Friday, June 28, 2013

If You Think the Family Is on Shaky Ground Now . . .

 . . . just wait until this becomes a reality:


'London (CNN) -- The United Kingdom took a step Friday toward being the first country in the world to allow a pioneering in vitro fertilization technique using DNA from three people that could prevent mitochondrial diseases but that also raises significant ethical issues.'

This opens the door not only to a destruction of the natural family (three genetic parents) but also to a corruption of humanity by the creation of 'super humans' through the artificial winnowing of 'bad' genes from the 'good' genes.  It is but one more example (among a legion of others) why we must place science and technology within very strict bounds.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

From the Southern Tradition: Celtic Music

The music of the Irish who settled in the South lies at the root of some of the most popular music styles to which the South has given birth, from country to bluegrass to rock (an offshoot of country).  Here then is an undiluted draught from our relatives in the Celtic lands for us all to appreciate and ponder, to inspire in us new artistic achievements in the days ahead.

Nullification and Economic Growth

Colorado is ignoring the federal government's ban on hemp farming.  Hemp, unlike marijuana, cannot be smoked for halucinagenic effects, but it can be used to make many helpful products.  According to NaturalNews:

' . . . hemp is an amazingly robust industrial plant, the various components of which can be used in a variety of commercial and nutritional applications. Hemp seed oil, for instance, and hemp protein are popular, omega-3 fatty acid-rich food products consumed by millions of health-conscious individuals. Hemp fiber is also sometimes used to reinforce concrete and to fortify automobile bodies and frames. And beyond this, hemp naturally cleanses soil and water, which makes it a powerful force for good in the environment.'

Instead of importing hemp from other countries, now American businesses that need it can buy hemp from Colorado farmers, a win for both.

States and towns everywhere in this unfortunate union ought to take note.  If they are brave enough, as Colorado was, to defy unconstitutional regulations written by the federal government, from the USDA to OSHA, from bans on raw milk to bans on incandescent light bulbs to totalitarian control of the health care system, farms and businesses might stand a chance of being revitalized.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

From the Southern Tradition: St Onuphrius

For too long Southerners viewed Africans as inferior to Europeans.  While things have changed dramatically in this regard over the last few decades, there are no doubt still pockets where racial smugness is the rule rather than the exception. 

But when one studies the history of the Church, what does he find?  An Africa of debased wretches, contributing nothing to the Body of Christ?  On the contrary, before the Muslim conquest, extraordinary saints - martyrs, wonderworkers, theologians, monastics, etc. - were raised up on that continent.  Many modern Christians (whether in the South or elsewhere)  have no conception of the holy life some of these African saints were able to attain to.  The struggles and trials they endured to obtain godliness, to acquire the Blessed Holy Spirit in greater and greater measure, are so foreign to us they sound like fable, but this is only because our own faith in and love for God has grown so cold:  We value worldy comfort rather than the hardship needed to purify our bodies and souls for closer communion with the Most Holy Trinity.

Wherefore, let the lives of the African saints of old be a light to us in the South today.  There is no better cure for racial arrogance than to acknowledge the holiness of these African saints and implore them, 'Holy Saints of Africa, pray to God for us sinners in the South!'

The life of St Onuphrius is but one example from Africa's exalted past.  Below one may find a recounting of his life.  For other examples of godly desert dwellers in Africa, be sure to read the whole article from which this excerpt was taken. 

Africans are as much an integral part of the South as the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains; Africa's inheritance is thus also a part of the larger tradition of the South.  May the South fully recover and humbly accept the priceless treasures of African Christianity and make herself beautiful in them.

The Life of St Onuphrius

'Having rested at a desert monastery, St Paphnutius undertook a second journey into the innermost desert, hoping to find another holy ascetic who would profit his soul. He went on for seventeen days, until his supply of bread and water was exhausted. St Paphnutius collapsed twice from weakness, and an angel strengthened him.
 
'On the seventeenth day St Paphnutius reached a hilly place and sat down to rest. Here he caught sight of a man approaching him, who was covered from head to foot with white hair and girded his loins with leaves of desert plants. The sight of the Elder frightened Abba Paphnutius, and he jumped up and fled up the hill. The Elder sat down at the foot of the hill. Lifting his head, he saw St Paphnutius, and called him to come down. This was the great desert-dweller, Abba Onuphrius. At the request of St Paphnutius, he told him about himself.
 
