Links for 5/23/19

Links for 5/23/19
It is not the corruption that the Founding Fathers would dislike (they were bond speculators and smugglers), it is the Catholicism, just to be clear. It was seen, for good reason, as anti-democratic, as Gregory XV's drivel, Mirare Vos, demonstrates. Leo operates in the same vein, as if Dignitatis Humanae had never been promulgated. He seeks to enact the entire Catholic agenda in one fell swoop by overturning Plessy v. Ferguson and putting all rights for protected classes from the states under the protection of the states alone (how is that for Truth Speak). Of course, that would allow Alabama to ban Papists and treat Latinos badly as well (and they are likely to - but Leo is short sighted). 

Stopping draconian action to bring back Plessy is what the Catholic Left is trying to do - not bodily autonomy. As for Hyde, it is doomed by Medicare for All or any likely incarnation of single-payer or public option. The impact on any Catholic taxpayer is minuscule, so the natural law conclusion in natural law (as stated by August Fagothey) is that such funding need not be resisted morally. It was always about the optics.

Sperling is still a neo-liberal. The problem is capitalism itself, which turns workers into disposable assets. Nothing less than employee-ownership, control and democracy (including electing management) is acceptable. Call it the Marxian option. It is essential for Europe.

The social democracy of the popes, including Benedict and Francis, are a start (as they are in Scandinavia and, to a lesser extend, the United States), but it cannot be the end game. It is not just about the Koch brothers and their neo-Bircher movement.

As for immigration, repealing all work restrictions, as well as right to work (really to hire Latino slaves) will regulate it just fine. Let states decide who votes - it has that power. On a path to citizenship, simply drop the requirement for legal current status and let anyone who is not a citizen apply for the appropriate status based on their circumstances.

If public employees can donate to campaigns, so can journalists. Write that check. I would fear he would be primaried, but the disgrace which is Donald Trump is going to repudiate the MAGA wing and may destroy the GOP as a majority party.

We do need priests. They should be ordained by a bishop elected by clergy and lay deacons and hired by elected parish councils. Unlike the past, modern Catholics are literate enough to do this and will leave if we do not. We should also have Catholic Shabbat, including Eucharist, in homes.

As I stated yesterday, the form of Catholic governance is not the cause of abuse. Secrecy and domination are, in churches, homes and schools. They are not the reason to change or maintain the current structures - or abandon misogynistic sacred continence and opposition to contraception. These things should be done for their own reasons.