[the invisib1e hand]

i'd better spell it out: they were filled with glee when obama was elected. the most visible of them is on record stating that the Church "has advocated universal healthcare for nearly a century".

And now they want us to be martyrs.

Oh, the courage!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer! Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others. - Thomas Paine

they were filled with glee when obama was elected. the most visible of them is on record stating that the Church "has advocated universal healthcare for nearly a century".

In Europe the Catholic Church has a history of being The Establishment, and of viewing other Christians as “protesters.” It’s understandable in that context that the Catholic Church has not always correctly calibrated the length of their spoon when dining with the American government.

Even now, as they belatedly recognize an existential threat from the big government types of whom (some of) those Protestants have so long warned, some in their leadership are uneasy about associating with “protestants.” But of course, as Mike Huckabee put it, “We are all Catholics now.” We’re no more comfortable with abortion than the Catholics are.

And whoso would participate in limiting Catholics’ freedom of conscience now, must understand that they will certainly be next.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamities is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer! Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others. - Thomas Paine

they were filled with glee when obama was elected. the most visible of them is on record stating that the Church "has advocated universal healthcare for nearly a century".

In Europe the Catholic Church has a history of being The Establishment, and of viewing other Christians as “protesters.” It’s understandable in that context that the Catholic Church has not always correctly calibrated the length of their spoon when dining with the American government.

Even now, as they belatedly recognize an existential threat from the big government types of whom (some of) those Protestants have so long warned, some in their leadership are uneasy about associating with “protestants.” But of course, as Mike Huckabee put it, “We are all Catholics now.” We’re no more comfortable with abortion than the Catholics are.

And whoso would participate in limiting Catholics’ freedom of conscience now, must understand that they will certainly be next.