It is neither corruption nor a lack of intelligence that compels so many of our leading public figures to believe things that are completely disconnected from reality …
Very well written. I dont know anything about Weigel specifically, but in regards to the socio-professional space he's a part of, when you wrote "many of those who believe in the American democracy promotion project genuinely mean well", I find this hard to square with *actual* observed outputs of their program, for example, the combination of the ways the de-bathification program "antiterror" laws in Iraq were applied in practice (they basically used them to curate who could be candidates in elections), along with control over the oil funds (which account for most of the Iraq gov's fiscal capability) and centrally directed from the outside economic decision making, made it so Iraq under the occupation (still to this day? I dont have been following for years) was a pseudo-democracy, I just dont see how it can be called a democracy project when candidate choice and broader discourse were so heavily regulated and the legislatures had so little (tiny, really) policy space to operate within. Or take the striking contradictions hovering around them during their times in power, such as how these supposed Catholic fundamentalists spent years (or decades?) greatly empowering NGOs whose purpose was/is to advance transgenderism, abortions, and so on, in countries all around the world
As far as I understand, America has never been Christian - Protestant at best, Gnostic at worst.
You have explained in basic terms that democracy is not Christian, or not necessarily Christian.
As you alluded to, democracy as practiced nearly everywhere is oligarchy.
Traditional Catholicism believes in hierarchy.
Catholicism also believes that history is cyclical, not 'progressive', that the world is in a state of slow decline (Tolkien?), and that there'll never perpetual progress nor utopia on earth. Including America!
Given all of this, it's difficult to understand how, intellectually, a traditional Catholic can be a neoconservative.
You make strong counterargument, and, despite me being irreligious, I appreciate reading an original article (after thousands the past 3 years).
Very well written. I dont know anything about Weigel specifically, but in regards to the socio-professional space he's a part of, when you wrote "many of those who believe in the American democracy promotion project genuinely mean well", I find this hard to square with *actual* observed outputs of their program, for example, the combination of the ways the de-bathification program "antiterror" laws in Iraq were applied in practice (they basically used them to curate who could be candidates in elections), along with control over the oil funds (which account for most of the Iraq gov's fiscal capability) and centrally directed from the outside economic decision making, made it so Iraq under the occupation (still to this day? I dont have been following for years) was a pseudo-democracy, I just dont see how it can be called a democracy project when candidate choice and broader discourse were so heavily regulated and the legislatures had so little (tiny, really) policy space to operate within. Or take the striking contradictions hovering around them during their times in power, such as how these supposed Catholic fundamentalists spent years (or decades?) greatly empowering NGOs whose purpose was/is to advance transgenderism, abortions, and so on, in countries all around the world
Excellent, educational summary of the subject.
As far as I understand, America has never been Christian - Protestant at best, Gnostic at worst.
You have explained in basic terms that democracy is not Christian, or not necessarily Christian.
As you alluded to, democracy as practiced nearly everywhere is oligarchy.
Traditional Catholicism believes in hierarchy.
Catholicism also believes that history is cyclical, not 'progressive', that the world is in a state of slow decline (Tolkien?), and that there'll never perpetual progress nor utopia on earth. Including America!
Given all of this, it's difficult to understand how, intellectually, a traditional Catholic can be a neoconservative.