Democracy’s Achilles Heel

October 31, 2020 (888 words)

Manipulating the emotions of the general public is how our nation’s business is conducted on a daily basis. Then comes election season, when the fear-mongering ratchets up to a fever pitch.

Despite this regularly-scheduled rise in unpleasant sloganeering, nobody really seems to mind. We take solace in the freedom that is our most valued possession. Secure in the knowledge democracy is the system of political organization that best delivers on the promise of absolute freedom for every citizen.

But this broad-stroke version of “freedom” can yield people who do little more with their time than indulge selfish desires, instead of drawing on and calling forth their better nature. And “democracy” can boil down to the cognitive elite trafficking in exaggerated rumors that will coax the rank-and-file into emotional choices instead of rational decisions.

The smartest people on both sides of the aisle are equally guilty of resorting to the lowest common denominator in their discourse. The tragedy is how all partisans have an element of truth in their basic premise. But instead of working to elucidate that truth and educate the public, they let their core message get lost in a flurry of poor word choices.

The justification for this sorry state of affairs is something no one feels comfortable acknowledging. The common rabble is unable and/or unwilling to sit still for a detailed explanation of anything. Our collective attention-deficit disorder forces the smart set into dumbing everything down and making broad appeals to emotion.

This is not how things were supposed to play out, what with all that high-minded talk about an informed citizenry being a pre-requisite to a healthy democracy.

As a Catholic “revert” and a moderately successful small business person, my adult instincts naturally inclined me to a conservative political bent. And that lasted for a good twenty years or so. But the more I ponder the Church’s long-standing social teaching, the more dismayed I am at the superficiality of the conservative position as it is popularly articulated regarding our socio-economic predicament.

For instance, you may have heard a “soft totalitarianism” is taking hold in our country. This trend will only worsen should Joe Biden win the presidency. Those same sources ominously report how Wall Street doesn’t like increased government regulation, or any increase in corporate taxes. Somehow this news is spun to agitate the average middle-class voter into a deep concern for making sure our richest citizens can continue to become even richer.

This particular example of emotional manipulation is executed under the rhetorical cover of “such policies will remove incentive for investment, which drives all economic growth.” While this formulation does indeed express some truth, what goes unsaid is how these days merely turning a profit is not good enough for our cleverest investors.

One must be able to earn the highest profit humanly possible in order to make any undertaking worth the effort. Social considerations such as creating jobs that will sustain a community and contribute to the common good never enter the equation.

I am afraid to report this superficiality also extends to some of our religious leaders – at least the ones I pay attention to and respect. We practicing Catholics have been told in no uncertain terms voting for Joe Biden is a sin. Any thought of addressing economic inequity and predatory financial practices is out the window. Because Mr. Biden, and the entire Democrat establishment for that matter, supports a woman’s right to choose, favors marriage equality, and advocates for the newly-emergent cause of LGBTQ rights. All these policy positions are regrettable, no question about it.

But overt political support for what often devolves into destructive personal behavior does not constitute any sort of enforceable public mandate. No woman is being ordered to have an abortion. No two people of the same gender are being told they must marry. And no one who “identifies” as something other than what their anatomy clearly announces them to be is now being forced to “transition” into something else by a liberal regime.

These innovations in the realm of sexual morality are the natural by-product of our national obsession with liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A pluralist democracy like ours actively encourages its citizens to seek out their own unique definition of happiness, wherever that search may lead.

This radical philosophical framework presents an inscrutable problem for those who cling to the heartwarming notion our nation is Christian at its core.

The Catholic spokespeople I most admire are constantly referencing what they claim is the hallowed principle of religious freedom. They see it as an impenetrable shield that should allow orthodox Catholics to practice what they believe in the public square. But these well-meaning clergy and lay persons don’t seem to realize this same reckless sense of freedom allows everybody else to practice whatever wacky idea may pop into their head at any given moment, or at any stage in their lives.

Even more confounding is how the conservative pursuit of “economic freedom” undermines the integrity of the “religious freedom” certain Catholic leaders invoke with such passion, especially at election time. It turns out both forms of freedom – economic and religious – result in moral anarchy. So far this has escaped the notice of all those who have proudly adopted the conservative brand, and consider themselves defenders of the faith.

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
October 31, 2020

Keep It Simple, Stupid

October 23 2020 (316 words)

Okay, so now it’s come to this: As one exits the northbound New Jersey Turnpike, where the Lincoln Tunnel leads into midtown Manhattan, there is a massive billboard dramatically lit against the dark, pre-dawn sky that reads simply:

Trump – Pence Law & Order Vote Tues, Nov 3

This implies anyone casting a ballot for the other major party ticket must favor anarchy and chaos. The message makes no sense, but it does have a visceral appeal.