'St Onuphrius had lived in complete isolation in the wilds of the wilderness for sixty years. In his youth he had been raised at the Eratus monastery near the city of Hermopolis. Having learned from the holy Fathers about the hardships and lofty life of the desert-dwellers, to whom the Lord sent help through His angels, St Onuphrius longed to imitate their exploits. He secretly left the monastery one night and saw a brilliant ray of light before him. St Onuphrius became frightened and decided to go back, but the voice of his Guardian Angel told him to go into the desert to serve the Lord.
 
'After walking six or seven miles, he saw a cave. At that moment the ray of light vanished. In the cave was an old man. St Onuphrius stayed with him to learn of his manner of life and his struggle with demonic temptations. When the Elder was convinced that St Onuphrius had been enlightened somewhat, he then led him to another cave and left him there alone to struggle for the Lord. The Elder visited him once a year, until he fell asleep in the Lord.
 
'At the request of St Paphnutius, Abba Onuphrius told him of his labors and ascetic feats, and of how the Lord had cared for him. Near the cave where he lived was a date-palm tree and a spring of pure water issued forth. Twelve different branches of the palm tree bore fruit each month in succession, and so the monk endured neither hunger nor thirst. The shade of the palm tree sheltered him from the noonday heat. An angel brought Holy Communion to the saint each Saturday and Sunday, and to the other desert-dwellers as well.
 
'The monks conversed until evening, when Abba Paphnutius noticed a loaf of white bread lying between them, and also a vessel of water. After eating, he Elders spent the night in prayer. After the singing of the morning hymns, St Paphnutius saw that the face of the venerable Onuphrius had become transformed, and that frightened him. St Onuphrius said, “God, Who is Merciful to all, has sent you to me so that you might bury my body. Today I shall finish my earthly course and depart to my Christ, to live forever in eternal rest.” St Onuphrius then asked Abba Paphnutius to remember him to all the brethren, and to all Christians.
 
'St Paphnutius wanted to remain there after the death of Abba Onuphrius. However, the holy ascetic told him that it was not God’s will for him to stay there, he was to return to his own monastery instead and tell everyone about the virtuous lives of the desert-dwellers. Having then blessed Abba Paphnutius and bid him farewell, St Onuphrius prayed with tears and sighs, and then he lay down upon the earth, uttering his final words, “Into Thy hands, my God, I commend my spirit,” and died.
 
'St Paphnutius wept and tore off a portion of his garment, and with it covered the body of the great ascetic. He placed it in the crevice of a large rock, which was hollow like a grave, and covered it over with a multitude of small stones. Then he began to pray that the Lord would permit him to remain in that place until the end of his life. Suddenly, the cave fell in, the palm tree withered, and the spring of water dried up. Realising that he had not been given a blessing to remain, St Paphnutius set out on his return journey.'



In the flesh you lived the life of the angels, / You were citizens of the desert and treasuries of grace, / O Onuphrius, adornment of Egypt, / And Peter the light of Athos. / Therefore we honor your struggles as we sing to you: / Glory to him who has strengthened you! / Glory to him who granted you a crown! / Glory to him who through you grants healing to all!

You appeared as a bright star to the hermits of the desert, / A light shining in the darkness of solitude, O holy Father Onuphrius, / Therefore ceaselessly intercede for us all.

By your achievements in the wilderness you became like the Bodiless Powers, / Godly Onuphrius, and righteous Peter adornment of Athos. / The heavenly-minded pair who sing in one voice: “Alleluia”!

If They're Afraid to Eat It, Why Should We Welcome It?


' . . . South Korea joined Japan in announcing a halt on imports of U.S. wheat due to the USDA's recent announcement that commercial wheat grown in the USA is contaminated with Monsanto's genetically engineered wheat.

'Some Americans may still not realize this, but GMOs are outlawed or shunned nearly everywhere around the world. Only in the USA have GMOs managed to avoid being labeled or outlawed -- and that's primarily due to Monsanto's financial influence over lawmakers.'

