Saturday, May 6, 2023

The Institutions Have All Failed Us

The Insider Outsider: The meaning of Tucker Carlson for the present and future of US politics, by Rod Dreher

A couple of days before Tucker Carlson was out of a job, he gave a talk at the Heritage Foundation.  Dreher summarizes as follows:

Tucker Carlson, an affable sinner, went to the citadel of Washington conservatism, delivered a talk in which he took a shot at the Republican Party, indicating his disdain for them, and told his audience that the crisis engulfing our country and our civilization can only be explained in terms of spiritual warfare. He urged them to pray.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood and all that.  The tide is growing on understanding the nature of this battle, when even so many barely-Christians or not-even-Christians can see it.  Dreher notes it in the way the Nashville shooting has been described and handled – not a lament for the victims, but in support of the alphabet.

Dreher’s own journey brought him here: “My point is simply that I lost faith in the institutions.”  The Catholic Church (and, I suggest, many non-Catholic Churches), journalism, universities.  Citing a piece from Ross Douthat:

The young Reaganite or the George W. Bush admirer certainly believed the media was liberal and that the Ivy League could not be trusted. But he or she believed in the CIA and NATO, in General Motors and Wall Street, in Coca-Cola and the American Medical Association and the United States Marine Corps.

Not so for the conservatives who have come of age since the Iraq War, the financial crisis and the Great Awokening.

It isn’t just conservatives.  We are witnessing a great realignment, with many of the wealthiest Americans now voting left, and the working class voting right; with many that would have identified as liberal ten years ago (Jordan Peterson, Bret Weinstein, Matt Taibbi, Glen Greenwald, etc.) now siding with conservatives and many who would have identified as conservative ten years ago (name any neocon and many republican politicians) now siding with liberals.

Continuing with the Douthat cite, again referring to conservatives (and, I say, others) who have come of age in the last two decades:

Alienated from many more American institutions than their predecessors, staring at a record of elite failure and a social landscape where it seems like there’s little to conserve, they increasingly start out where Carlson ended up — in a posture of reflexive distrust, where if an important American institution takes a position, the place to be is probably on the other side.

After trust in God, trust in always taking as a starting point believing the opposite of what one hears from those in today’s institutions of government, universities, and media (“the Cathedral”) is the best and most sure bet one can make.

Conclusion

By Dreher:

Whether you are a person of the Left or of the Right, if you trust the Cathedral at this point, I don’t know what to say to you, except to hope that the scales fall from your eyes some way.

I hope so as well.  However, consider the intervention necessary to make this so:

Acts 9: 17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

4 comments:

  1. Among all the bad news I am hearing, there is good news of people seeing that evil and turning to the light. When darkness, sin, and evil is pushed in your face people drift to light, righteousness, and goodness. I have heard many stories of atheists and pagans turning to God. I am sure many more hundreds or thousands have occurred. We can make that millions if we will tell the truth about the gospel and contrast it with all the things those in power are pushing on us.

    Human rights are best thought of as property rights.
    https://thecrosssectionrmb.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-ethics-of-liberty-human-rights-as.html

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    Replies
    1. "I have heard many stories of atheists and pagans turning to God."

      I have heard this anecdotally as well, and seen several examples. I think many are finding Christianity as the antidote to the meaningless life which is what currently passes in western society.

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  2. I think it is as simple as that the corpse of America has started to stink undeniably. We would all like to be conservative but once it becomes clear that you are just mummifying a corpse most of us start to think, 'Well where do we go from here?' Unfortunately, too many people think there is no alternative. As Chesterton told us over 100 years ago, Western Civilization has died before, died of its own decadence and corruption as we are now living through. But we remain stuck here until we as a society remember the God who knows the way out of the Grave. Actually, even if we don't remember Him He has never forgotten us. As He said by Hosea said to Israel(the beautiful unforgettable 11th chapter), '“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
    And out of Egypt I called My son.
    As they called them,
    So they went from them;
    They sacrificed to the Baals,
    And burned incense to carved images.

    “I taught Ephraim to walk,
    Taking them by their arms;
    But they did not know that I healed them.
    I drew them with gentle cords,
    With bands of love,
    And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck.
    I stooped and fed them.

    “He shall not return to the land of Egypt;
    But the Assyrian shall be his king,
    Because they refused to repent.
    And the sword shall slash in his cities,
    Devour his districts,
    And consume them,
    Because of their own counsels.
    My people are bent on backsliding from Me.
    Though they call to the Most High,
    None at all exalt Him.

    “How can I give you up, Ephraim?
    How can I hand you over, Israel?
    How can I make you like Admah?
    How can I set you like Zeboiim?
    My heart churns within Me;
    My sympathy is stirred.
    I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
    I will not again destroy Ephraim.
    For I am God, and not man,
    The Holy One in your midst;
    And I will not come with terror.

    “They shall walk after the Lord.
    He will roar like a lion.
    When He roars,
    Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;
    They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt,
    Like a dove from the land of Assyria.
    And I will let them dwell in their houses,”
    Says the Lord.

    “Ephraim has encircled Me with lies,
    And the house of Israel with deceit;
    But Judah still walks with God,
    Even with the Holy One who is faithful.'

    If we would remember where we came from, we would have every reason to have hope about where we are going.
    Love and peace, jc
    comfortwithtruth.substack.com

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  3. Ask not what your institution can do for you.....ask what YOU can do for YOUR institution!


    The Road Ahead…

    …and what is to be done.

    The main thing that Christians need to do now is get engaged with the government of the church they belong to. They should petition the elders to have the pastor address the sins of our generation from the pulpit.

    Which comes back to my paragraph above: what are the sins of this generation? Cheering on the war machine, bowing down to masks and to closing churches, worshipping the state of Israel, ignoring the order in which God created man and woman – and the purpose of each in His creation. That’s my list. - bionic

    https://crushlimbraw.blogspot.com/2023/04/jesus-christ-to-his-church-do-your-job.html?m=0

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