It’s interesting how we here in the United States take such pride in our reason and our collective commitment to the rule of law, yet we allow so much of the public discourse to be driven by raw emotion.

And speaking of reason and the rule of law, it’s an article of faith a healthy democracy requires an informed citizenry. Since we live in an unrivaled age of information, our democracy should be in tip-top shape. But it doesn’t feel that way to me.

Having the right tools for the job is an absolute pre-requisite to getting anything done. But those tools must be utilized in a way that will accomplish the desired objective.

In our case it is a free press, broadly defined as an open exchange of ideas throughout all strata of society, which is supposed to enable everyone to gradually become better informed.

But this sort of ongoing mentoring is hard work. And it often yields no tangible economic result for the individual or organization that agrees to undertake the chore.

Since we have succumbed to a society-wide pre-occupation with getting ahead, the idea of trying to improve the population’s general level of understanding has taken a back seat to making money.

Why bother educating the common rabble for their own edification, when it is far easier and much more profitable to manipulate their basic instincts into buying whatever it is you are trying to sell?

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
October 23, 2020

A Breath of Fresh Air

October 15, 2020 (532 words)

Amy Coney-Barrett was said to have “sparred” with Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, during the two days they spent questioning her nomination to fill the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court. But that sort of thing is fairly commonplace and hardly worth a mention.

Much more revealing was Ms. Barrett’s good-natured laughter, which she was not shy about sharing during the proceedings. Our hard-nosed, adversarial political scrum would certainly benefit from a regular dose of her genial disposition and plain-spokenness. Too bad she is headed for the Supreme Court, where we will essentially never hear from her again.

(Having a few sentences of some future legal opinion quoted in the press doesn’t really count. Nor will the odd speech before a select audience of enamored supporters.)

Another take-away is just how fractured we are as a people. The committee’s Democrat Senators took the occasion of these hearings to methodically cite every social ill that currently befalls us. As if they were laying blame at the nominee’s feet and demanding, “What do you intend to do about this?”

Their Republican counterparts calmly refuted all charges by referencing Coney-Barrett’s stellar record as a legal scholar and practicing jurist. They also found time to comment favorably on her remarkable personal life as a wife and mother of seven. To hear them tell it, elevating an “originalist” to the high court is just what the country needs at this time.

It all made for some rather predictable theater. Republicans came across as composed and statesman-like, while Democrats came off as, well, kind of “whiny.”

If you find yourself agreeing with my assessment, consider this: Republicans are happy with the way things are. And persistent rumors of social injustice don’t make a dent in their equilibrium. They are convinced any lingering hardship exists only on the periphery. In their minds eradicating the last vestige of inequity is a simple matter of doubling-down on what they are already doing: Spreading the gospel of individual liberty and personal accountability and economic freedom to the far reaches of the population, so all may receive the good news of salvation.

Democrats, meanwhile, are stuck playing catch up. They have been outflanked and left behind by their more prosperous neighbors. They are frantically waving their arms, metaphorically-speaking, and crying out: “it’s not working according to plan, folks, we need a major course correction.”

Republicans believe ensuring the individual good will eventually result in a noticeable improvement of the common good. Democrats have grown tired of waiting for that long-rumored rising tide to come along and lift the fortunes of the rank-and-file – to say nothing of the dispossessed.

One may not agree with every policy initiative Democrats put forth to balance the scales. I certainly don’t. And one may be appalled at the way they have gone off the rails regarding sexual mores, in their own, misguided celebration of “liberty.”

But these legitimate complaints about certain aspects of the Democrats’ approach do not absolve our good friends the Republicans, who still need to be awakened from their self-satisfied slumber. That’s what I was reminded of when listening to a few choice snippets of Amy Coney-Barrett’s Senate confirmation hearing.

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
October 15, 2020

Sowing Discord and Strife

October 8, 2020 (613 words)

Going to bed early is my stock-in-trade, so i only caught the opening salvos in last night’s Vice-Presidential debate between Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Kamala Harris. That was enough for me to regret the strategy Ms. Harris was given to execute.

The VP challenger is always expected to assume the role of “attack dog,” so i guess we shouldn’t be too surprised by Ms. Harris going after President Trump with a vengeance, painting him as a villain who bears sole responsibility for the fatalities and financial fall-out we continue to experience during this once-every-hundred-years pandemic.

