Cultural wars, not jobs, play a large role in this election

Sounds like catholic bishops facing the long trek of way too many out the front door of the church esp. the young.

Like the bishops, to focus only on "culture wars" and the "past" will not address or resolve the issues.

Allow me to quote:

B16 v. Bain Capital
by Michael Sean Winters on Feb. 17, 2012

* Distinctly Catholic

“The world of finance, while necessary, no longer represents an instrument that favours our wellbeing or the life of mankind, instead it has become an oppressive power, that almost demands our adoration, mammon, the false divinity that truly dominates the world.”

Those were the words of Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday when he visited the major seminary of the diocese of Rome. He could become a commentator on MSNBC with thoughts like that, although the sentiment he expressed might be a little too anti-capitalist for all but the "Ed Show." That said, I would not expect the Holy Father to show up at an Occupy Wall Street rally anytime soon. Not his style.

I do not suppose the Pope had Bain Capital in mind when he spoke those words. More likely, he was thinking of the negotiations between Greece and its financial creditors. But, it should be clear, even to our friends at the Acton Institute, that unbridled capitalism is held in the lowest regard by Pope Benedict and that he sees such unbridled capitalism not only as bad economics, but as one of the acids of modernity eating away at the faith.

Jim Wallis has written a book that addresses a portion of this. He basically says that the Republicans and Democrats both have it wrong. Democrats want to provide more benefits to the poor, give them more money, but they do not address any portion of the problems that individuals possess themselves, not wanting to be better educated, spending what money is available unwisely, etc. Republicans, on the other hand, want to provide no help. They feel the way out of poverty is strictly in the individual's power. They do not recognize the value of intangibles that more advantaged people have: having attended better schools, being able to afford post-secondary training, living in homes where delayed gratification is part of the mix, etc.

I think you are entirely correct that millions of people in this nation are thoroughly frightened. One party pretty much ignores morality, and the other focuses on it almost entirely, with neither of them admitting that improvement for the U.S. as a culture is going to be a very hard job, requiring a substantial investment of time, money, and personal effort.

One of the major blind spots of the political left in this country is related to working class white people. In election after election, this group votes Republican which is, truly, against their own economic interest. How can you be collecting Social Security, or Medicare, or Medicaid, or SCHIP, or unemployment insurance, or housing assistance, and vote for those who will take those benefits away (or reduce them drastically?) Why do people vote against their economic interests? We've seen very smart people--Paul Krugman at the NYT just this past week, Thomas Frank in his "What's the Matter With Kansas?" a few years back--wrestle with this reality and come up blank.

The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moniyhan once said that 'culture trumps politics,' and in this we was correct. The very people who President Obama described as bitterly clinging to their guns and their religion are the same who will not vote for a Democrat even in these hard economic times. Why? Because the Democrats--often times fairly, some times unfairly--are seen as the party that hates God, hates America, hates religion, hates tradition, and hates patriotism. People care more about their values, beliefs, and culture than they do about money. Marxism has occupied the minds of many on the left so that they view everything--EVERYTHING--through the prism of class and economics. For many Americans, social class, and class envy, and class consciousness, are not nearly as compelling as faith, culture, and family.

Credit default swaps are far less enraging than two men making out on national television. Changes in Medicare payments don't hit the same nerve as your kid coming home and telling you they can't sing Christmas carols in school anymore. Complex legislation about government stimulus funds doesn't get quite the same rise out of people as does our President refusing to wear a flag pin on his lapel.

The good news for our friends on the left is that this demographic segment of our population is slowly being replaced by other demographic segments--single women, the highly educated, minorities--who are much more amendable to their political philosophy of "You're A Victim/Government Loves You." So really, it's just a matter of time.

And our bishop has the priest talk Sunday after Sunday that Gay marriage is evil; Abortion is evil; contraception is a mortal sin; Sunday Mass is an obligation. And churches are closed. And women are excluded from any decision making. And the laity are removed from ministries they have done for years to be replaced by priest or deacon or the ministry is shut down. And parish councils are appointed by the pastor and serve at the pleasure of the pastor.
Feed the hungry?-only the Catholic ones
Help heat your home?-only if you are over 65
Adoration, Stations of the Cross, St Faustina, and the rosary are suitable for the simple faithful. Theology and Prayer studies are just too much for our little brains.
The latest? The parish is offering money-from the Knights of Columbus- to pay for embalming and a casket for the funeral as cremation, while permitted, is not a positive sign of the importance of the resurrection of the body.
Has the Church lost its mind?

This is where, to me, the contemporary religious women and (at its ideal) the Jesuit approach are the hope of our church and in many respects the model for social renewal. The medieval "other worldliness" of the traditionalist is counter-productive, it promotes that which it seeks to destroy and destroys that which it seeks to promote. It seems to me that working to create sacred space and rendering space sacred is making room for both genuine religion and humane politics.

Rather than an ideological "new evangalization" and return to "traditional markers" of absolutist Catholicism, "war on secularism" etc., etc., we must relearn values, acknowledge and respect their source in the human condition and in the real world, as more sacred than any particular point of view. Markers as just that - markers - not the substance. The abuse of human and religious values by contempory ecclesiastics and politicians is repulsive. It seems that pandering to the desparate cry for value and the justification for their perversion is the strategy of both religious and political wannabes.

The root of religion is exactly where God put it in creation: in the human person, individually and in community. It is the person, that "image and likeness of God", that is our capacity to "know, love and serve" (whether God, others, country). It is the person, individually and in community, whom Christ targetted for His message. Love and compassion do not begin with religion, not with Jesus. They begin in the "secular" person before s/he is/was Christian, Moslem,Jew or athiest. If that was good enough for Jesus, it should do for us.

