The Devil and The Law

I have been travelling to various houses, families, in the Midwest since I landed in Chicago months ago. Because of being immersed in the culture and because of experiencing many different peoples, I have discovered two main reasons why America will fail as a country in the near future. These reasons have histories, which were planted in the foundations of this democracy. If you have never read de Tocqueville, now is the time to do so. It is never too late to understand the times.

The first reason is the philosophical mindset which the American Dream shares with communism and Marxism. This ideology, of course, is materialism, the belief that there is no afterlife and that life on earth can be some sort of material utopia. Materialism denies the soul, the operation of the spiritual in life, and the need for religion in the market place. Materialism worships the god, the demon, Mammon.

The second reason may, at first, not seem connected, but is an insidious, core belief which will bring America to its knees, and this is anarchism.

Anarchists do not want any rules: no guidelines, no Ten Commandments, no Common Law, no Rule of Law. Anarchy is the primal sin of satan.  All rebellion rests in anarchy, which holds that governance is always wrong. Anarchy grows out of the heart of pride and lawlessness.

There are more anarchists in Europe than America, but the attitude of getting by in small crime, and the tendency to rebel against laws seems obvious here.

A small example: fireworks and firecrackers are illegal in the State where I spent July 4^th with a family as a guest. Yet, in this town neighborhood, at least seven families displayed and used both fireworks and firecrackers. The people I stayed with did not want to phone the police, as they fear repercussions from so many neighbors, who not only broke the law for hours and hours, even until three in the morning, but who endangered the safety of their pets, children, and properties. Of course, I had a huge asthma attack from the smoke and chemicals in the air. The family tells me this happens yearly and will continue all weekend. I had no idea so many people were allowed to break the law. When I questioned the family members as to why they thought the police did not care, they replied that the police were busy on this day with drunk drivers and other breaches of the peace. The family just want to get along with their neighbors. As a guest, it was not my place to interfere, but I could see the lack of community in the neighborhood and the selfishness of a younger generation than mine who simply do not care about others or even their own children’s safety.

Such anarchy and hatred of law reveals contempt for society, not merely contempt for the law. Law exists for the common good, for the most part. Of course, there are unjust laws, and immoral laws, as Catholics understand. But, the reason for law is order and without a religious basis, law becomes whatever a government decides, instead of what is in the heart, but either ignored or suppressed by sin and arrogance.

Today, I am still suffering from asthma, wondering how people have so much money to waste on illegal activities. I wonder at the hours of television my guests watched regarding the glorification of America without any, not one, reference to God, Who gave years of freedom and plenty to this land.

Of course, stations like EWTN aired the Third Annual Mass for Religious Freedom ending the two weeks of prayer for religious freedom, which was not mentioned in any parish in this area, either from the pulpits or in bulletins , as the family, Church-going Catholics,  had known nothing about it, the prayers from the USCCB and the activities found in some dioceses not promulgated here.

It is ironic that those who should be preserving the law have either twisted it or ignored it. It is sad that too many Americans do not recognize law as ultimately from natural law and, therefore, from God.

I was speaking with one of this family’s members who said that she did not believe that the Catholic Church had all the truth. She had heard this from a course she took at the local Catholic college-a course which pushed relativism and undermined the Teaching Magisterium of the Church. Catholic teaching was the same or not superior to that of the Protestants or Buddhists, or even agnostics in her mind. She goes to Church weekly. Yet, she simply does not believe in the awesome truth of Catholic teaching. She is a product of this age-a relativist, a subjective thinker, not any different from those who set off the firecrackers behind her house.

Again, the Rule of Law in the Church has been destroyed in people’s minds. Church law and teaching no longer are seen as infallible, true, an expression of God’s order in the world.

This country is ripe for a huge downfall, as the souls of the citizens have died the death of materialism and anarchy. Their own lack of understanding as to the need of spiritual order will allow a tyrannical, overly bureaucratic government to take over, easily. I pity the children, who like dead leaves in the Autumn, will be blown away by the winds which will sweep over the plains once the fall comes. They have no moral frameworks, no connection with natural law or their own ignored souls to protect them.

These thoughts brought to mind the famous saying of the character of Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons. If you did not understand the reference then, you will perhaps understand it now.