Thursday, June 20, 2013

At Home in the South: Wilhelm Roepke

Ralph Ancil has written a fine essay that appears at The Imaginative Conservative web site - 'Wilhelm Roepke: German Economist as Southern Neighbor'.  As Mr Ancil's title makes clear, Mr Roepke's thought and life mesh well with the traditional Southern way of living and thinking.  From the Anglo-Saxon/Germanic roots of both to their shared desire for an alternative to socialism and capitalism, there are many likenesses.  These I have tried to show below.  While I quote a great deal from the essay, some things are left out.  The reader is encouraged to read Mr Ancil's essay in its entirety.

Personal Similarities of Roepke with Some Southerners:

'For example, Richard Weaver went home in spring to farm his ancestral fields with horse and plow and refused the use of airplanes, preferring trains for long distance travel. Similarly, Roepke promoted urban gardening for the health of city-dwellers and refused to use ski-lifts, preferring to ride up the mountain slopes on shank’s mare. Or one may refer to the Southern fondness for the books of Sir Walter Scott whose stories of Saxon yeomen fighting Norman invaders parallels those of William Tell fighting Austrian conquerors as eulo­gized in Schiller’s famous poem, admired by Roepke.'

Broader Likeness between the South and the Germany of Roepke’s Time:

'However that may be, in place of compar­ing the South with Ireland, as Weaver did, we could fruitfully compare it with early 19th century Germany. Just as the Old South was essentially a non-materialist civilization, we find pre-capitalist Germany similarly oriented as one of the last regions of traditional, agrarian life in Western Europe. Both patterns of life were highly decen­tralized, religious, historic-minded and industrially “backward.” England and France were to Germa­ny what the North was to the South. The French invaded with their armies and nationalist ideolo­gy, England with its economic doctrines. Both the peasants and nobility opposed the invasion of materialis­m and capitalism.

'On a more authoritative, specific level, we may draw upon Theodore Hamerow’s study of 19th century Germany. The older German way of life was built around the concept of “economic equilibrium” and rooted in a stable communal order with a stable popula­tion. The markets were intended to support an “un­changing standard of living” and to offer supplies that were “local in scope.” It was a “pastoral economic world” with a belief that even in the economy there must be “social justice,” the odium of secular conserva­tives, between producers and consumers. Ham­erow writes: “The advantages inherent in mechani­cal efficien­cy and competitive individualism were renounced for the sake of security and order.” Economic security, a settled way of life, rejection of efficiency and mechan­ics as ends in themselves to be pursued without limit, all characterize the writings of the Twelve Southerners.'

The Old Rural German Order Overthrown Just as the South’s:

'But Germany’s “civil war” was a more protracted affair, dispersed over decades though at times erupting into violence as in the revolutions of 1848. Hamerow comments: “Within the life­time of one generation Germany was forced to accept new forms of production, new methods of transportation, new social classes, new civic ideals, new demographic pressures. It proved too much for a bewildered people. The masses in their agitation began to mutter, complain, threaten, and finally they rose in open revolt against the effects of technological progress.” When all was said and done, Germany’s historic social order, like the South, was gone with the wind and left in the dust of an excessive and dehumanizing indus­trialization.'

Roepke’s Solutions to Modern Problems Rooted in an Admiration of Rural Life:

'In looking for answers to social problems in the still more disastrous aftermath of World War I, Roepke drew upon his rural past whose simple way of life became the cornerstone of his economic and social philosophy. A humane social order begins, Roepke discovered, with the person­al and the spiritual and a humane economy similar­ly begins when something of the poetic is retained in work and consumption, when these become as it were an art, integrated into the rest of life. Just as mere versification does not constitute poetry, so charts and graphs don’t make good econom­ics and the bump and grind of meaningless work doesn’t make for a good economy.'

The Importance to Roepke of Neighborliness, an Idea Deeply Engrained in the Southern Christian Tradition:

'The humane economy then must have its ideal and that ideal for Roepke is best described as “neigh­borly.” He draws attention to the etymolo­gy of the word “neighbor” to explain his views. The German word “Bauer” (farmer or peasant) is not derived from “bauen” (to build), but comes from “Nachbar” which in English is “neighbor” and whose root meaning is “near-dweller” (itself a Saxon-like expression). This, says Roepke, “expresses the friendly warmth of the village community.”