Recognizing and valuing the person and creation seems to have been lost - or denied. People seem to be fodder, whether for the clerical institutions or the political shenanigins within and between nations. Benedict would tell us that Jesus and the church created "love" and that love is subject to "truth"- as dictated by hierarchy. Truth and love are imbedded in the human mind and heart and unless these wells are tapped and freed the pronouncements of the evangelicals tyrrants and the political demagogues are but empty gongs and tinkles. Those who manipulate them cause harm and do evil regardless of costume or podium.

I would agree that the Cultural Wars are a significant issue, but it is much more than that! I don't hear anyone from the White House talking about changing direction! We hear a lot about people losing our safety net, but who is watching the safety net of our Country.

The only reason the dollar hasn't collapsed yet is the European debt crisis. When the debt crisis starts to dissipate or if China decides it no longer wants to purchase any more of our debt, the game is over for the US dollar and our economy will collapse.

Additionally, if our oil supply is further compromised and the price starts to go above $150-$175/bl, we could see unemployment above 10% in a short time. People will really be on the verge of starving, more foreclosures, and the lose of a lot of peoples dreams.

So, yes, the cultural wars are definitely part of the equation, but so is our president's out-of-control spending, a lack of a viable energy strategy and the scores of bad legislation that is strangling our growth.

I don't think people realize just how fragile we are at this point in history.

Andrew K

It's a fact that with the passage of time there is also the experience of change.     It happens within cultures and within nature,   including our own individual bodies.     Some individuals simply have no tolerance for change of any sort;   it's always perceived as a threat to their personal safety and security,   even when it doesn't directly involve their own personal lives.     Those folks will gravitate to authoritarian structures with unbending dogmatism because it keeps their perception of the world tidy and safe,   without any messy ambiguity.     At the most fundamental level they are coming from a place of fear.     It's no accident that they are often affiliated with authoritarian religious organizations or sub-groups — Protestant,   Catholic and various cults — with inflexible rules related to governance and morality.
.
The corollary to all of that is their endless need to control other people who aren't part of the homogenized "safe" authoritarian group.     They earnestly believe that if they can make everyone follow their narrow view of capital-T religious truth that all of the economic,   political and environmental problems of our imperfect world will magically be solved.     Some of their leaders have said exactly that.     Culture wars in the United States,   like the historical religious wars of Europe,   and the ongoing Middle East wars,   spring from the need to control everyone in order to feel safe again.     When the supposed "evil other" won't cooperate,   war is declared.     It is human nature to assume that somehow 'God is on our side' regardless of which "side" of the war you happen to be on.
.
Even Adolf Hitler declared that "God is on our side" while stoking the political fires of nationalism in Germany in the years leading up to WW2,   ...and also noteworthy,   as an amateur artist painted what is now known as the 'Hitler Madonna'   (a fair-skinned version,   of course).     He chose to have himself photographed at every opportunity with Catholic bishops who were happy to oblige.     Along with his 'God rants' and appeals to religious morality,   Hitler also promoted motherhood and marathon breeding   (RC bishops loved that)   of the pure German race,   an ultra religion-based view of sexual morality   (that Hitler himself did not live by),   German exceptionalism,     excessive militarization,   and an anti-immigrant policy.     There was a slow development of the "righteous threatened us" versus the "evil threatening them" — until eventually even many of those who fancied themselves as "us" ultimately became "them".     The German people suffering under economic woes,   gobbled up the political rhetoric without a second thought because of the promise of safety and security from change.     Any of this sound familiar?     Read the historical record and the eerie similarities to present day.
.
The real danger is when fear-based dogmatic religion and a desire to control others injects itself into secular politics in our non-theocratic nation.     The current culture wars are an exercise in self-sabotage,   tearing both our nation and our churches apart.     Even the disingenuous attempt by the USCCB to re-brand the culture wars as "religious freedom" should be a huge warning sign of danger ahead.     The political party that has claimed the banner of 'religion and family values' is also anti-immigrant,   anti-contraception and personal reproductive freedom,   and anti-gay/lesbian civil rights   (based entirely on their personal religious beliefs).     Three of their presidential primary contenders   (two of them Catholic)   have made overtly racist comments demonizing minorities as the problematic "other,"   and one advocates against The Civil Rights Act as a violation of his 'freedom' to discriminate against a minority.     A particular religious teaching related to sex,   morality and reproduction,   is now driving the secular public policy discussion within that party.     In this we see European history repeating itself in a potentially dangerous cycle if it continues unrestrained.
.
I can sympathize with fearful people who have no tolerance for change.     I cannot sympathized with their efforts to trample the civil rights and religious freedoms of others who do not agree with them.     I cannot sympathize with theocrats who are using secular politics to further their religious beliefs and using secular law to punish those who disagree with their religious beliefs.     (See the "rape by the state" abusive,   bodily penetrating and medically unnecessary,   trans-vaginal ultrasound laws without a woman's consent in Virginia,   Texas,   Iowa,   NC;   ...and the NC bishops political culture war against gays/lesbians with an amendment to the state constitution;   ...and multiple House legislation allowing Catholic hospitals to let a critically ill pregnant woman die rather than terminate the pregnancy that is killing her;   ...among many others.)     If we don't learn from history we are destined to repeat it.     The culture warriors need to remember that the teaching of "the end does not justify the means" also applies to THEM and their means/methods.
.

The Republican Party is in Trouble, its become the party of GREED, SELFISHNESS and disregard for anyone other than the Wealthy. They need to bring their fear based party to the Voting Booths and Gays and Womens Rights and fear of a Black President is all they bring to the table.