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Hi, Jeff —
The focus of the work we do on AskACatholic is to clarify Church
teachings for confused Catholics
and sincere seeking Protestants on an array of Church teachings, nevertheless, I'll give you my
personal opinion on your question.
First, Popes in the past have warned
about the extremes of a Capitalism
form of government.
I wouldn't deny that.
Read what Pope Leo XIII and Pope St. Paul
II had to say on the issue:
What Capitalism offers that other
forms of government don't are:
- freedom of speech within civil
guidelines
- freedom to worship in a manner
that respects the free will of
individuals in society and
within their own faith
- and mainly, under proper
presidential leadership:
encouragement to want to:
- work hard
- learn more
- advance in ones trade
- get involved in other
community events, and
- help ones fellow man
The one thing all these things have
in common is freedom and an encouragement to want to work.
Communism does not allow any freedoms,
especially of worship.
Socialism discourages work and encourages
government hand-outs and laziness.
Sound familiar?
<Can you spell:
O — B — A — M — A > or,
<Can you spell:
D — E — M —O— C — R — A — T — S >
As a cashier, I witness so many new people who have come into our country who are visibly able to work, yet are receiving SNAP or food assistance cards, paid through the taxes I have paid.
The President has done his part; my local government in Massachusetts now has to do its part.
You said:
My problem with
Capitalism is the focus is upon consumerism
and self-interest.
That's the price you pay for living
in a free society with people choosing
to be selfish with their own earnings.
If more American Christians lived like Christians, especially Catholic Christians,
the United States of America would
be a much better place.
Part of the problem is that parents
don't appreciate the importance
of disciplining and catechizing their
children appropriately.
Because
they were never catechized and encouraged
to love and die for the faith like the Early Church Fathers did.
The other part is the trickle-down-affect poor Catholic seminary
environments have, resulting in scandalous
so-called catholic seminary professors teaching within our seminaries. This
is one area that the Church and bishops
have to be continually vigilant in.
Because if satan can bring down
the Catholic seminary culture, with
time, he will bring down Christianity
in America.
It's my prayer this last part is
changing for the better. I offer further suggestions to the clerical leaders of the Catholic Church in the following posting:
You said:
I find that consumerism
and self-interest are just as enslaving
to the individual as any totalitarian
state.
I disagree. The difference can
be found in that the individual in
the totalitarian country cannot change
if (he|she) wanted to, because the
government, as in Socialism, dictates their behavior.
In our Capitalist form of government which was founded on Judeo-Christian values, freedom comes from the people and
is delegated to their representatives.
Because freedom is respected:
- yes, people can choose to be selfish and hold on to their wealth, or
- do the Christian thing and spread the wealth to help others in the United States.
. . . and they can freely change their mind any time and go from being the biggest sinner
in America to the holiest saint in
America.
Just my opinion.
Mike
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