Just in the past couple of days, there have been reports of:

• Maine churches threatened with IRS complaints for supporting marriage
• Local regulations targeting pro-life pregnancy centers suggest new strategy
• Religious exemptions in D.C. same-sex ‘marriage’ bill are too narrow, archdiocese says

All of these are example of the open hostility against traditional Moral and Social teachings (especially when they are in line with the Catholic Church) by the Liberals and Socialists.  And this is only in America.  It is even worse in Europe.

When are we going to stand up to these thugs and say no more?  We Catholics have a right and an obligation to oppose all man-made “positive law” that is direct conflict with God’s Natural Law.  We need to start pushing back and I see two things that could be done immediately:

1. Invalidate all contracts and relationships with any governmental body that passes these unjust and immoral laws.
2. Excommunicate any governmental official who purports to be Catholic.

I do expect that there will be retaliation, especially by those who are excommunicated, but it has to be done.  The only thing is that we must make sure of is that the services that were provided in the Church/government relationships still be provided even under threats of persecution by government officials.

Only when the Catholic Church is free of the onerous yoke of the Liberal and Socialist plagues can it concentrate on doing God’s work.

With the “nanny state” of Socialism, one does not have to worry about where the means of living will come from and, in that sense, one does not have to worry about being self-sufficient.  People are dependant on the state and that is the way they want it.  Independence and self-sufficiency are threats to the state. People are essentially slaves of the state.

The same can be said about Global Capitalism.  In this case, the corporation replaces the State as the provider.  The difference is how.  In the case of the corporation, wages and benefits are the control of the people.  Without these, many will be unable to provide for their families.

In addition, many of these same corporations provide the goods and services people need to survive.  And how to people pay for these goods and services? They pay with the same wages and benefits provided by the corporation.  This essentially makes the person another type of slave, a “wage slave”.

In either scenario, the person is a “slave” of one sort or another.  We need to return to a socio-economic model that allows a person to be their own provider if they want to. Distributism that is firmly ensconced in Catholic Moral and Social teaching provides the framework for this socio-economic model.

This cannot be forced on a person like Socialism and Global Capitalism has been, and is being, done. We must not let ourselves to be lowered to the level of Socialism and Global Capitalism, which are plagues of modern society.  We must, however, force our ideas into the public square to show that they are viable and, more importantly, desirable alternatives to the current, plague ridden, socio-economic models.

Boycotts are completely worthless without viable morally sound alternatives.  People simply cannot or will not do without certain goods and services.  And, in some cases, there are not alternatives for these due to the rampant plague of Global Capitalism consolidating the means of production in the hands of an increasing diminishing number of companies.

In addition, there would be no need for “boycotts” if there were many morally sound alternatives since many would gravitate to those without the need to call for “boycotts”.

We must look at either developing these alternative and/or breaking up the oligarchic and monopolistic control of production of Global Capitalism. That is, implement a socio-economic structure based on distributive principles based in Catholic Moral and Social teaching before it is impossible to do so.

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. (Gen 11: 4-9 RSV)

In the story, man was so united that they were becoming like gods in the sense that nothing they put their mind to was impossible.  Our Lord decided that this was not to be and scattered them across the earth unable to communicate with each other.

Although there are still many languages and people are scattered all across the globe, I see us getting very close to a “Tower of Babel” like situation today.  Why I see this is twofold.

First, the technology today makes it so distance, and in many cases language, barriers have practically fallen.  People communicate at the touch of the button and it is getting to the point where those communications can be automatically translated into their own language.

The second reason is more of ideological in nature.  With the rapid onslaught of secular based society due to the plagues of Relativism, Socialism, Liberalism, Materialism and Global Capitalism, man is either putting himself above God and/or saying God is irrelevant or non-existent.

Now, I am not saying that we need another “Tower of Babel” scattering, but I see this as a real threat to the moral fabric of society. Will God have to do something or will we discover the folly of our ways and return completely to the fold.  I do not hold out much hope of the latter, but I am praying that God does not take too drastic of action (although a return to the Medieval type society would not be undesirable).

¹ The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none that does good.
² The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God.
³ They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one.
⁴ Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the LORD?
⁵ There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous.
⁶ You would confound the plans of the poor, but the LORD is his refuge.
⁷ O that deliverance for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad.

This was one of the Psalms that were part of my prayers for today.  Although it was written millenniums ago, the first four lines seems to describe today’s society very well.