'As an economist, Roepke of course insists that a good society must have free markets and private property. These were as much as anything else a part of the natural order of mankind. However, there are some dangers even in these arrangements if they are carried too far or applied inappropriately. . . .

'Market competition, Roepke insists, is a “necessary social arrangement not a social gospel likely to make us enthusiastic” so it “must be supplement­ed by something which is humanly positive.” What is this “humanly positive” supple­ment? It is certainly not to be found in economic growth and consumerism where “dissatisfaction and discontent seem only to grow with the profu­sion of goods designed for creature comforts and in inverse proportion to the happiness expected of those goods.” Nor is it to be found in a belief in “the often cited living standard” which may “in­toxicate a naive social philosophy” with its materi­al­istic bias but which ignores and undermines the “im­measurable and inexpressible simple happiness which men feel in doing satisfying work and leading purpose­ful lives.”

'Roepke’s answer is as simple as it is radical: to have the “humanly positive” or neigh­borly life, we need “a simultaneous change of our whole economic and social system in favor of drastic decentralization of cities and industries, of the restoration of some more ‘natural order’, more rural, but less urbanized, mecha­nized, industrial­ized, proletarized and commercialized.”'

An Advocate of Self-Sufficient Families:

'A major step in fulfilling this vision is “by enlarging the sphere of marketless self-sufficiency.” Partial self-sufficiency means more people owning productive assets, especially land, includ­ing city-dwell­ers who can grow some of their own foodstuffs. More men should become small capitalists and more goods and services should be produced in the home where feasible, such as homeschooling.'

Looked Askance at the Cult of Technology:

'He further insists that we can and should take a firm and conscientious social control over our techno­logical destinies: “we are not the help­less slaves of technology” but are surely the “captains of our fate.” He rejects as unmanly any “argument of technological inevitability.” Tech­nology and science are no more autonomous than the market and like the latter are to be submitted to humane and moral standards.'

A Bold Defender of Hierarchy and Tradition vs Egalitarianism and Innovation:

'Distinguishing Roepke’s views from other more or less “small is beautiful” approaches is his rejection of egalitarian principles and his emphasis on history and tradition. His restoration of sound princi­ples of living and return to what Russell Kirk would call the “wisdom of our ancestors” leads Roepke to defend a society with social classes, including a “natural nobility” and a functional hierarchy rooted in a Euro­centric tradition, histo­ry, and culture. This natural nobility should act as secular saints providing leadership to countervail both the market and government and rejecting “eccentric novelty” in favor of the “old truths.” Though this status is to be achieved by merito­rious character rather than by birth, Roepke insists it is also true that “without wealth and its inheritance, whereby spiritual and moral tradition is handed down together with its material foundation, a natural aristoc­racy is…impossible.” Such leader­ship usually takes more than one generation to be achieved. Hence a settled life where such slow maturing would be allowed and encouraged is essential.'

An Advocate of a ‘Third Way’ in Economics:

'Put bluntly, Roepke’s views are, like the Southern Agrarians, hard to sell to most Ameri­cans. The complete Yankee of today sees the world as a spectrum dominated by two stark alternatives: the welfare-state/social­ist/communist “liberalism” or the in-your-face individualism of a secular, libertarian “conser­vatism.” Because Roepke cuts across these chuckleheaded divisions, he is usually reject­ed. It takes too much effort to figure him out. Yet his view is eminently simple, and full of common sense. No Ph.D is needed to under­stand him. He advocates private property, free markets and limited government. But he also refuses to deify the market any more than govern­ment and recognizes that other needs must be met, as outlined above.'

His Rejection of the Notion of Endless Progress and Its Close Kin, Unquestioned Adherence to Ideology:

'Roepke is also rejected from a defect common to both the secular right and left. That is their belief in the “automatic” proper­ties of their pet “systems,” either government or capitalism. On the left, the welfare state is supposed to take care of the poor and needy automatically, if only there were more govern­ment agencies and money. On the right, the market is supposed to do the same through greater entrepreneurial license leading to productivity increases and more. If only the government reduced taxes, etc., all of our prob­lems would go away. Like big government, the market is the salve on the conscience which excuses the secularist from loving his neighbor, being his brother’s keeper in the rightly understood sense.

