There is an interview at Catholic News Agency with Rev. Robert Sirico and Dr. Steven Schneck about the Tea Party movement and Church teaching. Here is a small excerpt:
Fr. Sirico described the Tea Party as "an amorphous thing" with a lot of variety and as a "populist, spontaneous movement." He thought its common themes include a desire for less government and a desire "to limit the power that politicians have over peoples' lives."
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Fr. Sirico had his own criticisms of the movement. He thought charismatic leaders could lead people in the wrong direction, and the Tea Party's lack of a "historical memory" of past mistakes means that it lacks safeguards against plausible-looking proposals that "end up being harmful." Some Tea Party rhetoric suggests it has no role for government to serve the poor.
Dear Robert,
ReplyDeleteI am very proud of your work sanctifying the role of the businessman and the entrepreneur, Paul the tentmaker would be proud as well. Of course Paul himself was asked by the leaders of the church in Jerusalem to remember the poor, which thing Paul said he was eager to do. Paul himself gave the same injuntion to Timothy, the church in Corinth, and others. The important distinction, which I think should be particularly clear in light of Lord Acton's warning that "power corrupts," is that there is a potential corruption in power, which God avoids, in that in the person with power's drive to do good he may cross the line into forcing others to do good, which God does not do, and at which point he destroys the good he hoped to lead others to do. The government has the bully pulpit and the word of encouragement, but when it begins to use force of law--whose rightful use lies in the protection of life, liberty and property--and uses that force to take the property of those it is designed to protect to give it to others, it has become corrupted. No, there is no direct role in government to help the poor except to protect them from the ravages of the greedy rich, the thief, the robber, the murderer and the kidnapper. Please consider my words as they come from one who holds you in high esteem.
Brent Thomas Davis
WWW.LibertyProbityValor.blogspot.com