A Job For a TAC Grad

I’ve been following the drama of this presidential election with the sort of distracted interest of a man watching a mediocre film he has already seen a half a dozen times. It is hard to care about the characters when the lines are all worn out and you already know what happens in the end. It seems as if we’ve heard it all before, and indeed we have, and in the end does it really matter who comes out on top, especially now with McCain poised to take the republican nomination?

Of course I will do my Christian and American duty and go out and vote for the lesser of the two evils once again, but the modern American political process and it’s philosophical underpinnings still leave me vexed and dissatisfied at best.

Our modern political atmosphere, especially within the last 20 years or so, has taken a turn towards a kind of political “Unitarianism” where no one stands for any specific doctrines and there is no real difference between party platforms, because all the politicians are worried about pleasing the largest base possible. It seems that our country, and maybe the whole western world, have forgotten who man is, and therefore what the purpose of government is. Which leaves many of us Catholics and our Fundamentalist brethren without a political home. We hear the same hollow talk about “change,” and efficient government, but lately it is just that: “hollow talk” which only serves to perpetuate a system that has forgotten what its real purpose is and never effectively addresses real issues.

I recently came across a series of essays by G.K. Chesterton, in which he critiques the modern statesman, aptly named “What Is Wrong with the World.” His insight into the deficiencies of modern thought and the solutions thereto never cease to amaze me. Almost a hundred years ago in a different country he has the ability to strike at the hear of the matter even here and now. I guess that shouldn’t be surprising because of his uncommon common sense that he derived from his adherence to absolute Truth.

Chesterton says, “Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better than a whole loaf.”*

Is anybody else getting tired of half a loaf instead of a whole? Why doesn’t anybody stand up and demand a whole?

Chesterton adeptly answers“…The present chaos is due to a sort of general oblivion of all that men were originally aiming at. No man demands what he desires; each man demands what he fancies he can get.”*

This is not only true of our politicians but it is true of all of us who vote for them. I have heard all the “expediency” arguments and for all practical purposes I agree. We should vote for the most electable pro-life candidate however kooky he is on other issues. But it seems to me that we are in this situation because we have been “settling” for so long. We have forgotten what our aim is. With all this “settling” we have become stuck in a quagmire of political mediocrity that only deepens. Political correctness and political expediency has clouded the vision of the very essence of the issues.

Take the abortion issue for example. Even if they believe it to be wrong, many politicians will leave in the “exception clause” in order to prevent alienation of a block of voters. This only serves to cloud the issue further. If abortion is the murder of an innocent human being, than why is the child from a “nonconsensual act” any less of an innocent human person? Clearly that child is not any less innocent or human, but the politician has to make a false dichotomy to garner support from all sectors of the public, instead of taking a clear stand for all life and risk losing votes.

So what do we do to dig ourselves out?

It seemed to Chesterton, in this book, that the modern idea that the practical man is the one with all the solutions is all wrong. He points out that, in our constant quest for what “works” without understanding what we are working toward, and in our desire for getting things done, we miss the point completely. That is why we find ourselves with no real options.

Chesterton, turning things upside down as usual, points out that in times like these, when we all see the problem and no real solutions being offered, we need an “Unpractical Man.”

“A practical man means a man accustomed to mere daily practice, to the way things commonly work. When things will not work you must have the thinker, the man that has some doctrine about why they work at all.”*

We have a plethora of practical politicians who are good at “getting things done.” They are proficient at getting elected, they talk endlessly of working together, they pass meaningless legislation, they wage wars, and they tax and spend all in the name of solving societies ills. But what really changes in the end? It seems to me that our societal ills grow right along with the government bureaucracies put in place to correct them.

What we need now is not that type of politician. We need Statesman that have a real understanding of man and what government is for. That means we don’t need more specialists. We don’t need any more political science majors, or lawyers, or MBA’s from MIT. We need Statesmen that are first philosophers and theologians at heart, who understand that mans ultimate happiness lies not in being a cog in the massive bureaucratic wheel, but in the sharing in the divine life of the Blessed Trinity. We need statesmen who understand that the more government tries to become the savior of man, the less free men are to pursue that true happiness.

If we all had that clear view of man and government, we would all have a much clearer view of all the other issues, for they all follow from those basic truths. Wouldn’t it be nice to vote for the “Greater of two Goods?” It can only happen if we quit settling. Of course at this point I am probably only preaching to the Choir…