'Roepke understood that both sides are wrong. When these “systems” are absolutized and human problems solved “automatically,” we are dehumanized and the problems are worsened. Political and economic independence, that is, the liberty of a free republic and a free market, re­quire intense personal com­mitment and character. It requires self-sacri­fice on behalf of one’s neigh­bor. And the only thing “automatic” is the pain and discom­fort that comes with self-denial. It has no substitute. This im­plies, as Roepke him­self was the first to point out, that his eco­nomic and social changes must be accompa­nied with “the spiritual and moral change indispensable to lasting improve­ment” and without which nothing else will be effective. In his own life he exemplified that love of neighbor philoso­phy, character and com­mit­ment, which re­flected those traditional village values of his youth and which helped lead him to fight not only National Socialists, Commu­nists and Keynesians but the secular capitalists as well. For all these reasons Roepke’s contribution is of lasting significance and keen interest to those wishing to preserve the Sou­thern lega­cy.'

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Embrace the Russians

From them will come the Christian renewal the South and all the world are in such desperate need of.  Quoting from Father Andrew Phillips's essay 'The Spiritual Renewal of Russia and the End of the World':

In his report to the Diaspora Council in Yugoslavia in 1938, St John of Shanghai and Western Europe wrote: ‘The catastrophe which has come to Russia is the direct result of terrible sins, and the rebirth of Russia is possible only after being cleansed from them...In chastising, the Lord is at the same time also showing Russian people the path of salvation, making it into a preacher of Orthodoxy all over the world. The Russian diaspora has made all the ends of the world familiar with Orthodoxy; the mass of Russian exiles are mostly unconsciously preachers of Orthodoxy...It has been given to Russians outside Russia to shine the light of Orthodoxy all over the world, so that other peoples, seeing their good deeds, might glorify our Father Who is in heaven, and thus obtain salvation for themselves. The diaspora will have to be converted to the path of repentance and, obtaining forgiveness for itself through prayer to God and spiritual rebirth, will also be enabled to regenerate our suffering homeland’ (The Orthodox Word, 1973, No. 50, pp. 92, 94).

St John ended his report with a prophecy and the hope that there would be a true Feast of the Resurrection in Russia, that would shine forth to the whole world before the end and the beginning of the universal Kingdom of God: ‘Shake off the slumber of despondency and sloth, O sons of Russia! Behold the glory of her sufferings and cleanse yourselves; wash away your sins! Be strengthened in the Orthodox faith, to be worthy to dwell in the house of the Lord and to settle on His holy mountain! Leap up, leap up, rise up! O Russia, you who from the Lord’s hands have drunk of the cup of His wrath! When your sufferings are over, your righteousness shall go with you and the glory of the Lord shall accompany you. The peoples shall come to your light, and kings to the radiance which shall rise on you. Then lift up your eyes and see: behold, your children come to you from the West and the North and the Sea and the East, blessing Christ in you for ever. Amen’ (ibid., p. 94).

And earlier in the essay:

In the darkest days of persecution, when everything seemed hopeless, Elder Seraphim (Vyritsky) (1865-1949) spoke of impending rebirth, of the opening of churches and monasteries, and that the gates of hell would not overcome. . . . He also spoke of a time when Russia would flourish again spiritually, when even heterodox would sail to Russia to be baptised. But this period would not last for long, for fifteen years, and then Antichrist would come. He also warned that the end would come not through persecution, but through the temptations of money and the attractions of this world (Bishop Alexander of South America, Easter Message 2005).

Many more such prophecies of holy men and women are likewise quoted.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The Massive Spying on Innocent Americans Should Surprise No One

Following M. E. Bradford in his 'Introduction' to John Taylor of Caroline's Arator, we find two basic kinds of government in the world: nomocratic and teleocratic.  The nomocratic form 'protect[s] what is' while the teleocratic attempts to 'creat[e] what is yet to be' (p. 20).  Prior to the War of Northern Aggression, the government of the South was essentially nomocratic, and that of New England and the North teleocratic - the much lauded 'city on a hill'.

