Happy (sort of) Fourth of July! | National Catholic Reporter

Happy (sort of) Fourth of July! | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: Nationalism is essentially linked to authoritarianism (and even despotism) - and hierarchical organizations, such as the Church, find it easy to go along. Of course, the Church does not always go that way. Sometime it is militantly revolutionary (as in Poland and among the Maryknolls) and liberal. The language of the founders is not always the province of libertarians or nationalists. Indeed, I have appropriated it myself in the service of D.C. Statehood. Let us also remember that the Labor Marxists of the 1870s, particularly in 1876, used Marxist language when fighting the bosses. Ultimately, whether my country is right or not depends on the extent to which it allows dissent. It was not very good in the World War I era, when opposition to the war was punished. As for Spellman, his repeating of the right or wrong sentiment was part of the era's anti-communism. We now know that the Red Scare was more about defense contracts than any real threat. Let's not be fooled again