Laudato Si' - Magistra No | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: The right wingers have been looking for ways to distance themselves from Catholic Social Teaching since Leo XIII. I suspect they will not be allowed to do it for long, especially against this Pope. While they think he is all warm and fuzzy, the people who write them checks (the little ones, not the big ones, love Francis). Sadly, I suspect a short news cycle on both sides.
Acton's Jayabalan talks non-negotiables, as if the capitalism we practice now is somehow blessed by God (I suspect they think it is) or is not entirely exploitive. Sadly, Francis did not go far enough in condemning it. If Acton is referring to abortion, then it could go a long way in fighting it if it supported a child tax credit of $1000 per month per child distributed with payroll. I bet if they even heard it, their response would be crickets. As for markets, let me repeat - capitalism is not a free market system, its a rigged game. Hopefully that part will be emphasized further, by both the Pope and a certain presidential candidate I know from Vermont.
Acton's Samual Gregg talked to Business Spectator. I did not even know that rag existed. It can only go worse from there. He does not like what Francis says about markets either. Of coure, it takes monopolistic structures to have a coal economy and an industrial sector that is capable of polluting and of depending on the demand for goods by consumers (who, I must emphasize, will get all Marxian if they can't afford to live on their wages).
Weigels piece is bizarre (although I like the title) - in infering that the Encyclical should be a cost-benefit analysis of climate policy. That is about as nutty as it gets because the answer is, of course, no. Oddly, George's Trinitarian comments seem to jibe with those of MSW. I am sure that was fun to read. Weigel resists the replacement of God with science, as MSW does. Of course, that does not mean we should not use reason in determining the rightness of economic or environmental policy, especially if you admit to a humanistic Deity and moral system that follows from that.
The mythical story of Adam and Eve is about blame based thinking. Its why Eve at the apple (she blamed God for not making her think like Him) and Adam blamed Eve and Eve the serpent. The knowledge of good and evil we inherit is ulitmately what we must use judge capitalism and global warming.
The solution has to be creative and must deal with both capitalism and the environment, as I wrote yesterday to suggest that food producing homes paid for through employment in cooperatives, which do the financing as well. Such employment conditions will also solve life issues at both ends. (and someone tell Francis that the moral standing of extracted stem cells is the same, regardless of whether they come from adults or blastocysts (not embryos). That is a fight for another day, however. Weigel seems to have gotten this right, although he did not stress the problems with capitalism, he did give a pretty good summary from his point of view. There were no red and gold pens here. He certainly did not follow the lead of the Acton Institute and argue economics, which is why he probably did not mention them.
Greg Gutfeld is an idiot. Francis is more Marxist than Malthusian (which he is not, by the way).
Sadly, I suspect that the shelf life of this story is about over, except to the extent the Encyclical is used as a reference by Catholic writers and a a whipping boy by the right wing. Still, next week will bring some other story. We got a lot of mileage out of the run up and unless someone makes noise eitherway, there is not much more to say.
No comments:
Post a Comment