Does an American political tradition still exist?
It seems it must. After all, Americans have been carrying on politics together for hundreds of years. And when people do things together for such a long time, it seems they would necessarily develop habits and attitudes that help them deal with each other.
But what are those things? The more we explore, the more confused we become.
We can look at our basic political concerns. Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address that our politics have to do with freedom and equality. Many agree, and I’m willing to go along with that, even though John Adams and George Washington would have wanted religion and public virtue to be more part of the picture.
But an emphasis on freedom and equality doesn’t get us very far, since they can mean anything. We are equal to our equals, but who are they, and how are they equal? I’m not politically equal to Donald Trump, legally equal to Ketanji Brown Jackson, or economically equal to Bill Gates. People who think that’s OK while claiming to be devoted to equality are using “equality” in a rather idiosyncratic sense. And people who think that’s not OK need to explain just what their ideal society would look like, and how it would work.
As for freedom, it’s hard to distinguish from obligation, since my freedom means you have to cooperate. I won’t be free if you act oppressively. But it’s not for you to tell me what I should find oppressive, and people seem to agree that microaggressions are oppressive.
It follows that my freedom includes your duty to act as you should—however I may define “should.” I may well believe, for example, that my freedom includes freedom from your religious expression. Why should I have to be confronted by your stupid, destructive, and downright Satanic chatter? It should—I believe—be suppressed like any other public nuisance.
You likely will not agree. So it goes. Nor do the conflicts lessen when people put freedom and equality together. Depending on outlook, the combination can mean free enterprise and colorblindness, welfare rights and DEI, or any number of other things, all at odds with each other.
Or maybe broad qualities and concerns define our tradition. But do we incline toward idealism or pragmatism? How about nationalism? Internationalism? Minimal government? Federalism and local control? Or “hope and change,” meaning social engineering?
We might look at national myths. But there have been lots of them, all different and subject to constant change and manipulation. Is the real America a nation of immigrants? A melting pot? An inheritance from the Mother Country and frontier experience? A land of families, churches, and local communities? Or instead, a glorious tapestry of diversity and multiculturalism—which would make it nothing in particular?
There’s no answer, since an answer would require a common understanding of what is important in life, how it is achieved, and whose experiences should matter. But liberal freedom and equality have no room for such things. After all, who are you to tell me what I should believe, who or what I should love, how I should live, or who I should listen to?
Even so, a decision has to be made. Of necessity, it will be made by the people who are in a position to decide things—the powerful—and in the absence of principle, the answer will always come down to their interests. No doubt they will sincerely view that as a victory for the public good.
The natural conclusion is that we aren’t really doing politics together. We are just battling each other over personal advantages, or over inconsistent visions of man, God, the world, and the common good, and trying to manipulate symbols to prove that our own desired goals are the true expression of the American tradition.
Unless, of course, we are among the leftists, integrists, and Third Worldists who think the American political tradition is beyond salvage.
That has become a view commonly held by accepted moral leaders, as demonstrated by land acknowledgments, the destruction of statues, the replacement of Columbus Day by Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and the campaign by the New York Times to paint racism and slavery as America’s true founding principles.
So what is the condition of the American political tradition when those who take our official public morality most seriously, and so are the natural custodians of that tradition, have decided that America as such is evil?
All this is a political catastrophe. Every national tradition is flawed by original sin, but its destruction is worse. Neither human life nor human society would last five minutes if they didn’t mostly work as they should, and however bad our habits or traditions we would be even worse off if we had none at all but simply acted in response to immediate pressure and impulse.
That is more and more where we are. MAGA is a response to that situation that seems mostly based on the idea of America as a team that wants to win. As such, it is insufficient for the needs of an ordinarily humane and functional society. Even so, it seems better than The Resistance, which mostly seems based on the idea that MAGA is evil, and nationality and other traditional connections should be dissolved—for example through DEI and effectively open borders—and replaced by a universal expert bureaucracy that takes care of us all without subjecting us to any risks or burdensome individual demands.
