Coyote Blog

2 Comments

1. Dan:

   FYI - I included your definition of an activist in my Letter to the Editor to our Sunday paper. The paragraph in the opinion piece that offended me was the following:
   "An ideological war over health care is being waged with its attendant "isms" as weapons — capitalism, socialism and, God forbid, communism — to persuade or intimidate an already fearful public. Yet, well-established Catholic social-justice principles invite another way. They remind us that we live in community under God's faithful covenant. They decisively reject the self-centered myth of individualism"

   Below is my response with your definition:
   Dr. O'Day's article in Sunday's paper had a revealing sentence. He claims that Catholic social-justice principles "decisively reject the self-centered myth of individualism." This myth of individualism that he derides is what used to be called "liberty", one of those rights the founding fathers felt were endowed by the Creator along with life and the pursuit of happiness.

   And while Dr. O'Day says these Catholic social-justice principles "invite another way", what is truly desired by those making the social-justice argument is for the government to use its coercive powers to force acceptance. Invitation becomes coercion.

   A writer that I enjoy reading defines an activist as a person who believes so strongly that a problem needs to be remedied that he/she dedicates substantial time to getting other people to fix the problem. If those in the Religious Left / Social Justice camp, such as the Catholic church and many Mainline Protestant churches, believe our current healthcare situation is so unjust, why not bring those institution’s considerable personal and financial resources to bear to provide subsidized healthcare and/or insurance to the poor directly. In place of actually providing a service or solution, these activists will instead lobby the government to use its powers to enforce their concept of a “just community” by removing wealth from a group deemed selfish and providing a subsidized service to a favored group.

   When these types of arguments are made from the political right, the liberals/progressives work themselves into fits of indignation over a theocracy being foisted upon us. When they come from the left, its just stamping out some self-centered individualism.

   August 2, 2009, 8:25 pm

2. dri:

   Are you on Cape Cod? I have an ocean front house in Eastham. Let me know if you need a crash pad!

   August 7, 2009, 2:23 pm