{"id":514,"date":"2008-07-24T21:55:14","date_gmt":"2008-07-25T01:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/godandculture.wordpress.com\/?p=514"},"modified":"2008-07-24T21:55:14","modified_gmt":"2008-07-25T01:55:14","slug":"francis-beckwith-on-barack-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/francis-beckwith-on-barack-obama","title":{"rendered":"Francis Beckwith on Barack Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Francis Beckwith<\/a> is on the faculty of the philosophy department of Baylor University, where he is a Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies. He commented on Rod Dreher’s <\/a>blog “Obama: He’s big in Germany!” <\/a>His comments offer compelling insight into Barack Obama’s worldview:<\/p>\n

Obama’s totalizing impulses are cashed out in his understanding of…<\/p>\n

1. Church and State. The secularist tells the church the rules. See here: http:\/\/www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net\/2008\/06\/barack_obama_religious_citizen.html<\/a>
\n2. Marriage and Family. These are not institutions put in place as bulwarks against state hegemony. They are institutions whose definitions are completely under state control. And if you don’t agree, we will punish you. See here: http:\/\/www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net\/2008\/07\/obama_supports_samesex_marriag_1.html<\/a>
\nCross reference that with: http:\/\/www.jennifer-roback-morse.com\/articles\/Same_Sex_Marriage.html<\/a>
\n3. Universal health care. The state ought to be in charge. See here: http:\/\/www.barackobama.com\/issues\/healthcare\/<\/a>
\n4. Politics is the means of end of hope. See the chilling Berlin speech in which he hinges the hope of the global human future on his election.<\/p>\n

So, that’s pretty much everything; church, state, marriage, family, health, and politics. The state ought to control them all and set its limits. For the state is your savior, your hope. That’s totalitarianism. Now, I’m not saying that some really smart people may not find it attractive, since most really smart people think that they can out-think nature and know better than ordinary people with common intuitions.<\/p>\n

“Totalitarianism” takes root, not because it appears ugly, but because it appears hopeful and necessary.<\/p>\n

. . . . . . . . . . .<\/p>\n

The way you help ordinary working people is to (1) stop thinking you can help ordinary working people; (2) don’t think of their taxes as your money; (3) don’t nurture in them the vice of envy by comparing them to successful fellow citizens who should be emulated and not despised; (4) stop thinking that government “creates” jobs, for government can only make sure that the engines of the free market are in place so that jobs are created by entrepeneurs; the government no more “creates” jobs than prostitutes “make love”; (5) speak highly of the capacities of the working class and their values rather than treating them as children who need your help to get health, celebrate diversity, and “join the 21st century.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Francis Beckwith is on the faculty of the philosophy department of Baylor University, where he is a Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies. He commented on Rod Dreher’s blog “Obama: He’s big in Germany!” His comments offer compelling insight into … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19,378],"class_list":["post-514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-barack-obama","tag-francis-beckwith"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.godandculture.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}