None of this is going to work, but it’s not clear how we get out of it. While history may not have come to an end, a particular line of development—modernity and its successor post-modernity—evidently has. Under such circumstances, grand political strategies seem out of place. There are no reliable materials to work with, and it is difficult to envision a future that could be brought about through political action that is basically different from what we have now. We should do what we can in public life—we can never be sure what hidden possibilities there are—but that may be very little.
Apparently, fundamental understandings and ways of living must change. It is time for a reset that is far greater than the one the World Economic Forum proposed a few years ago, one that is too great to be forced or planned. That makes it a time for unvarnished truth on the one hand, and practical expedients and alliances on the other—in short, a time to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.
The secular world does not offer a tolerable way of life, so we must develop a more Catholic way of life in Catholic community. That means drawing together through love of God, clarity of doctrine, and love of neighbor—first of fellow Catholics and other close connections, and then by stages or chance encounters of all with whom we have dealings.
These things are easier said than done. As Emerson noted, “It takes a great deal of elevation of thought to produce a very little elevation of life.” Generalized elevation of thought—good intentions—is not enough. The Apostle Paul gets more to the point: “to them that love God, all things work together unto good.”
And that is what we must rely on. Saint Benedict helped found the Christian civilization of the West by literally heading for the hills to draw closer to God. What he did was indispensable. God cannot be subordinated: if He could, He would not be God. He is not a means. He is the goal. When we forget that, our faith no longer does anything for us.
Jesus made the command to love God the first and greatest commandment for a reason. To follow Him is, first of all, to follow Him on that point. Without specific emphasis on God—not as symbol, manner of speaking, organizing concept, Omega Point, or unknowable mystery, but as reality and indeed the Most Real Being—Catholicism, along with social life and ultimately thought itself, loses its center and falls apart.
So that is the primary social responsibility of the Church: to put God first for His own sake. Otherwise, our salt will certainly lose its savor, and we will have nothing to offer the world.
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I believe that MAGA is a gut reaction to Pres. Biden and VP Harris’ aimless and basically incompetent administration, in which attempts were made to allow pretty much anything including sinful behaviors, especially sexual perversions, and the breaking of the law (e.g., immigrants entering the country illegally and settling). Many Americans were tired of being told over and over by an obviously aging POTUS and obviously incompetent VP that we are prejudiced, selfish/greedy, intolerant, and behind-the-times. We are tired of having sinful practices proclaimed as “good”, and those who oppose them based on various religious beliefs (especially Christianity and Judaism) as “evil.”
Religion attempts to convert others, which is, when you think about it, one of the main goals of Christianity–The Great Commission! I have no problems with MAGAs attempts to get the U.S. back on a track that welcomes religion, and I’m willing to be confronted with attempts to convert me to another religion because I respect the freedom of others to speak.
I’ve been watching Kelsey Grammar’s history presentations on the History Channel–and considering that these are produced by secular people, it’s very clear that Religion was a main motive behind the establishment of the “New World”. Yes, there have been excesses and sinful actions perpetrated in the name of Religion–but there has also been much good that has come of it, not the least of which are the various civil rights laws that Christian leaders like The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King worked for and eventually died pursuing.
I think one of the most perplexing issues is whether these rights extend to people who profess sexual identities that are by no means confirmed by basic science. Yes, we should practice love and kindness to all people, but I think many Americans do not believe that religion should be discarded and subject to laws which are contrary to the religion’s belief system. I think MAGA recognizes this and is fighting to keep the U.S. on a “level” course when it comes to human rights.
I believe Mrs. Sharon that faith was *a* motivation for exploration of the Americas but I’m not convinced it was the main incentive. Trade, gold & other resources, land, & empire building seem more likely.
mrs. You can’t be referring to Christofer Columbus? As I read his voyages, they had little to do with religion. His trips to the west was funded by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. He was charged with a search for gold and riches. He unleashed his conquistadors on the peaceful Tiano Indians of Haiti. The story gets even worse.
Thanks
Mr Morgan, even when spreading the Faith is a goal our fallen human nature can come into play.
“MAGA” started long before Trump; remember 50 years ago when people used to say, “something should be done about that.” Some took it to extremes, but it’s about not letting the country and it’s mission getting flushed down the outhouse – and greatly about freedom. Trump is doing something about it – agree or disagree.