It seem what we, especially our so-called leaders, have forgotten God entirely.  Greed and corruption are rampant and people are just means to and end.

People do not seem to matter unless they are usable. How else can one explain the wholesale slaughter of the unborn and the growing euthanasia utilization? For many, these people (not things) seem to not be productive part of society so they must be gotten rid of by any means possible.

In addition, those who do still believe in God are to be persecuted by the Godless society we live it.

But this is what we get for letting the plagues (I have heard some of them called parasites) of Socialism, Relativism, Liberalism, Materialism, and Global Capitalism to get a foothold.

Fortunately, if we remember that, our reward is not in this world, but the next if we remain faithful to the Lord.  Furthermore, there is always the hope that we can reverse the effects of the plagues on the world and rid ourselves of them.

Consider the following definition for the “Occasion of Sin”:

Any person, place, or thing that of its nature or because of human frailty can lead one to do wrong, thereby committing sin. (Modern Catholic Dictionary) An occasion of sin is considered remote if the danger it poses is very slight while it is considered near if the danger is “certain and probable.”

Today’s society, with its rampant immorality from the socio-economic plagues like Relativism and Materialism, one could make the argument that it could be considered one big “occasion of sin” both near and remote based on the person.

Whether it be businesses, entertainment, or something else, I tend to see this as being essentially true.  However, I do see pockets of where this is not true but they are few and far between.

We need to combat this and, although some will not like my idea, we should considered starting to set up a separate, but within, socio-economic structure to counter today’s society.  This socio-economic structure must have a sound foundation based on Catholic Moral and Social teachings.

While I say “separate”, I also say “but within”.  We cannot separate ourselves from society and I am definitely not advocating that (at least right now).  What we need to do is start setting up morally upright alternatives for as many things as possible in today’s society when there is none available.  If they are available, we must use them exclusively.

By, using and setting up morally sound resources, we can become examples for the rest of society and bring them back from the brink of implosion.

One of the advantages of having many contacts on Facebook that are Distributists are that they post links to many interesting articles.  Many of them I cannot get to due to a busy schedule.

However, this morning a link to The Ruin of the Small Storekeeper by Hilaire Belloc over on ChesterBelloc Mandate was posted. In there, Belloc points out the moral and material sets of causes that work against the small storekeeper (i.e. the small business man).

The moral causes, in my opinion mostly can be categorized into one of the socio-economic plagues that are infecting society.  That plague is Materialism.  Many see the small storekeeper as inconvenient due to the fact that they cannot get all of their “so called needs” in one place and are “wasting time” by going to various different places.  I can see why one would believe this.

However, if one takes an inventory of their “needs” they would see many of them are “wants” not “needs”.  In addition, by going to places where one can “get everything in one place”, one tends to “get things” that they do not need since they are “conveniently there.”  This convenience explains the rise of the “megastores” and the “mall” or “mega shopping center”.

The second set, material” of clauses, in my opinion are more insidious since they actively against the “Small Storekeeper”.  They are the competitive advantages of the second socio-economic plague that infects society.  That plague is Global Capitalism (or big business).  Whether it be the “economies of scale”, “control of production”, and/or “preferential treatment” by banks and/or regulators, the Global Capitalist definitely has the advantage and uses it to either bring the “Small Storekeeper” under his control (i.e. franchise) or destroy them all together.  In either case, the “Small Storekeeper” is either reduced to a “wage slave” at the beckon call of his “master” the Global Capitalist or a slave of the State via welfare or employment.

Now, one can say that there are many “small stores” in the mall or along “Main Street”.  However, if one takes a close look, they are mostly either franchisees of global companies, sell products of the global companies, or sell goods that the global company has no desire to sell.  In all cases but the last, they are nothing more than the extension of the global company.  This is especially true of the stores in the mall.

Many will say that Global Capitalism is good.  I say it is just the opposite.  Except in the rare case, Global Capitalism is oppressive of those who want to compete in the same line of business, reduces people to wage slaves, and promotes the plague of Materialism.

We must look at our buying habits and determine if we really need the products and, if we do, try to find truly local “Small Shopkeepers” to buy those products.  Only then will we be able to crush the plagues that are infecting society.

As usual, I was at one of the local Borders tonight looking at possible books to buy. One of the books I have been looking at is Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization by Jeff Rubin.  The premise of his book is that oil is going to get consistently more costly due to it dwindling supply and we are going to have to look more locally for our needs.

