On Healthcare.

I'm no genius about these things. And I'm no expert on American history. What I love to read with a passion is philosophy, particularly Catholic philosophers, and especially Peter Kreeft, JRR Tolkien, Dietrich and Alice van Hildebrandt, Chesterton and Pope Benedict XVI. I also get a good brain fix from C.S. Lewis.
Just so you know my "slant."
When in doubt, ask the Catechism. I learned that from a dear friend.
So today there's a new law awaiting the President's signature. It's a doozy and no one is really sure of the reach of its tentacles yet. But the one thing this bill seriously lacks: protection for the unborn.

Ask the Catechism:
2273 The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:

"The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death."

"The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined. . . . As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights."

We already know the USCCB has issued a statement against this bill. For those of you who are skeptical of the American Bishops, this is clear language, they rarely speak out against anyone or anything anymore - even when they should.

Anyway this is what I think.

Sure it's easy to see this as some kind of commie/socialist plot. What's more important though is the potential loss of life - from the womb to the nursing home. The exec order (which Kathleen Sibelius would not even address this a.m.) won't mean much after *elective* abortion is defined. As if there is not enough death for which we must account...

I would live in a totalitarian society if it saved the babies.
Our country was not founded on Catholic values - it was founded by those who lived the prejudices of their sects. And Catholics like those in Congress have lost their way trying to conform to the "tyranny of caprice" (BXVI) of the founding fathers. They meant well, they were most certainly sincere in their beliefs and in their love and understanding of the Lord and the Gospel. But their very Protestantism had flaws that we see as fissures now. The founding of their sects represents dissent from Truth.Founding something on dissent might not give you the best foundation.

A friend of mine, Tom Riello, once said that the worst thing for Catholic Americans (and the rest of America) was the election of JFK. (Didn't that make you think?) We have lost our purpose and forgotten our mission. And, yet, God is still God. We are not guaranteed by God the privilege of a peaceful life lived like happy hobbits in the shire. Because of the Fall we can only aspire to and hope for happiness here. And any that we find will necessarily be fleeting. We will never be fulfilled unless we attain Heaven.

For His own good purpose, God has allowed this at this time.