Prof Bradford, in another essay - 'First Fathers: The Colonial Origins of the Southern Tradition' - explains this New England vision of society and government further:  'The godly commonwealth was to be a centerpiece for concluding history, for ushering in the thousand-year reign of the Saints predicted in the Book of Revelation and presided over by Christ the King.  New Englanders were an elect armed from on high with the power and authority to hurry up this beneficent apocalypse. . . . Its founding intended something immodest, the correction and restructuring of all other polities' (A Better Guide Than Reason, pgs. 174, 180).

Any society founded on the idea that it exists to literally transform fallen earth into perfect heaven is unquestionably totalitarian and heretical, no matter what Christian language it may use to mask this ambition.  It is this crusading, gnostic, New England empire that conquered the South in the great War of the 19th century, and that, today, under the name of 'America', continues to try to remake the nations of the world in its godless, democratic image, from Germany to Serbia to Afghanistan. 

But in this righteous quest of salvation, those who oppose its goals are necessarily evil - there are no shades of grey in the battle with heaven's chosen ones, only absolutes; no negotiated treaties with 'American exceptionalism', only unconditional surrenders.  To ensure no one in its own territory interferes with its progress, therefore, the government must see to it that all its citizens live according to the proper rules.  For dissenters could slow down or even derail the great project of earthly perfection.  It must know what everyone is doing at all times.

Thus are born PRISM and all the other spying programs that record phone calls, e-mails, purchases, etc. of ordinary, innocent people in the States of this unfortunate union, which are being brought to light by Edward Snowden and other heroic whistleblowers.  These are the fruits of the fully grown New England ideology, and there are perhaps others, more bitter, yet to be tasted. 

It was obvious for all with eyes to see that this all-knowing monstrosity was the end toward which we were headed if nothing changed, yet many were too apathetic or too blinded by an idolatrous nationalism ('That could never happen in America!', etc.) to do anything about it.

It is not too late, however, to leave our present home in the thorn tree of the false kingdom of New England for the branches of the true Kingdom of God in the tree grown from the mustard seed (St Matthew's Gospel 13:31-33).  In it, we may discover once again the good things of Southern society.  And sanctifying them by the grace of God, we will endeavor to enjoy a peaceful life on earth among our neighbors as we seek to work out our salvation quietly, in humility, and through ascetic labor.

Works Cited

John Taylor, Arator; Being a Series of Agricultural Essays, Practical and Political: in Sixty-Four Numbers, M. E. Bradford, ed., Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1977.

M. E. Bradford, A Better Guide Than Reason: Federalists and Anti-Federalists, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction, 1994.
 
For more on gnosticism and modern politics, see Eric Voegelin, The New Science of Politics: An Introduction, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987, especially chapters IV, V, and VI.

For some basic differences between New England and the South, one may listen to Carey Roberts's short lecture 'The Southern Political Tradition'.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Counties in North Colorado Ready to Secede

One does not have to be a prophet to foresee the reaction of the kleptocrats to the desire of these people to preserve some semblance of the good life by seceding from the destructive, authoritarian Denver government:  NO!  NO!  NO!

Let us all do our best, therefore, to support and encourage these good folks, through phone calls, e-mails, etc., and through our prayers.  Who knows?  Their effort may be the catalyst other counties, parishes, cities, and states need to begin their own process of secession.

This is getting a fair amount of attention in smaller media outlets, but do your best to publicize it on any mainstream media site or talk radio show that you can.  Below are some of the sites reporting on this story that you may use to get yourself up-to-date:

From the LewRockwell blog:

From Infowars:

From Mike Church:

From The Christian Science Monitor:

No Conservatives, No Liberals - Only Revolutionaries

That is the truth about current American politics that the Catholic writer and professor Thaddeus Kozinski draws out in his short '"We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident": A Dialogue'.  He writes in one section:

'Peter: You may think that you are at the opposite extremes, with yourself a Right-wing conservative, and Libby a left-wing liberal, but you are both essentially the same. Your positions are but two different species of the same error, Liberalism or, more accurately, Modernism.  As Alasdair MacIntyre said, all, or almost all, of political discussion today is confined within the bounds of liberal ideology; there may be radical liberals and conservative liberals–but there is nothing but liberals.