But such broad criticism overshoots the mark by quite a bit.

Certainly Mr. Trump deserves to be grilled for the way he has publically disparaged – in both word and deed – such commonsense precautions as social distancing and the wearing of masks. But he is not alone in his defiance. And those people we’ve seen crowding into bars, beaches, raves, and Black Lives Matter protests the last several months are not all Republicans.

From what I can gather, the best way to contain the spread of the potentially deadly coronavirus is through testing, contact tracing, and treatment. But in order for such a comprehensive approach to be effective, a given population (city, state, region) must accept a complete lockdown, which would mean being confined to one’s home.

Can you see that happening here any time soon? As Americans we bristle at the mere mention of such internment. We pound our fists on the table, and rail against what we imagine to be the onset of tyranny and totalitarianism. Donald Trump may be shameless in playing to these “don’t tread on me” instincts, but they were hard-wired into our national DNA a long time ago.

The Democrats’ pointed critique choses to ignore this basic fact. Their unwillingness to acknowledge the obvious can generate some unintended humor at times, as when one hears Ms. Harris solemnly intone:

Can you imagine if you knew on January 28, as opposed to March 13, what they knew, what you might have done to prepare?

The only thing that comes to mind in response to this question is that we probably all would have started stockpiling toilet tissue and tomato soup, two months earlier.

The Democrats’ strongest issue is the “economic inequity” Republican fiscal policy has created. They should stick to that and make their case as calmly and clearly as possible. Their challenge is convincing the great swath of middle-of-the-road types that implementing a long-overdue economic course correction is not the same as a complete conversion to “socialism.”

The current pandemic has vexed political leaders around the world. No matter what anybody has tried, there is always something that backfires, leaving the people in charge exposed to some legitimate Monday-morning quarterbacking. So why pour salt on the wound now, and try to pin every last ounce of COVID-19 related turmoil on the current administration?

Pollsters tell us most voters have already made up their minds. The only thing left for candidates to do is prod their less-motivated supporters into casting a ballot. Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris and their handlers have decided to use the President’s questionable handling of the pandemic as their primary battering ram, in order to rouse those who don’t much care for politics and would rather not be bothered. This tactic does not appeal to our better nature.

In taking a contentious path to the Presidency, the Democrats are guilty of sowing seeds of discord in the hearts and minds of their followers. The very same behavior Mr. Trump has carelessly indulged during his brief but tumultuous time in office, for which he has been rightfully chastised.

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
October 8, 2020

Another Errant Guide

October 4, 2020 (414 words)

Walking into the back of church this morning I was greeted by an imposing stack of “Catholic Voter Guides” almost two feet high, sitting on a small table in the vestibule. What a colossal waste of ink, I couldn’t help thinking, since the advice being offered is always a foregone conclusion: Vote Republican.

Not that I don’t appreciate the serious dilemma the earnest people who assemble these “guides” are trying to address. According to Catholic teaching, “it is never licit to obey a law that permits abortion, or to take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of such a law, or to vote for it.”

These folks know full well abortion entered the American mainstream in January 1973 through an exercise in raw judicial power. They note how every Democrat with any sort of national profile has, one-by-one, succumbed to the zeitgeist concerning a woman’s right to choose. In their minds these two unfortunate developments create a clear-cut choice for voters of conscience.

Relying on a hierarchy of values to make the case for Republicans, Catholic leaders acknowledge there are many important issues before the voters: racism, immigration, healthcare, climate change, economics, etc. – but they stress how none of those other issues have the gravity abortion does.

And they are correct in that assessment. In terms of moral imperative, legalized abortion takes precedence over any other issue in the public square. The question is what to do about it. And this is where I part company with every Catholic Voter Guide that insists the answer to our prayers is to vote Republican.

Without trying to be difficult or split hairs, the only way a Catholic woman can “obey a law that permits abortion” is to have one. Certainly no Catholic should “take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of” abortion laws. And it goes without saying no Catholic should ever vote for any law permitting abortion. But when was the last time we were even given such an option on Election Day?

A Catholic Voter Guide that insists abortion can be addressed at the ballot box, even though it is not on the ballot, is missing the larger issue. The Supreme Court may have made infanticide the official law of the land back in ’73, but it was simply yielding to public pressurein handing down its decision in Roe v. Wade. This relatively recent legal turn of events was just another triumph of freedom (aka “The American Way”) over morality. It’s a process that has been unfolding since our Founding – a process that has been eating away at all of Western civilization for the last five hundred years or so.

