Two importance articles. Both about social conservatism. Is it dead? I think so. And so does, I think, the blogger at A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics. His essay, “Does Cruz’s defeat mean the end of social conservative influence in the US?” is essential reading. Additionally, the comment box provided these most insightful remarks:

The political system is currently undergoing a realignment from left/right to globalist/nationalist. Our elites–including most politicians, think-tankers, media, academics, and the wealthy–are solidly globalist. Obama, Clinton, Bush, Rubio, etc. have far more in common with each other and with global elites–Ban Ki-Moon, Angela Merkel, George Soros, David Cameron and Justin Trudeau–than they do with ordinary citizens of their own countries. These elites share the same values–open borders, free trade, international treaties, and a loathing for local particularism–and when they want approval, they look to each other.

 

On the other side are people rooted in a particular regional, cultural, or religious milieu, who wish (however inchoately) to preserve the countries and traditions their ancestors built, even if that means forgoing some of the benefits of globalism. They’ve watched their cities and countries being dissolved by immigration, off-shoring, cultural propaganda, and an education system designed to produce rootless, ahistorical units of consumption. We have just seen them forcibly reject the useless quislings of the Republican Party establishment, and much the same thing is happening on the Democratic side, though probably with less success.

 

In this shakeout, you will see existing party allegiances and boundaries dissolve. A prominent and noisy part of the Republican Party is likely to vote for fellow globalist Hilary Clinton against the nationalist(-sounding) Trump. If Trump does go nationalist, he may end up making a pitch for disillusioned Sanders supporters.

 

So what does this mean for social conservatives? Flux. I suspect many voters reasoned that the Republicans had long since surrendered on abortion and other social-conservative issues, so it wouldn’t make any difference anyway. And if you don’t have a country, but merely a pit stop in the great global movement of labor, what’s the point? Recover the nation, then we’ll talk about policy.

Next, there’s this article by Hadley Arkes at The Catholic Thing. Breaking with confreres like Robert George and others, Arkes is the first, shall we say, establishment Catholic intellectual to provide cover for those who may want to vote for the Donald:

Mr. Trump is a wild card, but he is likely to sign pro-life measures, and he is seeking advice now from the right people to appoint a plausible successor to Justice Scalia.

My thoughts are that the American people don’t want anything to do with “values” voting anymore. At least in the traditional sense. Obviously, many progressives vote their “values” by supporting LGBT rights and whatnot but most ordinary Americans have become quasi-libertarians and have “evolved” on pesky social issues like “gay marriage.” They’d rather just focus on jobs (i.e. mammon). My guess is that within the next 4 years you won’t be hearing Republican candidates say anything about “traditional marriage.”

Our pal Cardinal Ravasi won an award recently. The “Golden Pen” award has been presented by the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers since 1957. It is given to someone who has “brought honor” to the country of Italy. I guess writing articles about and tweeting support for gender-bending musicians like David Bowie is considered honorable these days. My goodness.

I’m sure you’ve already seen this but if not, it’s pretty neat. Turns out that a flash of light occurs at the moment of conception. Watch it and share it with others. Especially your pro-abortion friends.

In January, I predicted that 2016 would be the year of “transgenderism.” It wasn’t that hard to see the handwriting on the wall. I just didn’t think it would sweep through the Church like it has. Turns out that the College of the Holy Cross, a Jesuit school, will implement a new housing policy for next school year that embraces the transgender phenomenon. Ugh.

Michael Sean Winters at the National Catholic Reporter thinks it was wrong for Catholic News Service to “fire” former CEO Tony Spence. Last I checked, Spence resigned, albeit under pressure.

Spence rightly got in trouble because he was publicly expressing support for positions that openly oppose the Church’s bedrock teaching on marriage, a not so insignificant issue given the current cultural revolution we are witnessing.

Winters and the rest of his progressive pals at the Reporter blamed “the right wing blogosphere” for Spence’s firing. Good grief. I interviewed Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute (an organization Winters has described as “diabolical” and has said “does not serve the good of the church) on Church & State the other week about this very issue. Take a listen.

Lastly, I don’t know about you but I’m pretty tired of hearing about Amoris Laetitia. Promise me you wont re-tweet or share on Facebook any more articles about it? Thanks

Stephen Kokx , , , , , , , Blog News