While I agree that energy, especially oil, is going to get more expensive, I do not agree it will be because of dwindling supply.  There are too many alternatives, albeit more expense, alternative sources of oil that is being developed that will more than replace the supply of oil.  However, I digress.

There are many more reasons then just “oil” that may force localization whether people want it or not.  More and more, we are hearing in the news about tainted products from overseas where quality standards are lacking or non-existent.  This I have discussed before.

Secondly, are economic factors that are coming into play now due to the downturn in the economic health of the country?  How much longer are people going to let jobs be shipped overseas while people are losing their jobs?

However, there is another economic factor that may come into play, and that is the falling value of the dollar.  With the drop, imports become more expensive.  At some point, it will (and probably has in some cases) become cheaper to produce goods in the country rather than importing them.   This is going to become more of a factor if the drop in the dollar continues.

The third is more of a psychological than a real factor.  And that is the constant reports of new diseases or new strains of existing diseases.  Yes there is a threat there, but it may force a consideration of the risk factors of importing goods from the far reaches of the world.  Is it really worth importing goods that are more of a luxury than a necessity?

Finally, there are geo-political factors.  Many parts of the world are becoming very unstable.  This has always been an issue, however, where the geo-political problems are now could adversely affect the supply of oil, which, of course, will dramatically increase the price of energy.  This, in turn, will increase the costs of shipping and, ultimately, the final costs of goods that are imported.

There are other factors, but these are the major ones.  However, all of these will probably force people to look locally more and more for the goods needed to survive.

With this shift, many changes in lifestyles will have to be made.

We will have to look for local alternatives to goods like coffee, tea, and many fruits and vegetables that have become commonplace all year round.  Yes, some of these will be available fresh when they are in season.  However, when out of season, one will have to look for alternatives, use in preserved forms (i.e. frozen or cured), or do without.

We will also have to make changes in our leisure activities.  Traveling to exotic places whenever we want to will not be an option if travel becomes too expensive.  We will have to look locally for recreation.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  It may promote a greater sense of community.

Distributism, which I am an advocate of, looks to place the means of production of all goods at the most local level as possible.  However, it does not stop there, it promote the self-sufficiency of the family as much as possible while not promoting individualism.

An additional benefit, in my opinion, is that Distributism, in its purest form, is rooted in Catholic Moral and Social teachings.   Because of that, it can be used to rebuild a moral foundation to a society whose foundation has been rotting away from the ravages of the plagues of Relativism, Globalism (in the form of Global Capitalism), Materialism, Socialism, and Liberalism.

“Going Local” is not a bad thing.  In fact, it is a good thing since Global Capitalism is proving to be, like it opposite Socialism is proving to be a dismal failure.

Yes, I know it sounds like a weird mix, but it is what I like.  I never got into the “rock” genre other the “southern rock” which can, in some cases, get close to country.

As I said before, it depends on what I am doing.  95% of the time, however, it is classical music. The only real time I listen to country is when I am driving for an extended period of time and do not want to fall asleep.  Classical music tends to relax me.

When I am relaxing, I listen exclusively to classical music with preference for the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods.  There are some from the Romantic Period composers (i.e Wagner, Dvorak, Bruch, and Tchaikovsky) but they are few and far between.

There is one time where I will listen to a specific genre and that is when I am praying.  At that time, I like listening to Baroque music.  It is both relaxing and, unlike Renaissance Music which does has many sacred works, is mostly instrumental music and very little vocal in composition.  When I pray, vocals in music distracts me from my prayers.  When is strictly instrumental music, I can concentrate.

As for the other genres of music, I do not listen to them since much of it these days gravitates towards the immoral and obscene.

Yes, we are to be lights to this world as stated by Our Lord:

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Mt. 5: 14-16 RSV)

but, at the same time, He said:

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Mt. 6: 24 RSV)

This begs the question, how far to be in this world, but set ourselves apart for the glory or Our Lord.  We have to selective about our participation in today society due to the almost constant threats of Near Occasions of Sin while always being a shining example of how we are to live.

This balance, although difficult, must be determined for each and one of us.  For some, it means being more in this world than others.

As for me, I am gravitating more towards removing myself more and more from this world to serve Our Lord more.  What this will entail, I am not quite sure yet.  I am being more selective of what I do and where I go.  This will increase in the next year or so until I fully determine the path I am to take.