The poison that lurks in the mud

This week had me thinking of an anecdote from the life of St. Alphonsus Liguori, when he was riding to take possession of his bishopric, Sant’Agata de’ Goti. Faced with the immensity of the task (then, as now) of governing a diocese, it is said that he quoted the Vulgate’s Psalm 19: “Hi in curribus, hi in equis, nos autem in nomine Domini.” “Some [trust] in chariots, others in horses, but we in the name of the Lord.”

I think we of a more conservative or traditional mindset are natural pessimists because of our anthropology. Mankind is flawed, even seriously so. There is a limit to our human capacity to improve ourselves. In a certain sense, I think we are naturally suspicious of worldly utopias and promises for achieving the same. “Things fall apart”, and only the coming of the Lord will usher in a permanently just and peaceful world.

The majority of Catholics, and indeed Christians of all ‘orthodox’ varieties, are understandably troubled by the American Elections this year. Of course, this is not just because of its possible outcome, the election of the compromised Catholic, Joe Biden. Even if this were not 2020, and we were not in the grips of one of the least lethal pandemics in human history, anyone could have guessed that even from just a technical perspective, our nation was ill-prepared to carry out an election with almost a third of the population opting to vote by mail. Even in a less heated environment, our nation has struggled to count even routine paper ballots. Who could forget the so-called Floridian “hanging chads” of 2000, just to cite one example? Over and above all this, we have increasing evidence, which is not just anecdotal, that there has been an appreciable amount of voter fraud. Neither party has to commit massive amounts of fraud in order to secure a desired outcome. Just a few votes here and there, and the entire game can change.

One thing I find consoling is that it does seem to be quite clear that this year’s election mainly comes down to two factors: Donald Trump’s personality and COVID-19. Personally, I do not believe that Donald Trump’s personality is so odious that the majority of Americans would harbor hatred for him, if it were not for the incessant – indeed, interminable – droning of the media against him. No one seems to remember a figure that has ever been held in such contempt by the elites than Donald Trump. Yet even with the power and the money of such people, (100 million in the South Carolina senate race alone, 10+ billion nationally) the Democratic Party was not even able to eke out a trickle of that promised “blue wave” they predicted with such smug, self-assured arrogance. Even if Donald Trump falls, I hope he takes down Nate Silver and the pollsters with him. Not that I bear them any personal ill will, but I think their ‘objective’ science has proven to be so colossally and consistently incorrect, that I cannot ascribe to it any other motive or reason than a case of collective delusion, confirmation bias, or just old-fashioned psychological projection. There are doubtless pollsters and sociologists who work honestly and try to produce accurate results. But these are the minority among our prominent ones. Or, alternatively, are we really living in a society in which a significant portion of our population supports conservatives and conservative causes, but are afraid of the liberal mobs or public censure, and so do not make their views known? I am afraid both conclusions may be true, where mendacity and fear meet.

In addition to this, as I write, the Vatican has announced the upcoming release of the long-awaited McCarrick report on November 10th. I hope readers will forgive me in that I fully expect the document to be heavily redacted and air brushed so as to avoid exposing the cabal we know exists within the worldwide episcopate, and the Holy See in particular. For the rumor mill that is Rome, this document has been kept under very tight guard. For something of such great importance, there have been very few leaks. Even my regular sources admit to a unique phenomenon of silence in an otherwise garrulous curia. A part of me feels this is like the 30-minute silence that St. John says occurred in heaven in his vision of the opening of the Seventh Seal. Is this silence one of foreboding, or of concealment? I suspect both. Even a sliver of the truth surrounding McCarrick is bound to open old wounds, and further undermine the institutional Church. At such a time, I believe we must continue to say the Creed with renewed conviction: “I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church”. The Mystical Bride of Christ needs this now, not so that we may piously wish away the problem, but rather as an antirhetikos, a remedy, or at least a countermeasure, against cynicism and despair.

My mind and my heart returns to the words of Psalm 19. Some trust in chariots and horses; but we will invoke the name of the Lord. One could easily see that being applied to today. Some trust in pollsters, others in money, others in fraud; we will invoke the name of the Lord. I take comfort not only in the fact that American voters seem to have largely rejected, at least for now, the temptation of socialism, but also that Trump is precisely the man for the hour, in that he has the courage to do what most conservatives in power will not do: to fight. Even if he ends up losing, I hope that he uncovers so much rot that the leftists lose any claim to moral superiority for a generation or more. For five years they have repeated the propaganda that Trump is an inveterate liar and fraud. A President Biden in that narrative is supposed to be a return to normalcy, decency, and honesty. I doubt that conservatives will rise up in the style of Antifa or BLM, but I do not doubt that the media will betray us as insurrectionists if we protest, even as they told us that their protests were peaceful, while whole city blocks burned to the ground before our collective eyes.

We should not be surprised if in coming days that even our more ‘conservative’ news outlets run interference for the Democratic party. In fact, that is already occurring. All truth-loving citizens, of all political persuasions, in contrast, should want to see where the evidence points. Either President Trump lost ‘fair and square’, or we have just witnessed the domestic hijacking of our democratic system. And this won’t be like the chimerical appeals to “Russian collusion” or “foreign interference”. The evidence should be there for us to find. I think even liberals should hope in good faith that Trump and his allies do not abandon their pursuit of the truth behind voting in this election, or else their already pyrrhic victory will be even more devastating, not just to themselves, but to all Americans. We do not need Russia or China to destroy or corrupt us if we have fallen on our own sword.

This point in our history reminds me also of the excellent Robert Graves novel, I, Claudius. The book is a fictionalized memoir of the Emperor Claudius, who, as a first-hand witness to the corruption of first century Imperial Rome, decides to write an account of the evil he witnesses, since he is assured by an oracle that one day, his memoir will be read, in order to help posterity know the truth of what transpired. As he nears the end of his life, and grows increasingly despondent, he writes, “let all the poison that lurks in the mud, hatch out.” Indeed. In both the Church and in the State, may the antidote of truth prevail over the poison of lies.