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Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Reading along with Daniel Cameron’s RNC Speech

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s speech at the RNC a couple of weeks ago got a lot of positive reviews.  However, if one takes a closer look, there are some difficulties that need to be addressed.  We have tried to do that; our comments are in [brackets].

Daniel Cameron: Good evening, my name is Daniel Cameron. I’m 34 years old and the first African-American attorney general in Kentucky history. It is an honor to be with you, as a proud Republican and supporter of Donald J. Trump.


I was raised in Kentucky, just a few miles from Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace. Our first Republican president believed in compassion. Self-reliance. Freedom. Equality. And justice. [Actually, he stood for crony capitalism, looked down on African folks, and wanted to prevent the exercise of freedom by Southerners wishing to peacefully leave the union:  https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/the-problem-with-lincoln/.]


Sadly, there are some who don’t believe in this wisdom or in the better angels of our shared American history, as they tear down the statues of people like Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass, and even Mr. Lincoln himself [Grant, Douglass, and Lincoln hardly represent the better angels of ‘America’; all three had no qualms about fighting an unnecessary war against South, a war which targeted many of her civilians, and Douglass and Lincoln were certainly not traditional Christians (Douglass, for instance, admired heretical thinkers like Ludwig Feuerbach, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass#Religious_views).].


Lincoln said that “any nation that does not honor its heroes will not long endure.” And for Republicans, our heroes are those who propelled an imperfect nation ever forward, always striving to make life better for everyone.


But even as anarchists mindlessly tear up American cities while attacking police and innocent bystanders, we Republicans do recognize those who work in good faith towards peace, justice, and equality.


In fact, it was General Dwight Eisenhower, a future Republican president, who said: “Democracy is a system that recognizes the equality of humans before the law.” Whether you are the family of Breonna Taylor or David Dorn, these are the ideals that will heal our nation’s wounds [Behold, the Great and Mighty Healer, Democracy.].


Republicans will never turn a blind eye to unjust acts, but neither will we accept this all-out assault on western civilization.


My values were shaped by my faith, and by my parents. I worked at their small coffee shop, meeting people from all walks of life. And I realized something: everyone needs a cup of coffee.


That lesson has stuck with me because, despite our difference, we all want the same things: For our children to have more opportunities than we did; to feel the dignity of work; and to believe that if you play by the rules, you can make a good life for yourself and your family.  [The Yankee, materialist definition of success (i.e., having more than the generations before) is in sharp contrast with the Orthodox view.  St Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, North Africa, and martyr (+258), a wonderful Holy Father of the Church, is an excellent ensample of the Orthodox Way, that we should be willing to sacrifice money, status, family, etc. to obtain the Pearl of Great Price, union with Christ through His Body the Church and not make an idol of worldly success:  Thascius Cyprianus was the son of a rich pagan senator, and received a fine secular education becoming a splendid orator, and a teacher of rhetoric and philosophy in the school of Carthage. He often appeared in the courts to defend his fellow citizens.  . . . He was helped by his friend and guide, the presbyter Cecilius, who assured him of the power of God’s grace. At 46 years of age the studious pagan was received into the Christian community as a catechumen. Before accepting Baptism, he distributed his property to the poor and moved into the house of the presbyter Cecilius.’  --https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2020/08/31/102443-hieromartyr-cyprian-bishop-of-carthage


By these and other actions, St Cyprian would be accounted a ‘failure’ to many Yankee-minded Americans because he ended life with LESS material wealth than his parents.  And so too would be St Paula of Rome, St Paulinus of Nola, and many, many others who renounced the world that they might be able to dedicate themselves to a single-minded, whole-hearted pursuit of life in the All-Holy Trinity.]


So the question is: will we choose the path that gives us the best chance to meet those universal desires [Who says the values/goals of classical liberalism are universal?  This is an ideology that developed only in the 1500s in a particular moment of European history:  https://mises.org/library/what-classical-liberalism.  It is not equally applicable to each and all.] Or will we go backward, to a time when people were treated like political commodities who can’t be trusted to think for themselves?  [This is a false choice; there are other civilizational alternatives.]


 . . . [We are leaving out Mr Cameron’s Litany of Fervent Execrations against Joe Biden, which aren’t of much concern when contrasted with the rest of the speech.]


And he is captive to the radical left, a movement committed to cancel culture and the destruction of public discourse. They believe your skin color must dictate your politics. And if you fail to conform while exercising your God given right to speak and think freely, they will cut you down.


The politics of identity, cancellation, and mob rule are not acceptable to me. Republicans trust you to think for yourselves and to pursue your American dream however you see fit [unless your American dream runs afoul of Republican big money donors; then you will not be so ‘free’.].


Mr. Lincoln said, “the dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion.”


I believe Donald Trump can meet Lincoln’s mandate, even as Joe Biden remains trapped by his own failed record, and by the radicals who dominate his party.


 . . . [We are also leaving out Mr Cameron’s Litany of Fervent Praises for Donald Trump for the same reasons as above.]


The choice is clear.


Let me close with something my mom told me, this country’s many faces comprise a family, not separate parts to be divided against each other [America is not a homogenous ethnos, but an unnatural collection of such authentic ethnoi mashed together to create an alchemically united utopia:  Native Hawaiians, Spanish Southwest, Afro-Western European Dixie, Scandinavian Upper Great Plains, Germanic Lower Great Plains, etc.].


And like any family, we care for one another. We grieve together. We share our burdens and struggles, and we celebrate our successes. And though we fuss and fight, we are not enemies. We are Americans, united by a collective faith in our Constitution and laws and the fundamental fairness they represent [An honest statement about where American faith lies – not in the Holy Trinity but in Americanism.].


We are defenders of life and of individual liberty. And we carry the mantle of Eisenhower and of Reagan to be a force for good in this world, and one that must always be reckoned with.


That’s my Republican Party, the Party of Lincoln, that believes America is an indispensable nation, an Evergreen Tree, standing tall in a turbulent world [Isn’t every nation ‘indispensable’ for a Christian?  Doesn’t each have an irreplaceable role in the working out of the history of the Church in the world (a point made by Solzhenitsyn)?  If only America and perhaps a few other Western countries that closely resemble it culturally are ‘indispenable’, does that mean most other peoples are ‘dispensable’?  Judging by the actions of Lincoln, Sherman, Sheridan, McKinley, Truman, Johnson, the Bushes, Clinton, Obama, Trump, etc., etc., vis a vis Native Americans, Philippine Islanders, Vietnam, the Balkans, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and more, the answer seems to be ‘Yes, most are dispensable’.  Such is AG Cameron’s ‘force for good in this world’; such is his phony Church of Americanism.].


And that’s why I am voting for Donald Trump for President.


Thank you and God bless.


--Transcript courtesy of Maggie Astor, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/us/politics/daniel-cameron-rnc-speech.html

Thus does the South lose yet another young, promising political leader to the idol of Moloch-America.  ‘Tis a great shame.

--

Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

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