Denver Catholic

18 JUNE 25-JULY 8, 2016 | DENVER CATHOLIC Perspectives Confessions of an "elitist" T he term "elitist" has been ban- died about so promiscuously in this election cycle that it's become virtually content-free. Yet "elitist" is also being weaponized as a scare-word to prevent legitimate criticism of ideas, attitudes, and behav- iors once thought beyond the pale, even in the rough-and-tumble of politics (which, as Mr. Dooley reminds us, "ain't beanbag "). That kind of bullying is bad news for an already degraded political culture. So let me o¦ er these Confessions of an Elitist in the hope that they might encourage others to push back against the "anti-elitist" thought police – and in so doing, to help rescue Ameri- can public life from terminal moral trivialization. I believe that intelligence is supe- rior to emotion and reason better than anger in making political argu- ments and choices: in political debate as in curry, heat doesn't necessarily make things better. I believe that the systematic rhetorical degradation of political opponents betrays a coarseness of mind and spirit corrosive of the norms of civility essential to demo- cratic politics. I believe that there are some things worth losing for, and that losing in defense of them doesn't make anyone a "loser." I believe that the reduction of political argument to 140-character tweets is ruinous to democracy. I believe that incitements to politi- cal violence are despicable, no matter what their source, alleged purpose, or putative justifi cation. I believe that a sense of honor is essential in a political leader and includes commitments to telling the truth (no matter how discomforting) and to doing one's duty (irrespec- tive of political risk). I believe that a knowledge of history and an openness to learn from it are essential qualities in any public o© cial who proposes to bend the curve of history in a more humane and just direction. I believe that politicians who ignore the danger of unintended consequences inevitably make matters worse rather than better. I believe that, in politics, prudence is the greatest of the cardinal virtues, closely followed by courage (which prevents prudence from decompos- ing into expedience). I believe that a legislator or president owes constit- uents his or her best judgment, and that the legislator or president who imagines himself or herself a mere channel of constituent passions is going to do a lot of damage to the common good. I believe that poli- ticians who refuse to acknowledge their errors of judgment in the face of massive empirical evidence that they got it wrong display a narcissism that is inherently dangerous. I believe that former public o© - cials who accept obscenely large hon- oraria for (usually vacuous) speeches are reprehensible; that the people who pay those fees are either star- struck fools impressed with celebrity or inveiglers soliciting future access; and that both the payer and the payee in these tawdry transactions contribute to the further debase- ment of our politics into a sub-set of "entertainment." I believe that any morally seri- ous notion of "national interest" includes a concept of national pur- pose, informed by the classic ends of politics: freedom, justice, security, the common good, and the peace of public order. I believe that a mass media facilitating a serious debate over complex issues, rather than playing "gotcha" games, would fulfi ll its ambi- tion to be the fourth estate and be applauded by serious citizens. I believe that political parties exist to achieve certain political purposes; that no party has a claim to exist in perpetuity; and that when parties abandon the noble ideas and pur- poses to which they once subscribed, party loyalty has no further claims to make on a thoughtful citizen. I believe that tribalism – be that the ethnic tribe, the racial tribe, or the gender tribe – is inimical to dem- ocratic pluralism. I believe that kowtowing to polit- ical correctness and indulging in identity politics are signs of low intel- ligence, cowardice, or both. I believe that a "value-neutral" democracy is a contradiction in terms and that the attempt to create such a chimera in the name of false ideas of "fairness" and "tolerance" inevitably results in coercive state power being deployed to impose relativism on an entire society. I hope you believe these things, too. If you do, welcome to the ranks of elitists. Wear the label with pride, and help rescue our political culture from the vulgarians. The Catholic Di² erence George Weigel is a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. GEORGE WEIGEL Four lessons on mercy from the woman at the well I had the enormous privi- lege last week of addressing English-speaking priests from around the world who had gathered in Rome for a special Jubilee celebration of the Year of Mercy. I met fathers from the States, Canada, Australia, Latvia, Ghana, Cameroon, Ireland, Nigeria and many other countries. During the communion at the Mass which followed my talk, I saw hundreds of priests in their albs coming to the altar to receive the Lord, and I thought of the passage from the book of Revelation concern- ing the white-robed army gathered around the throne of the Lamb. As a basis for my presentation, I used the wonderful story from the fourth chapter of John's Gospel con- cerning Jesus' conversation with the woman at the well. From this encoun- ter, I derived four principles regarding the divine mercy. First, I argued, God's mercy is relentless. Customarily, pious Jews of the fi rst century would have assiduously avoided Samaria, a nation, in their minds, of apostates and half- breeds. Yet Jesus, journeying from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north, moves right through Samaria. Moreover, he speaks to a woman in public (something that men simply didn't do) and he consorts with some- one known to be a sinner. In all of this, Jesus embodies the love of God, which crosses barriers, mocks taboos, and overcomes all of the boundaries that we set for it. Thomas Merton spoke of the Promethean problem in reli- gion, by which he meant the stubborn assumption that God is a distant rival, jealous and protective of his preroga- tives. In point of fact, the true God is fi lled withhesed(tender mercy) and delights in lifting up human beings: "The glory of God is a human being fully alive." And this conduces neatly to my second point, namely, that the divine mercy is divinizing. At times, we have the impression that God's mercy serves a reparative or healing pur- pose alone, that it solely binds up the wounds of our sin and su¦ ering. That God's love heals is obviously true, but this tells but part of the story. Jesus BISHOP ROBERT BARRON Guest Column Bishop Robert Barron is the founder of the global ministry, Word on Fire, and Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles. He is the creator of the award winning documentary series "Catholicism." Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well by Angelika Kau¢ mann. PHOTO FROM WIKICOMMONS

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