'Norm: So, you are saying that I am actually Hillary Clinton in disguise?

'Libby: I, a right-wing, fascist, homophobic, women-hating racist?

'Peter: Well, if it means that you are both true children of the Enlightenment, yes. “Conservatives,” like you Norm, merely desire to conserve the classical liberal tradition of the Enlightenment, while the Libbys of the world aim to preserve the more revolutionary elements. The Glorious Revolutionaries and the French Revolutionaries were both revolutionaries–and both wrong–and the so-called liberal and conservative of today are revolutionaries also.'

Other interesting critiques follow.

So, then, for the Southerner and for any well-meaning traditionalist, a rejection of Enlightenment politics - and its replacement by a truly Christian, Trinitarian politics - must go hand-in-hand with any attempt at reform.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Both Political Parties Showing Their True Nature

Whether it is the recent attempt at gun grabbing, Rubio's deception about his 'control the border first' immigration bill, the unanimous gutting of rules - by Congress and the President - designed to prevent insider trading by federal officials, and now the 'bipartisan' support of massive East German-type spying on innocent Americans (Sen Lindsey Graham, Rep Peter King, Sen Feinstein, Sen Saxby Chambliss, etc.) - it is plainer than ever that both the Republican and Democrat parties are merely different faces of the same group of godless, authoritarian, banking-corporate-media elites. 

It is true that a good man will be sent to Washington City every now and then, but he is quickly denied any seat of real power if he chooses to defy the agenda of the behind-the-scenes Powers That Be.

So we cannot simply ‘vote the bums out’ and expect improvement.  We must be more creative and courageous.

Secession ought to be high on the list of considerations.  But even this would not solve the problem completely, for the money of the Elite would still be able to pervert the elections of a free Virginia or Kentucky or Texas, even as they pervert them today while parts of the amalgamated American Empire.  To effect the greatest possible separation between ourselves and the corrupt regime, we must reject democracy. 

Proudhon said of this form of government, ‘Money, always money, that is the nerve of democracy’ (quoted in Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Liberty or Equality: The Challenge of Our Time, Front Royal, Va.: Christendom Press, 1993, p. 157).  Since democracy severs the close ties that exist between men in hierarchical societies (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Part Two, Book II, Chapter II, 'Of Individualism in Democratic Countries'), advertising becomes the chief way for a politician to get name recognition.  Thus, he who produces the most persuasive propaganda usually wins.  And it takes money to advertise.  Thus, if we merely secede without cutting off this conduit for Elite money, we will shortly find that the same cabal is selecting and/or influencing our rulers despite our new-found freedom.

Our hope lays not in a reformed democratic republic, not in the perfectly balanced mechanics of a paper constitution, but in our return to a society governed by tradition - longstanding, Christian tradition.  Here, virtue proved through the generations becomes the standard by which leaders are recognized and chosen to govern, rather than fame or wealth.  Here, connections to and reverence for the past keep us humble and remind us of our duty to our forefathers and to our distant descendants - which prevent us from riotously squandering the accumulated physical, mental, and spiritual inheritance of society on our own fleeting generation.  Here, the family name carries real meaning, contains memories of events and people that are celebrated year after year, and is deeply rooted in and identified with a particular place.  Here, the small farmer and small craftsman have an honored place.  Here, holiness is sought, rather than money and pleasure.  Here, the saints are celebrated.  Here, society is ordered for the salvation of man in God, and the Church and the State co-operate to this end.

This aristocratic-monarchic arrangement of society is much more natural and much better for the citizens than democracies.  Even in foreign affairs, as Hans-Herman Hoppe explains, democracies are destructive in ways unimaginable to hierarchical countries.

Be done, then, with notions of reforming the system, of returning to the Constitution.  In them lies certain trouble.  We must escape the present system, and, as Hoppe said, make the world ‘safe from democracy’.

