I am currently taking a couple refresher courses from Father Mike Shmitz; one on the Bible In a Year and one on the Catechism In a Year, and enjoying both of them very much. I am approaching them like college classes and being rigorous in my note-taking and really trying to "up" my knowledge base. Sometimes he talks too fast for me, but in general I feel as if I am getting a lot out of them.
Today I was offered a short video of him "responding" to one of our Representatives in the U.S. government. The headline says, "Father Mike Shmitz Responds to Alexander Asco Cortez on Socialism and Christianity."
I was immediately alarmed, as I always am when I see a Catholic personality allying himself with a political party and taking a stand against a different party.
HERE IS A LINK TO THE SHORT VIDEO
First thing, out of the gate, whoever organized this clip could not be bothered to even spell the name right. Her name is Alexandria, not "Alexander" and her last name is Ocasio-Cortez - NOT "Asco Cortez." Sloppy and disrespectful. How would it be if I called Father Shmitz, "that religious guy Mikey?"
After listening to the very short video, I was dismayed to find that, although the Representative for New York's 14th Congressional District had specifically made the point that she was not talking about socialism, but about taxes, and she never brought up Christianity at all, supposedly Fr. Shmitz is "responding" to her on those issues.
Children, this is called a "straw man fallacy" in classical logic, something I learned in my High School writing class, and here is the definition:
person's argument or point, distorts it or exaggerates it in
some kind of extreme way, and then attacks the extreme
distortion, as if that is really the claim the first person is
making."
According to Fr. Shmitz, in the video, the U.S. Representative is talking about redistribution of wealth. She does not mention "redistribution of wealth." That is his term. She is not even discussing that topic, actually, unless you understand that the redistribution has already occurred through corporate welfare, unjust taxes systems, and artificial suppression of wages.
Here is a chart of the suppression of wages during the years I worked, plus a couple (1970 through 2005):
As is obvious in this chart, during that 35 year time period, CEO salaries increased by 430% while the average wage earner's income barely went up 26%. I well remember how hard it was to survive on my salary during those years and how IMPOSSIBLE it was to get a raise, even when our bosses announced that we would be working an extra 5 hours a week but we would not be PAID for those hours. (Figures from the Department of Labor.)
THIS is how the wealth of America has ALREADY been "redistributed." It has been and continues to be shuttled from the workers who created it to the handful of CEOs at the top of the scale and to the corporations, the profits for which went up 250% during that period.
In addition, Fr. Shmitz, like many others, does not know what "Socialism" is. Apparently, he thinks because the word has "Social" in it, that the presence of social programs in a government system equates to "Socialism." That is not the definition of "socialism." The use of taxes to pay for programs is not "Socialism" either.
The primary defining feature of socialism is when the government owns all means of production. No mention is made of social programs as a defining feature of socialism and many different types of government systems employ social programs.
Here is a typical dictionary definition of SOCIALISM:
the ownership and control of the means of production and
distribution, capital, land, etc. , by the community as a
whole, usually through a centralized government."
To my recollection, only one person in U.S. government is regularly and widely advocating for "socialism." But even Bernie Sanders, is MISusing the term "socialism" to conform to what other people THINK it is, I would guess. He is in favor of a robust set of social programs so that the poor will not be eaten alive by the rich, as is what happens today.
Fr. Mike Shmitz says:
To be clear, in this video clip, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is arguing against unjust, abusive tax structures in which the rich pay little (if any) taxes, while the middle class and some of the poor pay the majority of taxes that keep the country afloat. Obviously, taxes pay for the military; the police; infrastructure such as roads, signs, lights, bridges, tunnels, etc.; and yes, some social programs, as well as other things.
He may not realize it, or perhaps he DOES, I am not sure, but this video, presented this way, has the priest basically saying that repairing these unjust tax structures is evil. He is trying to justify an unjust system and is gaslighting those of us who have struggled to survive during this very difficult period in our history when our just wages have been stolen from us.
He is also calling it "socialism," which it is not, as mentioned, above. I really can't believe he means to do this, and I would rather believe that he lacks the necessary education in this area or he is simply brainwashed by the Republican religion he has absorbed. I don't know what the problem is. All I know for sure is that he is wrong and is using the same misleading talking points that the GOP talking heads are using all the time.
All he would have to do is look up the definition of "Socialism" in order for him to realize that he can not continue to spread this pernicious lie.
Why am I talking about this political stuff on a blog that is, primarily, spiritual? Because I get sick of seeing examples of how much the Catholic world has sold its soul to one particular political party. Catholics have conflated their religion with politics, and to me, that is the work of the Devil.
I have heard Catholics justify ripping children away from their parents at the border and putting them in cages erected on cement slabs, with no one to care for the screaming babies and medical care almost entirely absent, allowing flu and other diseases to run rampant. Some of those children, to this day, are not reunited with their families because they cannot be found, due to the reprehensibly chaotic and disorganized methods instituted by the Trump administration.