Previously pro-life Democrats may have “evolved” their position on the matter, but they are only listening to their constituents. Mixed in there are a slew of middle-of-the-road types who recoil from the idea of having an abortion themselves, but don’t think it’s their place to stand in the way of a woman making decisions about her own body.

Given this reality, any political strategy designed to end legal abortion must address our national commitment to individual freedom, and must understand how the American concept of “liberty” has always been at odds with the objective moral law. This extends to the “economic freedom” our friends the Republicans all hold dear.

The problems of racism, immigration, healthcare, climate change, economics, etc. may not rise to the raw, unspeakable horror of abortion. But each is an important component of the common good, with a direct bearing on the level of dignity a citizen is able to experience. The Catholic approach to these “ancillary” issues should be dusted off and polished up, in order to take down the crown jewel of apostate thought, which is legalized abortion.

And in my view economics is the linchpin that holds the key to accomplishing this objective.

Catholic leaders should stop taking a back seat when it comes to economic behavior. “How to manage the economy” is not just one of many negotiable issues open to legitimate debate among people of goodwill. It’s not enough to claim the “underlying principles” of Catholic social teaching are non-negotiable, while leaving the implementation of those principles to the vagaries of the profit motive and the free market. Such leaders should roll up their sleeves and get more involved in this particular debate. They should weigh in on how the underlying principles of Catholic social teaching are, or are not, being observed by a particular economic agenda.

Unfortunately for all serious Catholics, many of whom identify as conservative politically, the cause of “social justice” has lately been co-opted by some shady characters. Their presence in this space represents an apparent cultural contradiction which distracts the serious Catholic. In times like these it pays to keep one’s eye on the prize. Not everyone pulling a certain lever, or checking off a particular box, is going to share your reasons for doing so. That’s okay. After all, no political party in a liberal democracy based on pluralism will ever embody the fullness of Catholic social teaching, or attract only like-minded purists. So don’t expect it to.

At the heart of Church teaching is the equitable distribution of profits. This is where Republican fiscal policy should come in for some pointed cross-examination by Catholic leaders. Since it is the glaring lack of equity in how profits are being distributed that plays such a large (if not exclusive) role in the current acceptance of abortion among the voting public.

Faithful clergy and earnest advocates who don’t give “economic freedom” or “market liberalism” a second thought as they battle abortion should go back to the drawing board. And they should hit the books. After they emerge from that strenuous effort, armed with a firmer grasp of this plague’s philosophical roots, then will they be able to provide something more comprehensive and more substantial than “Vote Republican.”

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
October 4, 2020

Answered Prayers

October 3, 2020 (414 words)

What was your immediate reaction when you first heard President Trump tested positive for COVID-19 the other day? Not many of us want to go on record as wishing anyone ill. We don’t want to be ostracized as despicable, and we don’t want to tempt fate. Even the rowdiest heathen has an unwavering sense what goes around, comes around.

But I’m willing to bet more than a few of us indulged a brief moment of wicked glee upon hearing this news. That so many of us had to fight off such dark thoughts is itself a sad commentary on this President’s unorthodox tenure.

Every politician has their critics. And those critics can get themselves really riled up about this or that errant policy initiative. Many citizens develop an intense personal dislike for politicians they don’t agree with. All that can be considered as fairly constant.

The variable this time around is how the object of our scorn enjoys dishing it out, too, like a common ruffian. Has there ever been an occupant of the Oval Office who went out of his way to provoke such a wide swath of the general public as this man has? Surely no other President has relished “poking the hornet’s nest” of public opinion as hard and as often as Donald Trump.

Growing up there was always a kid who liked to say outlandish things, just to get a rise out of the adults in the room. Mr. Trump’s late-in-life political career seems to be based on nothing but that – getting a rise out of the electorate by being “unfiltered.”

It’s almost comical to watch the “polite” population register their outrage with clockwork regularity, every time the President dispenses with decorum. And he never tires of pushing those buttons, does he? It’s apparent he revels in being the “disrupter-in-chief.”

On the other side of the coin, the way Mr. Trump can effortlessly make the “establishment” squirm has proven deeply satisfying to a different, perhaps somewhat-less-polite segment of the population. His bull-in-the-china-shop routine is clearly their cup of tea, even though it’s become painfully obvious it’s pretty much his only move.

So while nobody really wants to see ill befall anyone, it’s only natural to not mind when a loudmouth get his comeuppance every once in a while. Having said that, I’m sure deep down we all wish President Trump a speedy recovery.

Who knows, maybe he’ll get to experience a “Ghost of Christmas Future” conversion while in quarantine.

Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr
October 3, 2020