Travis Rowley: Political Consequence
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Conservatives were presented with a challenge several weeks ago when Pope Francis seemingly denounced capitalism within his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). Just as certain as conservatives taking argumentative advantage whenever a reliable leftist criticizes a leg of left-wing ideology, progressives were sure to attempt to augment their credibility when this assumed figure of the political Right decided to adopt the language of the Left.
The sense of urgency from conservatives bordered on panic. There was much damage control to be done, including a column dedicated to the Pope’s errors by this writer.
In a wake of criticism, it was refreshing to hear Pope Francis clarify his remarks. “Marxist ideology is wrong,” Francis told the world during an interview that would still leave it unclear as to whether or not the current Bishop of Rome was a true friend of free marketeers. After all, he would add, “The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefiting the poor. But what happens instead is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger; nothing ever comes out for the poor.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTOy vey.
It hardly mattered just how clear and concise Francis decided to be. The neo-Marxists had already seized upon his seeming disregard for the political gamesmanship that occurs within the world’s most important national economy. America’s media establishment began to exalt the man who heads the institution that remains the leading voice against two of the Left’s moral crusades – abortion and gay marriage. This curious phenomenon culminated with Time Magazine naming Pope Francis “Person of the Year.”
President Obama – the figurehead of America’s socialist party – recently invoked Evangelii Gaudium, presenting the Pope as an ally in his quest to spread the wealth around. “After several years of high-profile clashes with U.S. bishops, Obama is seizing the chance to highlight common ground with the bishop of Rome,” the LA Times has reported. “Obama now sees the Pope as an ally,” Breitbart.com tells its readers in an article titled “Obama Channeling Pope Francis to Sell Wealth Redistribution.”
A longstanding goal of the “welfare rights movement” and other radical leftists of the 1960s is a guaranteed income for every American. Several weeks ago Krystal Ball, the co-host of MSNBC’s “The Cycle,” regurgitated this radical urge by arguing for a “mincome” – a “monthly minimum income” for “every non-incarcerated adult citizen.” According to Ball, “poverty is eliminated” with the implementation of such a measure.
More to the point of this column, Ball would remind everyone of the sentiments of Pope Francis while also attempting to quiet her conservative critics by informing them that a prominent “libertarian” had – in a way – endorsed the “mincome” as well. “Now, I know what you’re thinking,” Ball said, “this is some crazy left-wing utopian idea that only Marxists like Krystal Ball and Pope Francis could possibly support…[But] the mincome has also found support on the right” – citing Matthew Freeney of Reason Magazine who has suggested giving the poor “cash” in the past.
In a somewhat confusing use of the English language, another member of the political party attempting to force the Catholic Church to pay for abortifacients and birth control invoked Pope Francis while attempting to sell the product of big-government and wealth redistribution. Several weeks ago Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas – D) argued that the federal government should provide unemployment benefits to “working men and women.” She implored the other members of Congress: “We can’t be only about our self in this holiday season, particularly as we recognize that the Pope being made man of the year has spoken to the world eloquently about this whole issue of the vulnerable.”
While everyone is trying to figure out whether Pope Francis agrees with the tenets of socialism or not, and considering the possibility that he just might have higher concerns than America’s 2014 elections, the Democratic Party – the party with an expanding secular and atheist base; the party that voted to remove God from its platform at their 2012 national convention; the party known for its hostility toward the Church – are busy aligning his words with their cause.
Travis Rowley (TravisRowley.com) is the author of The RI Republican: An Indictment of the Rhode Island Left.
Related Slideshow: The Best of Travis Rowley
Here are some of Travis Rowley's most well-read articles to date:
Related Articles
- Travis Rowley: Tell Minorities a Story
- Travis Rowley: Cruz-ing Past Whitehouse
- Travis Rowley: Taking Care Of Babysitters
- Travis Rowley: The Atheist Delusion
- Travis Rowley: Left Wants Gays To Receive Magic Beans At Mass
- Travis Rowley: Race Hustling 101
- Travis Rowley: Pilgrims and the Pope
- Travis Rowley: The Hate-Crime Hoax–A Liberal Pastime
- Travis Rowley: Helen’s Passion
- Travis Rowley: The Rhode Island Left: Clamoring For Absolution
- Travis Rowley: Democrats: Who’s Right? And Who’s a Jerk?
- Travis Rowley: Pro-Trayvon Liberals: Not Worth Talking To
- Travis Rowley: Detroit: A Lesson In Failed Liberalism
- Travis Rowley: Political Blood
- Travis Rowley: Hose the Firefighters
- Travis Rowley: Conservative Hypocrisy – The Liberal Escape
- Travis Rowley: Progressives: Liars By Religion and Trade
- Travis Rowley: Providence Student Union Ignores Blacks, Hispanics
- The Best of Travis Rowley
- Travis Rowley: RI Needs More Rich People (Chapter 2)
- Travis Rowley: Some Rhode Island Liberals Can’t Reason or Read
- Travis Rowley: Lessons From The Hunger Games
- Travis Rowley: Duck. Duck. Gays!
- Travis Rowley: Harry Reid: A One-Man Death Panel
- Travis Rowley: Democrats, July 4th Isn’t For You