The most astounding phenomenon in the ever-widening division of the Left and the Right is that each side claims to be justified. Certainly, God is not neutral, but does the Most High favor one side in all matters or particular issues on both sides? In old movies, the bad guys were clearly gangsters operating against law-abiding citizens, but the situation now is so ambiguous that even bishops disagree.
A basic moral principle is that no one chooses evil if they know that it is evil because that would be contrary to the nature of the human will. Rather, the will chooses a lesser good maliciously because the intellect judged erroneously. Hence, this is the kink in the armor through which the Devil convinces people to abandon the greatest good for some counterfeit utopia.
When Lucifer fell from the pinnacle of Heaven, he thought that he was right and God was wrong. Ever since then, the Devil has been trying to justify himself by persuading billions of people to support his position. His gospel is a very subtle confusion of truths and falsehoods, like venom sweetened with honey. So, let us unmask Satan or compel him to put his cards on the table for all to see.
Democrats are certain that President Donald Trump is so evil that he is on a par with Adolph Hitler. His deplorable supporters, who are not as sophisticated as they are, may be evil too or just plain stupid. The Left points to racism, misogyny, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia as a few of the sins of the Right, although none of these so-called “sins” can be found in any traditional manual of moral theology.
The Right, for their part, never ceases to be scandalized by how low the Left will go to take over the world. The Left, they say, blatantly plays god by determining that whatever they want is a legal right, even if it means that a mother can kill the baby in her womb or that people could freely change their sex. Then, for indoctrinating innocent children in public schools with such abominations, the Left deserves to be thrown into the sea with millstones tied to their necks. (Lk.17:2)
The economy is the foundation of society because physical life requires material goods. The Democratic party has always claimed to be for the poor against greedy Republican businessmen who exploit laborers. Ironically, the nouveau riche, making fortunes with technology or entertainment, tend to side with the Left.
Republicans, however, say that Democrats try to pay for their idealistic programs by taxing businesses exorbitantly, yet they never have enough money to build their utopia, while ruining private enterprise and making everyone poorer. Meanwhile, heroic investors of capital risk losing all their wealth to build the economy for everybody.
The family is the foundation of human civilization. The egalitarian Left tries to blur the distinction between men, women, and children. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the patron saint of this. Moreover, in the name of love, homosexuals, protected against their adversaries, are now allowed a civil marriage and to adopt children.
The Right, as disgusted by this as the Lord was with Sodom and Gomorrah (Gn.18:20-21), defends the natural law and the sacrificial aspect of charitable love. Whereas women of the Left demand the protection of their reproductive rights, including access to contraception and abortion, the Right recognizes this simply as another attempt to play god.
Today, the subject of immigration is most contentious. Globalists open their arms to welcome any and everybody from anywhere anytime because a diversity of races, nationalities and cultures is supposedly one of the most precious values. Besides, immigrants tend to vote for Democrats. Consequently, they accuse patriots who love their country and its unique culture of being nationalists like the Nazis or other fascists. This is one rationale for Antifa.
Traditionally, patriotism is understood to be a virtue, a part of piety, and a debt that we owe in justice. Globalism, then, is the vicious defect of patriotism, traditionally called the sin of cosmopolitanism. For them, “America First” does not mean America only. Nationalism is the vicious excess of patriotism, but where are nationalists or jingoists today? Have you ever met a Klansman or Neo-Nazi? Apart from a few redneck hillbillies, is anybody a white supremacist?
Refugees are different. Fleeing war or a natural disaster, they must be sheltered and cared for across their border, but the Left includes even economic refugees fleeing poverty. Most Americans descend from immigrants that came to this country with hope of prosperity, and some, like the Irish during the potato famine, were escaping starvation, but the Right reminds us that this is no longer a wilderness. With hard work, generations have built or paid for infrastructure, educational system, and welfare benefits that ought to be shared prudently with others, but not with loafers, smugglers, or traffickers. Immigration, therefore, must be regulated.
Now, the Left loves democracy so much that they keep extending it to the grassroots. Inclusivity demands that even the young should be allowed to vote. Accordingly, San Francisco is proposing to welcome sixteen-year-olds to the polls. Likewise, the Left wants to give felons the vote too. The Right, however, having greater respect for the wisdom of their elders, would rather see the vote restricted to those who are older and more trustworthy than criminals. Why not make the age for voting thirty?
History is coming full circle. I can almost see the Serpent tempting Eve again in her offspring. The forbidden fruit looks delicious. We desire it. Moreover, we are curious to obtain forbidden knowledge. The Serpent assures us that we will become like gods ourselves. Those who eat it may have felt shame for a time, but now they glory in their shame. (Phil.3:19) Those who once hid in the darkness have come into the light as if it belongs to them. The battle rages now for the higher moral ground, but believers of the insidious gospel of Satan will never take it.
