Saturday, November 01, 2008
"CATHOLIC CHURCH FUNDS ACORN AND SYSTEMIC WARS"
That is the title of Stephanie Block's excellent article at Spero unpacking Alinsky-style organizations such as ACORN, the Industrial Areas Foundation, and others. She does an excellent job of explaining in layman's terms just what is wrong with these organizations: how they espouse the philosophy that the end justifies the means, how they depend on consensus and why that marginalizes the minority in any group, and on the need to build an earthly utopia. If I wanted to quote her, I would have to quote the entire article. She writes that well. But on one subject which she touches briefly I will quote her. She points to the shortcomings of Libertarianism with the following statement:
Saying one simply wants to “change” is too vague an ambition. Libertarian, free-market capitalists and the card-carrying communists both believe their economic system will help the poor, and they work hard to change present structures to resemble the ideals of their own philosophies. Both have potential benefits for the poor; both have historically wronged the poor in unspeakably horrible ways. Neither adequately reflects the Catholic position.
.............................
UPDATE
USA Today has picked up the article.
