Edit: Some "Catholic" commentators of the moment favor the tactics employed by Saul Alinsky. Do not the use of the tools and aims of revolutionary tactics work against the cause of Catholicism and the very principles of subsidiarity they are meant to promote? One of the primary techniques of Alinskeyite method is deception, and it seems that these disruptive influences have crept into Catholic circles, eager for allies who will give them hope. Saul Alinsky favored the mobilization of people to undermine and disrupt the existing order, favoring class struggle, to petition its intervention on behalf of "community" goals. It is very aptly described by Tom Woods who writes:
Troubled by rampant injustice and inequality, many conscientious Christians advocate radical economic reforms. Distributism, a program that traces its popularity to Catholic writers Hilaire Belloc and G.K. Chesterton, promotes the widespread ownership of property by tempering the market with guilds or similar associations. Thomas Woods, drawing on a wealth of historical evidence and informed by Catholic social teaching and economic insight, argues that the distributist case is severely flawed. By its nature, Distributism must invoke the power of the state, a dangerous move that ultimately undermines its own objectives. Economic freedom in a market system, Woods advises, is a context more conducive to justice and human flourishing.
Such theortical techniques which have been employed and refined for years to garner governmental support for radical agendas is played out by certain luminaries in the Catholic Church, particularly in Chicago, where Saul Alinsky employed his revolutionary technique to its full.
It was in Chicago that hatched Barrack Hussein Obama, and witnessed the harnessing of the Catholic Church and its structure to an agenda completely alien to it.
When considering how such allegedly Catholic influences are strong supporters of radical agendas such as ACORN and CCHD, it's important to look back for a historical pattern which will provide an outline for recognizing enemies who infiltrate with an intent to disrupt and undermine Catholic communities with false promises of power.
This is an interesting story about how Cardinal Bernardin worked to establish an institute that has created a cycle of poverty, a hint of class war and hamstrung the Catholic Church, virtually silencing its moral voice, which arguably hasn't been heard since the days when Jaques Maritain and Saul Alinsky admired one another.
What brood parasite is raising enemies at its breast today?
THE VETTING - OBAMA'S WAR ON CATHOLIC CHURCH BEGAN AT HIS FIRST JOB
[Breitbart] One of the least explored periods of Barack Obama’s life is the period between his graduation from Columbia University in 1983 and his arrival at Harvard Law School in 1988.
This was a crucial, formative time for the young Obama. It was during these years that Barack Obama, “community organizer,” forged his identity and the relationships that would bring him to the White House. And he did so hand-in-hand with the radical Catholic left in Chicago.
Obama’s first job in Chicago began in 1985 with Jerry Kellman, a Saul Alinksy-trained community organizer who continues to work with the radical Catholic left in the Windy City. Kellman was a veteran protestor of the ‘60s--he once joked that he majored in protesting at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before transferring to the progressive Reed College--and wanted to use the “social justice” teachings of the radical Catholic left to co-opt the Church for his Alinskyite project.
Obama’s job was to help Kellman expand his project's reach into the black churches.
He was paid by these radical Catholic leftists, who in turn had received their money from their parishioners or the larger Catholic church. Obama’s travel documents and expenses were signed and approved by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin,a controversial figure in the Catholic church who supported nearly every left-wing movement within it. Though Bernardin was well liked in Chicago, especially by a fawning media anxious to have a Catholic imprimatur on nearly every social issue of the day, Bernardin's work undermined many Catholic teachings.
2 comments:
Friend Tancred:
Serious discussions of "Distributism" are not, alas, to be found in the writings of Tom Woods. I admire Tom for many things, and he is a fine writer, but he is tragically misinformed on this subject.
Tom, and other Libertarians, are followers of the Jewish "Austrian School" of economics which totally and completely rejects the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church, a teaching dating back 20 centuries, and recently embodied in some of the encyclicals of St Pius X, Leo XIII and others. Even though there are many fine, well-meaning Catholics who subscribe to this Austrian school of ideas they are being misled very badly by the writings of Murray Rothbard and von Mises among others. If one really, actually reads writers like those two, the anti-Catholic animus becomes quite obvious after awhile.
There is nothing, repeat nothing of "Alinskyism" in Distributism. This unfounded accusation has been heard time and again by Libertarians who do not wish to address uncomfortable issues about Catholic social justice. But we must never forget one thing: the reason that creeps like Alinsky and other Communists were so successful in seducing people into their twisted way of thinking was because there ARE terrible, inherent injustices in Capitalism. They wouldn't have gotten anywhere had not Capitalism produced so many evil fruits.
And we must never fall into the false Capitalims vs Socialism trap. They are both wrong, and they are both condemned by the Church. Distributism is essentially a "third way" between these two false choices, a way that allows men to keep the fruits of their labor while not being preyed upon by super-rich Capitalists or super-rich Socialists.
May I respectfully recommend to your attention the excellent website IHS Press, run by the brilliant Catholic John Sharpe. He has been busy resurrecting old Catholic texts dealing with these issues and re-printing them. His is a most worthy venture. "The Distributist Review" is also a very helpful website. You don't have to agree with every word they say but you owe it to yourself to know more about the other side to the story.
You linked to an old article by John Medaille. He is not my favorite pro-Distributist writer but he often makes good points. But start with IHS Press first. They're the best on this topic. And they are Catholic to the very core of their beings.
Just as a quick followup to my post, here is an excellent example of Mr Sharpe's genuinely Catholic thrust:
http://www.rebuildingchristendom.com/
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