Catholic and Conservative

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Simply by virtue of its vast size, its historical focus on mission work and Diocesan structure, the Church is able to mobilize an enormous amount of relief for the people of Haiti.  Let’s not forget that Haiti is predominately Catholic.  With no disrespect to my seperated Christian brethren, no other US denomination can and will compare to the assistance that American Catholics will provide to Haitians.  Just in the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida – my home Diocese – the Church as already provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to the relief effort with an overall commitment of $2.5 million.  And we are one of but 195 Diocese in America – do the math.  The Catholic response to the Haitian tradegy through its Diocese alone (not counting independent individual Catholic contributions) simply in terms of monetary donations will be in the tens of millions.  This does not count the enormous contribution that will be made by Catholic Relief Services (www.crs.org).

The Facts on U.S. Aid to Haiti

We as a nation through the Federal Government and other private means are leading the way for Haiti.  Consider this excerpt from Forbes.com;

But the mother of all standout, standup countries has been, as usual, the U.S. As of Jan. 21, the United Nations’ ReliefWeb database showed contributions from the U.S. government (a.k.a. U.S. taxpayers) worth $90 million, or 44% of the grand total pledged.

That’s just a fraction of the real U.S. contributions, which include millions in private donations plus a huge relief operation by the U.S. military. America has been sending ships, air-dropping rations and pouring in thousands of troops to open relief corridors and provide security. All this is politely styled as backup to a U.N. effort, which is in reality propped up by the U.S.

The article (http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/21/haiti-earthquake-aid-united-nations-opinions-columnists-claudia-rosett.html?boxes=opinionschannellighttop) goes on further to state;

Just behind the U.S. in contributions to the U.N.’s Haiti appeal is a roster of Western democracies, starting with France (12.7% of the total pledged to date), Sweden (7.4%), Spain (3.5%), Germany (2.8%), Brazil (2.6%), Australia, Finland, Canada, Italy, Denmark … you get the idea.  Where are the oil-rich Islamic countries of the Middle East, for whom charity is supposed to be such a vital part of life?

It has always been times of challenge that brings out the best of America.  We are the best at meeting the world’s needs.  Not only the best, but the unequivocal leaders.  Such is the case with the Catholic Church also.  Hand in hand, the two have the moral authority to assist countries in need around the world and we do so consistently and in spite of being two organizations that are persecuted in many ways.  But when you’re the leader, someone is always trying to knock you off your perch.  Ain’t gonna happen here.  If you’re an American reading this, be proud of our response to this tragedy.  If you’re American and/or Catholic, be VERY proud.

On Giving, The United States Leads – As Usual

Time and time again over our history the United States has come to the rescue of other countries – and in some cases the entire world – in times of dire need.  We entered WW I after the sinking of the Lusitania by German U Boats and saved Europe from the Germans.  We did the same in WW II, but also fought back the Italians and Japanese and then lead the way financially and otherwise to rebuild the destruction left in the wake of the War.  We freed Eastern Europe from the Soviet Union by bankrupting Russia in the 1980s and relieved the rest of the world from the incessant stress that came with the Cold War.  And we’re currently attempting to rid the world of Islamic extremists by fighting these cockroaches – with little to no help from most countries – in the Middle East.  Our military contributions to freedom in this world are unparalleled, unmistakable and well documented.

Then there’s the time, treasure and talent that America pours into innumerable countries.  This benevolence does not come solely from the Federal government, but also the American people themselves.  For the years 2000 -2007 for example, the United States government provided $200 billion in foreign aid to almost 70 countries including $1 billion to Haiti.  Just in 2006 alone, America’s private philanthropy equaled $170 billion with $71 billion coming from individual donations/remittances from citizenry.  No better example than the graph just below that shows America’s generosity – not counting individual contributions, but those of foundations, corporations, religious organizations, colleges and universities, and private and voluntary organizations – is 17 times greater than the next country.  We are truly an incredibly benevolent nation.

Liberals/America Haters Will Tell You Different

No other country is in the same galaxy as America when it comes to total aid provided to poor and developing countries.  Now you’ll have liberals splitting hairs and heaping on a good dose of intellectual dishonesty by comparing the US to other countries via per capita calculations or various percentages to GDP or whatever to attempt to minimize our contributions.  But that’s there MO.  Liberals have some character flaw that makes them angry when America touts our world leadership in an area or when Conservatives proudly proclaim our country as the “greatest the world has ever known” – which is true of course.

What liberals fail to point out in their disingenuous reporting on overall US Federal philanthropy is that the nations that are “so-called” leaders in this area (measured by per capita contributions or percentages of GDP) are either completely or somewhat socialistic.  Thus, the citizenry give all their money to the government by way of taxes and then the government (re)distributes a portion for foreign aid.  America, on the other hand, is a capitalistic society that allows people to make their own decisions as to where their money goes.  That’s why the countries on the bottom of the above graph are where they are – their citizens don’t have any money left to contribute privately.  But let’s cut through the crap and the liberal bilge.  The United States is by far the most generous country in the world in many varying ways, and we always have been.  It’s who we are.  Please see the following link for much more information on this topic. https://www.hudson.org/files/documents/2008%20Index%20-%20Low%20Res.pdf

America’s Reputation Needs No Repair

One of the most difficult experiences of living through the better part of George Bush’s second term, and certainly President Obama’s candidacy and first year in office, was seeing liberals – politicians and citizens – badmouth the United States on the world stage.  And then seeing a good portion of the rest of the world gloat over it; countries whose asses we’ve saved in varying ways over time.  These lies and distortions about our “standing in the world” or our “need to repair our reputation” is not only incredibly anger provoking to us Conservatives, but is a complete slap in the face to those who have spilled blood, effort and treasure on behalf of the rest of the world, and their families.

The numerous apology tours by candidate and President Obama, his smiles while shaking hands with dirt-bags like Hugo Chavez, his toe-touching bow to the Japanese Premier and others – his heartfelt subordinate attitude regarding America’s leadership role and our EARNED right to be self-confident is nothing short of treachery.  And I for one take issue with it.  I believe with all my heart that America is God’s country and has the divine right and responsibility to lead the world.  Thus, President Obama’s overt and proactive attempts to mitigate that divine right is sinful in my judgement, but then again he’s a liberal and a questionable Christian so we shouldn’t be surprised.

I am not saying that everything we’ve done as a country has been right – it has not.  The Catholic Church is not in support of our actions in Iraq for example based on It’s Just War Doctrine.  And so who am I to disagree with the Church – Christ on Earth!  What I am saying is that net/net the United States actions in and for the world are overwhelmingly positive, always have been and always will be.  And so we as a people – and especially our leaders – should keep that legacy in mind and never apologize for who we are, but certainly we should consistently keep ourselves in check to ensure we don’t become too prideful or arrogant.  If we do become overconfident, we’ll lose our moral authority to lead.  Some believe that we lost that regarding our attitude during the Bush years and with our ardent pursuit in the War on Terror.  Hogwash!  Those who believe that – mostly liberals – use it as a rouse to push their real agenda of creating a world order where the United States is stript of its moral authority to lead.

But as the last year has shown – Obama’s first, liberals and liberalism will be summarily rejected by this center/right country.  I revel in the fact that America is seeing the error of November 4, 2008.  Not because I want the country to continue to suffer politically, but because if Obama’s liberal/world order agenda were not stopped, our legacy of world leadership, our divine right to lead and indeed America’s entire identity built on the backs of blood, treasure and resources of all those who came before (see the Greatest Generation for example) would be lost.  Thank you Lord for using the Obama Presidency to bring the festering poison of liberalism to the fore for all to see.

And America – be proud.