-line.
Trump is not able to run for another term. You have had your chance to vote against Trump three times and were successful one of those times (not only making Joseph Biden more popular than Obama, but more popular than any President in the History of our Country!) Unless, perhaps Democrats stuffed the ballot box with absentee ballots during a government lockdown. I’ll let you make your own hypotheses.
I have never voted for President Trump. Nor would I vote for anyone who has flown on Epstein’s plane for that matter.
Involuntary Socialism is authoritarianism. I don’t care if it is forced on me democratically, it is over-reach and immoral.
I have been a registered Democratic Party member since I registered to vote at 18 years old. Though on rare occasions I have crossed party lines to vote, I usually vote for the Democratic Candidate that reflects my values the most. Not everyone I agree with 100% of course, but I prefer honest statements of political positions (“I’m pro choice”) rather than pretty lies to gain votes (I’m the most pro-life President). I consider peace, consumer and worker protections, equal justice under law, health care, education, food and basic shelter to be minimum functions of a government. I know we could afford all of my wish list if we didn’t spend the largest part of our taxes on the military. I favor progressive taxation, and think wealth hoarding is sinful. Of course I would not vote against Church teaching no matter who asked me to. Silly question. I feel it is my duty as a citizen to seek the best for my country, support it through taxes and my vote, and to use my voice to criticize it when it is wrong.
As to the cradle Catholic. Born into a practicing Catholic family who baptized me at 6 weeks and took me to Mass after the age of reason every Sunday and Holy Day. I had regular CCD instruction and all the Sacraments. I am married in the Church and Godmother to 3, an obligation I take seriously to pray for them regularly. I accept all the precepts of the Church and am faithful to follow Her instructions. The idea the a Catholic cannot vote Democratic is absurd. Every time I see or hear that foolish statement I think of my New Deal, Silent Generation, Veteran Dad, who was more Christian than 99% of those who call themselves followers of Christ and progressive enough you could almost, but not quite, mistake him for a follower of Marx. The truth is we both took Saint Joseph (The Worker) and Dorothy Day as our patrons. Well, that’s enough internet for now. Have a Blessed Friday
I second that affirmation. Being or supporting a Democrat is like calling the Devil your friend, buddy, pal, and comrad. “Do what you want, when you want, how you want, and to hell with everyone else”.