Health Benefits of a Favorite Southern Food - Watermelon

A short excerpt taken from an article by Ms Susan Patterson over at the Natural Society web site:

'According to researchers on the team, watermelon, native to South Africa, contains a number of influential substances including citrulline,  a compound thought to protect against atherosclerosis. This high water content fruit is also touted for its ability to help with weight management. Watermelon is just another fruit, in a long line of researched fruits, including berries and apples that have proven effective in the promotion of health and protection from cardiovascular disease, cancer and stroke.'

Follow the path above for all the details.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Vermont vs the American Empire; and a Note on Loving Our Enemies

I.  Whenever most people think of secession, past or present, they usually think of the Southern States, but the first to withdraw from the corrupt Empire the Union has morphed into may just as likely come from the Northeast as the South.  The people of that State, after all, have begun minting their own silver coinage and running candidates for their governor and state legislature on a secession platform.

Now comes a book (released March 2013) explaining just what drives their renewed thirst for independence, for a Second Vermont Republic (the first existing from 1777-91): Most Likely To Secede: What the Vermont Independence Movement Can Teach Us about Reclaiming Community and Creating a Human Scale Vision for the 21st Century.

To be sure, this movement has a very large problem in not being overtly founded on a Christian foundation, which will likely cause trouble in days to come.  But it does offer a compelling alternative to Lincolnian corporatism/fascism, for it nevertheless retains some features of the Christian understanding of good communities (small scale, love for the creation, etc.).  Just the antidote we needed to Mr Lowry's Lincoln Unbound.

II.  If the South truly wants to be blessed by God and to move toward a brighter future, we must forgive the sins of those who did so much harm to our ancestors and our fatherland, grievous though they be (see, e.g., the teaching of Our Lord in St Matthew's Gospel 6:12).  We must never forget the lessons of the War of Northern Aggression, but now let us follow the example of Our Blessed Savior and forgive.  If we do not, we will not be held blameless, and our beloved Southland will not grow in holiness but putrify further in her sins of hatred, pride, anger, etc.

Therefore, let us pray - Lord, forgive the sins of  Pres Lincoln, Gen Sherman, Gen Sheridan, etc., and have mercy on their souls.  Save and have mercy on us sinners through their prayers.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

'Lincoln Unbound' by Rich Lowry

Mr Lowry’s book won’t be on store shelves until 11 June 2013, but from the information available it seems likely that it will simply be another make-believe tale in the long line of fabrications about Pres Lincoln since his assassination, portraying him as an inexhaustible store of sunbeams and happiness for the peoples of the old Union rather than the source of death and murrain that he actually was.

The list of people praising it should be enough to give one pause: Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, Bill Bennett, and Rep Paul Ryan, worshippers all of an indivisible, glittering, powerful, and meddling American Empire.

But the words of introduction ‘from the back cover’ are even more dreadful. 

‘. . . the man who would be immortalized as the "railsplitter" never wanted to earn his living with an ax. He educated himself in a frontier environment characterized by mind-numbing labor and then turned his back on that world. All his life, he preached a gospel of work and discipline toward the all-important ends of self-improvement and individual advancement. As a Whig and then a Republican, he worked to smash the rural backwardness in which he was raised and the Southern plantation economy that depended on human bondage.

‘Both were unacceptably stultifying of human potential. In short, Lincoln lived the American Dream and succeeded in opening a way to it for others. He saw in the nation's founding documents the unchanging foundation of an endlessly dynamic society. He embraced the market and the amazing transportation and communications revolutions beginning to take hold. He helped give birth to the modern industrial economy that arose before the Civil War and that took off after it.’

This is astounding!  Anything remotely associated with long established tradition and custom, with the warm and humble bond between man and the natural world that he was made to steward and hallow, and with selflessness, faithfulness, and rootedness is to be rejected for the terror and ugliness of endless revolution, the machine, and self-centredness. 

Here is the great philosophy that will save America!  The philosophy of the president ‘revered today across the political spectrum’!

Do not believe it.  Whatever your state or section, do not believe it.  The future good of the states of this unfortunate union lie in undoing what Pres Lincoln hath wrought.  There are many ways to do this.  One can make a good beginning by reading for himself the truth about what Lincoln really believed and did. 

From politics and history built upon falsehood, Most Merciful Lord, deliver us.