July 12, 2020 by Bp. Sanborn

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While all of us are sickened to see the horror in our cities on the part of leftist fascists, we must nonetheless reflect on our own history in order to understand it better.

The Founding Fathers of this country were, for the most part, Deists and Freemasons. They were thoroughly imbued with the then liberal and revolutionary thinking of the eighteenth century.

One of their principal tenets was naturalism, which holds that man does not need supernatural grace in order to persevere in the good. The Church teaches that man, as a result of original sin, although still capable of natural virtue, cannot long persevere in virtue without the aid of grace. In other words, no matter how good he is naturally, he will eventually fall and commit a mortal sin, unless he is aided by supernatural grace. The Church also teaches that, without grace, man can preserve some natural virtues, but not all. In other words, he will be a mortal sinner who has some natural

virtues. For example, Al Capone was good to his mother.

The liberal free-thinkers of the eighteenth century, however, rejected original sin and its effects as hogwash, and believed in the natural perfectibility of man. This is the very essence of Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ. As a result of this thinking, religion and the Church, even the Protestant Church, became irrelevant. God, if they believed in one, was a distant Being who had no care of human affairs. At best he should be thanked and occasionally honored. But man was on his own.

Consequently both the federal government and the state governments were created with no moral compass given to them by any religion whatsoever. Just as man was on his own, so was the government. This religion-less government is one of the fatal flaws of the American system.

John Locke

Next, the liberal, naturalistic, and free-thinking framers of the American republic also followed the political theories of John Locke. He saw government not as something which necessarily depended upon God for its authority. For him, legislators and rulers were essentially hired by the citizens to run the country for them. The citizens had to agree to go along with the will of majority in any given case. In his system, therefore, the authority came from the people. It was government by the consent of the governed.

While this idea sounds as American as apple pie — and it is — it is yet another fatal flaw in American political thinking. The Catholic Church teaches that although the people may choose how they will be ruled, and who will rule them, nonetheless the authority of the government derives from God, and not from the people. Locke’s theory, on the other hand, is equivalent to mob rule.

Another idea of John Locke, included explicitly in the much touted Declaration of Independence, is that of revolutionism. Locke said that the people have a right to revolt against their government if they should find it tyrannical. It is this principle that gave the moral green light, so to speak, for the American Revolution. Unfortunately, it gives the moral green light as well for anyone who wants to mount a revolution against a government which he considers tyrannical. If he can find a majority to back him, then he has a clear moral path. This too, is a fatal flaw in the American system, since it is difficult to say to any revolutionist, “You have no right to revolt against the ruling system,” when the country was founded upon revolution. While we may be appalled by the destruction of statues of the icons of American history, we should not forget that at the beginning of the American Revolution, a statue of King George III, then the legitimate authority in the colonies, was torn down in New York City.

Yet another theory of John Locke, and later of the liberal and free-thinking French philosopher Montesquieu, is the separation of the powers of the government. Locke was insistent that the legislative branch not be the executor of the laws which it makes. This is the famous “checks and balances” theory, which sounds good, but is really crazy. It leads to a schizophrenic government, where one branch is fighting against the other. The worst abuse is the usurpation by the judicial branch of what obviously pertains to the legislative branch. And no one can do anything about it. Yet another fatal flaw.

Finally, the Founding Fathers bought into freedom of religion, freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Freedom of religion meant that there would be no establishment of a specific church or religion either on the federal level or the state level. You were free to practice whatever religion you wanted. This idea divorced the federal and state governments from any influence of religion. Such an idea was unheard of in the history of humanity. This absence of religion from legislation is what has given us abortion, pornography, and the recognition of same-sex marriages. For there is no voice, not even of the natural law, to prevent the government from permitting these things. Liberty is extolled as the highest good of man, liberty to do whatever you please.

Freedom of speech is insane. Everyone knows that speech is made for the truth. Therefore the only proper use of speech is for what is true. Freedom of speech is as ludicrous and dangerous as permitting people to indiscriminately cough and sneeze on others during the coronavirus. We have seen how people take great pains to protect themselves from this disease. We have seen the stringent laws enacted to protect the population from the spread of this infection. Nonetheless, you are free to infect whomever you please with your ideas, unless, of course, you are a conservative. No freedom of speech for you.

