Signs of the Times – #38
The Catholic Conquest of America (USA) – part 1
Originally posted, Aug. 19, 2014.
Quotes of the times:
Our work is to make America Catholic… and our hearts shall leap toward it with crusader enthusiasm. Bishop Ireland, Baltimore Catholic Council, 1890.
Plato was, with Socrates and Aristotle, one of the three philosophers of ancient Greece who between them laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 14, art. Plato, p. 531.
If we consult most reference works (such as the one above) about the famous Greek Philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, they invariably state that these three individuals are the founders of Western Civilization. All three of them lived in Athens when Athens was a functioning democracy – but not one of them was a supporter of democracy. Socrates was condemned to death for ‘corrupting the youth of Athens.’ We do not know exactly, what Socrates taught the youth of Athens (because he wrote nothing down), but we do have the writings of Plato (who was Socrates’ disciple), and if the writings of Plato reflect the teaching of his master, Socrates, then it is clear, that Socrates was not teaching the youth of Athens to support and uphold democracy. In fact, there is nothing democratic in the philosophy of the so called ‘fathers of Western Civilization’ – indeed, it would not be exaggerating to call them the original Nazis.
For the sake of brevity it is easier to quote a scholar of Greek Philosophy than to quote the philosophers themselves. The following is a good summery of Socratic/Platonic philosophy:
“I believe that Plato’s political programme, far from being morally superior to totalitarianism (fascism, nazism, communism) is fundamentally identical with it.” Leonard Verduin, The Anatomy of a Hybrid, (The Christian Hymnary Publishers}, p. 87.
An analysis of Plato’s writings reveals that he believed in a rigidly stratified society with a hierarchy of three classes – the ‘philosopher kings’ at the top, the military to defend and keep order, and the workers whose function was to provide for the needs of the rulers and the military. Plato condemned the notion of individuality and freedom of conscious. According to Plato the welfare of society as a whole, was the first and primary goal (Aristotle taught the same – he was Plato’s disciple). Therefore, all freedom of expression and individual rights had to be subordinated to ‘the common good’ (an expression that is very current today, along with its cousin ‘political correctness’).
It gets worse – not only was everything and everyone, governed by the dogma of ‘common good’ all deviation from the ‘norm’ had to be suppressed and punished – Plato actually insisted that all dissent had to be punished with death.
This ‘philosophy’ was to function at all levels and in every sector of society. Not only was everyone to do the same thing they also had to believe the same thing – the goal was uniformity (everyone the same, thinking/believing the same things – especially when it came to religion). We can call this system ‘sacralism’ (because these rigid rules were considered sacred). They were so sacred that anyone who tried to live differently was considered a threat to the ‘common good’ and a traitor to the community, and any such person who dared to express opinions or act contrary to the sacral system, was labelled a ‘heretic’ (the word heretic comes from the Greek word ‘hairein’ – which means: ‘to stand before alternatives and make a choice between them’). In a sacral society there are no choices to be made.
It should be obvious to most, that this kind of society advocated by Plato, is totally alien and incompatible with the philosophy and ideals of the United States of America (as enshrined in the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights etc.). But what most people do not realize is that the United States of America, historically, is a relative newcomer on the world-wide stage. Prior, to the American revolution and the establishing of the independent nation state called the United States of America – all nations were sacral societies following the philosophy of the Greek philosophers (especially Plato). [They are after all, called the ‘fathers of Western Civilization’]. But they are not the fathers of the philosophy which governed the foundation of America. The political, social, and religious foundational principles, undergirding the United States of America, come from an entirely different source.
The United States of America was/is a unique creation, never seen before in the history of the world. It is not of the sacral, totalitarian tradition of Plato, and it is based on principles that are directly in opposition to the Platonic tradition. This made it a great threat to the ‘ancien regimes’ (those that still lived under the Platonic model). Therefore, the creation of America was a direct challenge to the ‘powers that be’ on the other side of the Atlantic – and that challenge was felt nowhere more severally than in Rome, by the Roman Catholic Church.
To be continued…
God bless, Bruce Telfer.
Note: Aristotle was Plato’s disciple, although not Athenian, he attended Plato’s school in Athens. He is more renowned for his contributions to empirical science, than politics.
