by Fr. Johannes Jacobse –
With this morning’s decision that Obamacare will stand as the law of the land means that America — home of the brave, land of the free — is no more. This great country, the one to whom all great refugee movements of the world for over two centuries saw as the light to escape poverty, political bondage, and hopelessness now turns its back on that legacy of freedom for what will, in a very short time, amount a bowl of pottage.
The turn to tyranny won’t happen overnight and it won’t be recognized as tyranny — not at first anyway. But as freedom gets chipped away the straight jacked gets tighter and then hardens to envelop the mind like a steel casket. By the middle of the next generation those who gave away their freedom in the name of freedom will be cursed by their own children. The children will weep by the waters of Babylon, unearthing old movies and books of an America they never knew. “Why did you not shout out against the decline?” they will cry.
Antonio Gramsci, that great architect of the coming oppression was a shrewd man. He understood that the overthrow of the great liberal tradition would be a journey that would take generations. It would require a long march through the cultural institutions, overthrowing line by line and precept by precept those bedrock moral values upon which the freedom of men was first defined and later codified into law. Today the children of the great people of the Magna Carta, of English Common Law, the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution worship instead pleasure, safety, and wealth.
The God of Abraham has been forgotten
The God of Abraham has been forgotten, the same God who freed Abraham from the delusion of polytheism and the Israelite from the tyranny of Egypt, who gave man a Gospel from which insights into the nature and dignity man was drawn, and whose teachings unleashed a creativity that brought healing and light into a world in ways that would astonish the prophets and philosophers of old. And in that forgetting, we embrace a darkness the depth of which most of us do not yet perceive.
The path of the free West now follows the path of Russia under the Soviets. When men scorn and ridicule the good, noble, and true, darkness is always the end. The promise of a new enlightenment free from the shackles of self-restraint and morality is a delusion. When man refuses to govern himself, he will give his liberty to a strong man so that order will prevail. The strong man is glad to take it, and in short order will demand even more to satiate his unquenchable thirst for power. We have just crossed that threshold. Dostoevsky warned us. So did Nietzsche.
The path of the free West now follows the path of Russia under the Soviets.
Religion is the wellspring of morality and morality is the ground of culture. The encroaching darkness will have no room for religion because faith in God stands as the repudiation of those who see no transcendent referent for truth. Man becomes his own touchstone. We’ve seen the outlines of the coming struggles already in the HHS mandates trying to force the Catholic Church to submit to policies that violate its moral precepts. This is just the beginning.
One hope remains: The Republicans take all three branches of government in the next election and overturn this monstrosity. It is possible the Republicans win, but whether they have the political will to overturn Obamacare completely is another question. The cultural rot may be too deep. Maybe there are enough clear thinking Americans left. I hope so but I am not confident.
Expect the hostility towards Christians to increase.
Expect the hostility towards Christians to increase. Watch too for justifications for this grave loss of liberty in the name of compassion and the greater public good from some religious leaders. Some of our leaders have already traded courage for acclaim as evidenced by their silence towards the attacks on the laws and precepts that defend human life and other bedrock principles. These leaders know that every defense of human life has its root and source in the self-revelation of God to us but they choose Esau’s legacy over the Apostles’.
We may have to prepare for the catacombs. The government has been granted a license to control every aspect of your behavior under the rubric of the public good. Those who claim there is a law higher than the State will be seen as an enemy. It can’t be any other way.
HT: AOI
Thank you, Father, for stating clearly, unambiguously, the path this nation is on. While the old phrases about democracy remain, the reality is different. Always remember that under the emperors, the Roman state stilled called itself:SPQR, the Senate and People of Rome. But the real laws came from where the real power reigned: the emperors, the bureaucracy, the military. May God have mercy.
Unfortunately, America has seen its best days, as the United States — like ancient Rome — has gone onto a path of decay that will inevitably lead to its downfall.
The current president of the United States has already spent more of the taxpayers’ money than all of the other U.S. presidents combined. Consequently, our children and grandchildren will be living in a nation that is many trillions of dollars in debt, and will not be able to enjoy the life in America as we did.
The current president of the United States is also leading America on a path to socialism, and this will also lead to America’s downfall — just as it did in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.
Needless to say, morality in the United States has dropped to an all-time low, while atheism has risen to an all-time high. The fact that the current president of the United States is in favor of abortions — and even provides federal financial assistance for them — clearly conveys the immoral path that the United States is now following.
I realize that many see the US Supreme Court decision as the end of freedom in the USA and the beginning of totalitarianism, but the decision has given individual states more power than they’ve had in quite awhile. They are now free to reject Obamacare, which Florida has done. Three other states have rejected the reconfigured Medicare which is a part of the Obamacare plan. I believe we will see more states reject Obamacare. In total, four states have decided not to participate which means there is no universal healthcare plan in effect in the USA. Justice Roberts has taken a lot of flak for his decision, but the fact of the matter is, while appearing to give those who would destroy liberty and the republic what they wanted he has actually eviscerated their signature legislation by giving states the power to reject it. Further, the decision has rejuvenated the Tea Party Movement which had been flagging. Black pastors have begun advising their congregations to vote against Obama due to his stance on homosexual marriage and abortion. Also, the recent persecution of believers through the effort to force objectors to provide abortifacients and abortions has pushed a host of Christians off their backsides. The USA is not dead yet, in fact, her best days may yet be ahead of her. Regardless of what happens, the Lord is still King, Praise the Lord!