When non-Catholics see priests and other religious defending these horrors, defending the perpetrators, and defending the corporate welfare with which the GOP has robbed wage earners of their share of the wealth they created, it infuriates them - especially on the heels of the many horrific years of priestly sexual abuse and the coverups of those crimes.
As long as we are talking politics, let me say a couple things.
In my mind, it is not the issues on which we differ, it is the manner in which we accomplish our aims. I am QUITE sure, for instance, that there are ways to fix the immigration situation that do not involve jailing babies in cages.
If you doubt that the Trump Administration put babies and kids in cages, read this article from the atlantic:
ATLANTIC MAGAZINE - ARE CHILDREN BEING KEPT IN CAGES AT THE BORDER?
Children and families were also denied medical care and refused vaccinations.
SEE THIS ARTICLE FROM CNBC ABOUT OUR GOVERNMENT REFUSING FLU VACCINES TO THE MIGRANTS
Also, I am opposed to abortion, but when it is illegal, it just pushes people to get "back alley abortions" and risk losing their own lives, as well as that of the child. That is not a "pro life" result. When I was a young woman, abortions were very easy to be had. They were illegal, but that did not stop anyone determined to have one.
Most women who give a reason for having an abortion cite financial inability. If we would wise up and have the same kind of pro-family social programs that they do in most of the other developed nations, such as child care, generous maternity and paternity leave, and a true living wage, women would not feel so squeezed. The way things are now, many women are forced into abortions they may not ordinarily have, simply because they lack the funds to support the pregnancy and the cost of child rearing.
Also, if our evangelization of the culture was (much) better than it is now, we could have an abortuary on every corner with rarely anyone taking advantage of their services because they believe, as we do, that every human is made in the likeness and image of God and that bringing life into the world is a blessing, not a curse.
So, you see, the difference between right and left really IS is one of METHOD. Most of us agree on the various issues, outside of how, exactly, we advocate that they be "fixed."
And, while we are talking about social programs:
According to Mike Shmitz, social programs organized by the government are "evil." So what would happen if we did not have social programs? I invite you to go to the Social Security Administration's website to read some of the heart-rending letters sent to FDR about the disabled and elderly dying of hunger and cold because there was simply no money to care for them. Where were the good loving Christians as that time? They were not willing to support all the old ladies, shivering in their sickbeds with empty bellies.
By what miracle can we expect the good Christians to do something different than what they did during THAT era, when there were a LOT more Christians than there are now? Those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.
Take a look at a typical letter that was received by President Franklin Roosevelt that details the plight of one such lady at THIS LINK and you will understand what we would return to if social programs were eliminated.
The entire reason we started the Social Security Insurance system was to keep that from happening again, but then BOTH parties "borrowed" from the funds (when they were originally not supposed to be able to do that) and we have the situation in which we find ourselves now, without enough funds to keep the Social Security system afloat in another 30 years.
Greed and selfishness are far more common than Christian love, it seems to me, and it is far more logical to regulate taxes to help the needy than it is to legislate demonstrations of Christian love.
Don't get me wrong. I get help regularly from one beautiful Catholic family, and occasional surprise packages from a couple others, but if I did not have the Social Security into which I had paid for 30 years and some help with medical care from Medicaid, I would be sleeping outside with millions of other old ladies, or actually I would probably be dead because I am old and disabled, barely able to walk, lost the vision in one eye and losing the vision in the other, and have a host of other illnesses to contend with, some of which are so painful they require morphine.
History has proven that we cannot depend upon the generosity of the Christian folks to support people in their disability and old age. Take a look at the history books to get a picture of life pre-1930's. Don't just listen to the platitudes and buzz-words from either party. Those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.
Before Social Security, it was a nightmare, and there are now even fewer Christians, percentagewise, than there were before Social Security and other social programs were implemented.
I also seem to remember that in the early days of Christianity, the Christians "held all things in common."
They were supposed to sell their property and hand over all the money that they received for it, but there was one couple, Ananias and Sapphira, who tried to hide some of the money, and when they were asked if they had given all the money, each in their turn lied and said "yes" and God struck them dead on the spot, which seems just a tad more severe than a simple tax audit, doesn't it? (See Acts 5:1-11)
Sapphira is struck dead by the Lord
Silver Rose
P.S. I am disabled and going blind and, in three months, I will be 69 years old. As should be clear by now, Social Security is not enough to cover all my expenses, I am unable to work (though I have tried various things) and I am still in need of some help. Please consider donating to my paypal, above-right, or sending something from my Amazon wish list for food. They have my address and can mail to me directly.
Just click HERE FOR FOOD DONATION
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