The left made it worse during the pandemic, with the masks, the safe distancing that was pulled out of a hat and an experimental mRNA shot that was forced almost literally down people’s throats. Not to mention the money printing and forever and ever lockdowns that we’ll be paying for at least one generation.
We read about: “…drawing together through love of God, clarity of doctrine, and love of neighbor—first of fellow Catholics and other close connections, and then by stages or chance encounters of all with whom we have dealings.”
Does this layered localism take sides in the immigration debate between Vance and Pope Francis about “who is my neighbor”? Or not?
Two points:
FIRST, a further approach is to suggest that all of the Second Vatican Council (1962-5) as an ecumenical council effort to figure out this riddle: its PAIRING of “Lumen Gentium” with the “Gaudium et Spes” (The Church, and the engaging Church in the Modern World).
We might even propose that the later compiled Catholic Social Teaching (CST, e.g., “The Compendium,” 2004) can be framed as a series of themes, here paired: centering, above all, on the “transcendent [!] dignity of the human person” (“Centesimus Annus,” 1991), then we have: (1) the dignity of the human Person AND the Family, always together, (2) concrete Subsidiarity AND concrete Solidarity, always together, (3) Rights AND Responsibilities, always together, (4) informed Conscience AND faithful Citizenship, always together, (5) the option for the Poor AND the dignity of Work, always together, and (6) all of the above AND intergenerational care for God’s Creation, always together.
Who is my neighbor (?), and in an imperfect world, exercise of the moral virtues: courage, temperance, justice and especially prudential judgment.
SECOND, what a great mandate for a range of personal “vocations” (what’s that?), firstly Holy Orders, or Marriage, or maybe Single. Too bad, then, about abdication by much of Catholic academia in the “Land O’ Lakes Declaration” (1967) demanding autonomy from all “external” influences. All external influences except favorable peer reviews by the gurus of Secular Humanism. (Faithful signs include “Communio,” the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, and the Society of Catholic Scientist.)
SUMMARY: Said the American Cardinal Wuerl in Rome in 2012, in launching the Year of Faith: “It is as if a tsunami of secular influence has swept across the cultural landscape, taking with it such societal markers as marriage, family, the concept of the common good and objective right and wrong.”
James Kalb has got it right. Thank you James. The only way out that has hope is to
to begin with a radical personal conversion. Pax to all.
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Lincoln spoke equality and freedom in context of the black man and emancipation. Washington from his vision of a newly forming American culture unshackled from Britain and her tradition. Though not all, with retention of the Common Law of England, including aspects of Britain’s code for justice.
Today the Grey Lady has morphed from Times past to the Rainbow Lady. Participants of a working, democratic republic must share willingness to surrender some of their liberties just to ‘get along’ as Rodney King would say. Although, as Kalb suggests, the differences between us are dramatic. We require a binding axiom. Kalb acknowledges the only true axiom for a just society, God.
So MAGA is our salvation? I don’t think so.
You should at least read the article before posting your tired TDS rants. Kalb is not saying this.
William,I don’t think you would find Jesus anywhere near the MAGA movement .
The MAGA president appointed conservative Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, unlike the progressive democrats you support who end life through the 9th month of pregnancy.
It’s hard to know what you’re responding to.
You appear to be praising MAGA. Why? I have heard so many “conservative” Catholics praise Trump and MAGA, in spite of the obvious right wing dictatorial tendencies. Was overturning Roe worth a pseudo Fascist dictatorship?
National Catholic Register allows zero criticism of Trump, but plenty of criticism of Pope Francis. I was hoping that on this website there could be at least a pretense of balance.
What are conservative Catholics afraid of? Why so little honest discussion of pros and cons of MAGA? Nothing but effusive praise.
This site, as you know (even if you refuse to acknowledge it) has certainly criticized Trump (going back many years), especially for his changes and positions on life issues, but also for other things. But you, of course, have made it clear that you reject the Church’s teachings on artificial contraceptives, etc., so perhaps that doesn’t matter to you. Yet you have no qualms about throwing around emotive accusations, even obviously specious ones (“You appear to be praising MAGA…”) like some sort of half-addled college undergraduate who, after taking a poli-sci class thinks she is smarter than anyone and everyone. You’re brand of TDS appears, from your many comments at CWR, to be the standard NYT/CNN/MSNBC type: boring, shallow, and predictable, as well as rife with double-standards.