Legitimate freedom of speech may be used in regard to those things which are legitimately controverted, that is, where there is doubt as to where the truth lies or what is the best course to follow, e.g., where to build a highway or railroad. It does not concern, however, the natural law or the divine law.

The same principles apply to the press. It exists to spread the truth. If it fails to spread the truth, it is perverting its very reason for existence. It is bound by the truth, and only those things which are legitimately controverted may be the object of freedom of the press.

Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are made for a people with at least some natural virtues and common sense, and who have a respect for the truth. In the hands of the leftists, however, these freedoms become efficacious tools for the overturning of the entire nation. The Left has profited from these freedoms in order to promote their revolutionary agenda. They propagandize in the schools, from kindergarten through graduate school, in the media, which they control almost entirely, in the social media, which they control, and in large corporations, which they also control. Under freedom of speech and freedom of the press, they have rotted out the minds of the young, and America can do nothing about it without violating these very freedoms.

The cult of liberty. What gave rise to these disastrous liberties was the eighteenth-century cult of liberty. If you read the literature at the time of the American Revolution, it is very apparent that the “patriots,” i.e., the revolutionists, were completely infected with this idea.

It came from John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The idea is that man is born free, totally free, and that this freedom is inalienable. He can do whatever he pleases. But in order to live in society, he consents to give up some of his freedom, and is willing to obey the general will, that is, the majority.

This is essentially to say that society is governed by the mob, and that the government has the obligation to enact what the mob wants. This system, therefore, makes for politicians who are servile, obsequious, oily, groveling, sniveling, and parasitic. They will think anything, change their minds, and vote for anything that will preserve their cushy careers.

The cult of liberty regards any government which does not operate on these principles as necessarily tyrannical. A monarchy cannot be good, because it is not controlled by the mob. This feeling ran very strong in the American Revolution.

Lafayette

It is also true that all of the leftists of Europe, who were filled with the same ideas, looked upon America as the darling of Leftism. All the military people who came to help Washington were radical leftists in Europe: Lafayette, Rochambeau, Von Steuben, Kościuszko, Pulaski.

What has made America great? The United States is certainly a great country, not only because of its wealth and power, but also because — up to now — of the natural virtues of its citizens, who typically are honest, hard-working, and resourceful. Abroad, Americans are known as a people who are efficacious, that is, who “get things done.” It is also true that, up to recently, America has been religious overall, and it is religion which, as a rule, preserves the natural law and at least to some extent the law of God. I am referring, of course, to Protestant sects, which, although false religions, nonetheless do communicate to their followers at least some norms of morality.

Under these conditions, America’s freedoms did not pose a threat to society, since society was on the whole virtuous. But once these columns of virtue collapse, then America’s freedoms will turn on her and destroy her.

We must love our country. America is very flawed in its political thinking, and is, as a result, in grave danger of a revolutionary transformation. We must, nevertheless, love her as our nation. The country in which you live is an extended family, in a way. Just as we count on help from family members, we also count on help from fellow citizens, so that we can all benefit from an organized society. Without this mutual respect and aid, society falls apart.

Catholics have always been faithful to their countries. The Roman Empire, which inflicted merciless tortures on Catholic martyrs, had nonetheless the loyalty of its Catholic subjects. Many served in the army: Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Maurice, Saint Sebastian, Saint Romanus, Saints Processus and Martinian, to mention only a few.

It is also true that the Catholic Church has always condemned revolution against legitimate authority, even persecutional authority. A notable example of this was Gregory XVI’s condemnation of the Polish uprising in the 1830’s against the Russian Tsar, who was in fact persecuting Catholics in Poland, then part of the Russian Empire. Catholic theologians say that Catholics may resist the unjust laws of tyrants, but that they do not have the license to revolt.

So even though Catholic teaching would be opposed to the cult of liberty, to the rule by the mob, and to the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, it would nevertheless insist upon the love and loyalty of American citizens in regard to their homeland.