Spelling correction: should be “your” not “you’re.” I must have hit a nerve to trigger your emotional response filled with personal insults. Perhaps the truth hurts?
Also, who are you to judge me and anyone for that matter on contraception? Are you the Pope? An Archbishop? Or just another right wing convert trying to be more Catholic than the Pope. Just another Trump sycophant.
Your (ahem) a one-trick pony.
So…adhering to Catholic teaching is being more Catholic than the Pope? Do you believe the hogwash you slop around here?
“Just another Trump sycophant.”
More of the same. Again. As I’ve said before, show me the evidence. (I’ve received emails from well-known Catholics berating me because CWR was too “anti-Trump.” Apparently Trump lives rent-free in far, far too many heads.) You do know that lying is a sin, right? Just like supporting and using contraceptives.
Perhaps being the salt is more about being in than of.
The political reset we need is for us to get to know who Man is and his relationship to God.
We need fewer political pundits, know-it-alls on the left, wise guys and those who think that the answer to man’s existential crisis is bigger government, more government programs, and more of our hard-earned money being funneled into wasteful government.
How about know-it-alls on the right? By the way, MAGA is not conservative. It is right wing. They are not the same. Fascists are not conservatives.
Sorrry, William, but yòur side has a monopoly on that. And you’ve proven my point about smart-alecks.
A monopoly on what? Classic conservatives and crypto Fascist right wingers are not the same. Why don’t you grasp this?
William. Several months past you accused me of Trump worship when I simply referenced his difference from Biden. When I explained my actual position you became hysterical.
Since then, I notice you unfairly accuse virtually everyone who even remotely seems to acknowledge Trump. Psychologically, it fits the pattern of projection. That Trump reminds you of your own self idolization, and the fear of dealing with it. If true, I may be incorrect, I suggest you address it honestly.
Dear Father. After hearing the personal attacks in this dialogue, I would suggest that we lower the temperature.
Our republic is in sharp decline and little is being said or done to address it. Political discourse has surrendered to polarization. Blue vs Red, them vs us, has set the stage for that decline.
We must express our diversity and our moral fiber. I am not Red or Blue, I am Red, White and Blue.
God bless.
Mr William, totalitarian is as totalitarian does -whether it identifies Left or Right.
James Kalb’s reflection rightly calls Catholics to ground public life in God’s primacy and to foster authentic community. This aligns with Gaudium et Spes 26, which affirms the common good as “the sum total of social conditions which allow people… to reach their fulfillment,” and with Pope Francis’ Fratelli Tutti (154) insisting that politics must be “a lofty vocation” ordered to the common good. Pope Leo XIV continues this emphasis, warning against politics reduced to factional battles and urging Catholics to renew civic life through Gospel witness.
The “reset” Kalb mentions cannot be merely political or technocratic; Catholic Social Teaching demands a moral and spiritual renewal grounded in human dignity, justice, solidarity, and subsidiarity (Compendium 160–163). That also means confronting systems—and leaders—that subvert these principles. Trump’s anti-constitutional, pro-oligarchic, and proto-fascist administration undermines the rule of law, concentrates power among elites, and corrodes solidarity. CST makes clear that such governance must be resisted, and a true reset entails its termination through lawful, democratic means. As Evangelii Gaudium (183) reminds us, authentic faith is “deeply concerned for the building of a better world.” Renewal begins by putting God first, transforming hearts, and reforming structures so they serve human dignity and the common good.
Deacon Dom: A persistent case of TDS…sounds terminal.
Your TDS is Trump Deification Syndrome. You seem to think he is the messiah. Why?
What you say is an outright lie unnless you can cite anything I’ve ever written that even suggests that I deify Trump or consider him (or anyone other than Christ) a messiah.
Your retort, like all you ever write, is puerile at best. Grow up.
DiogenesRedux: I’m not like you, MAGA (Mindless Adorer of the Grifter Autocrat) infected with blinding TDS (Trump Devotion Syndrome).