Irredeemable Greed, Sloth, and Wrath

            IM:  Gentlemen, Hillary Clinton labeled half of Trump supporters as an irredeemable basket of deplorables.  Does this sound like hate speech to you?

            AM:  Absolutely.  Given the nature of the audience to whom she was speaking, she was clearly dividing the American people into those groups that accept secular-humanistic progressive values and social justice against those who subscribe to Judeo-Christian values and the rule of law.  A virtuous diplomat would simply acknowledge contrary values.  But a progressive cannot do this as Schumpeter reminded us Gadfly’s letter to Hillary supporters.  Not only are nonprogressive values wrong, they are immoral.

            IM:  We hear a lot about corruption.  Trump opponents accuse the billionaire of only caring about himself:  not paying contractors, writing off nearly a billion in debt to avoid paying federal taxes for years, declaring bankruptcy multiple times, and demeaning women, and making racist comments.  Meanwhile, Clinton opponents complain that the government has failed to hold her accountable for violating numerous federal statutes as Secretary of State; that the “free press” gives her a pass on incriminating Wikileaks releases about the Clinton foundation; that her “experience” is associated with major failures, not successes; and, that she is committed to continuing the disastrous policies of the past eight years.

            Old Gadfly:  What cardinal sin is at the root of the corruption?

            IM:  There are seven cardinal sins:  lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride.  Of these seven, it appears greed may be the primary sin.  Greed is “the intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.”  Food does not apply in this case, but certainly wealth and power apply for Clinton.  The Clinton Foundation has been a powerful conduit for wealth combined with an unbridled desire for political power.

            Old Gadfly:  Does greed apply to billionaire Trump?

            AM:  Possibly, but I think what motivated Trump more than greed was a desire to build, to create value appreciated by others.

IM:  To reinforce what AM is saying, Clinton’s manifestation of greed is more egregious than Trump’s because the emerging record reveals other behaviors stemming from greed.  Greed is even more egregious when it involves trickery and manipulation of authority.  Clinton’s private server and email scandal combined with the pay to play scheme of the Clinton Foundation are vivid examples.  Thomas Aquinas asserts that greed, like pride, can lead to not some, but all evil.

Old Gadfly: Please expand your argument.

IM:   Take sloth for instance.  According to the dictionary, sloth is, “the absence of interest or habitual disinclination to exertion.”  Clinton, and other progressives, counts on a lack of interest in facts or the truth.  Once they have convinced their followers that their progressive agenda will make life better, they submit to this notion and refuse to exert themselves in seeking truth, especially in regard to their moral obligation to “plant good seeds.”  Planting good seeds means being responsible for oneself and a good neighbor and citizen.  Progressivism’s indentured classes, conditioned by the ruling class conditioners, prefer to take from a benevolent government.

AM:  In Jesus’ parable of the Tares (Matthew 13:  24-30), it seems that when a seed has been sown, we must be watchful of those who would threaten those good seeds with weeds.  I wonder if this is the essence of the abortion issue.  A child within a mother’s womb is such a seed.  Then, evil forces like Planned Parenthood choke out that seed, even up to the moment prior to delivery.  The Very Reverend John Lankeit recently provided a thoughtful homily on this subject.  Watch it here.

Old Gadfly:   Trump is pro-life.  Do you think he is interested in saving the lives of those who do not plant seeds?

IM:  Yes.  He’s inclusive.  This is his vision for making America great again.  That’s why he is reaching out to everyone, including victims of the Democrat-run inner-cities.  His vision is an America guided by the moral vision in our Declaration of Independence; an America governed by a limited government that acknowledges its limited power is delegated by the people; an America with revitalized institutions of a Constitutional Republic that empowers citizens (legal citizens) to achieve their American dream; an America where law-abiding citizens embrace their civil responsibilities in promoting peace and prosperity.

Old Gadfly:  So, now we see examples of greed and sloth.  Are there other sins?

IM:  Yes.  Wrath.  Trump opponents claim his speech is hateful by addressing illegal immigrants and Islamic refugees from the Middle East, by promoting a pro-live position viewed by progressives as contradictory to a woman’s reproductive rights, by pushing for tax reductions viewed as taking money away from those who need it, and so forth.  Trump supporters would argue that Trump’s anger in these cases is to protect justice by enforcing the rule of law and to protect the innocent from those who would impose their values contrary to Judeo-Christian values.  Clinton, on the other hand, has utter contempt for any who believe differently—her basket of irredeemable deplorables.  Clinton is the Pharisee while Trump is the tax collector in another parable (Luke:  18:  9-14).

 

AM:  As Clinton mentioned in one of her Wall Street speeches (discovered through the Wikileaks releases), she has a public position and a private position on matters (harkens back to the manipulative dimension of greed).  Today, at a campaign stop in Iowa, Clinton boasted about her composure during four and a half hours of debate with Trump.  This is her public demeanor.  A rare example of Clinton’s wrath out of public view was captured by an NBC crew that witnessed it after the Matt Lauer interview on national security.  Bill Still, a former newspaper editor and journalist presented evidence from an eyewitness source.  View the report here.

Old Gadfly:  Is Hillary redeemable?

IM:  I don’t know.

AM:  Probably not.

Old Gadfly:  I think we must believe all are redeemable.  But that requires a desire to seek the truth about ourselves and the world we live in.  Albert Camus’ novel, The Fall, was about a lawyer’s reflective attempt at seeking truth and coming to grips with cardinal sins.  I forget how it ended.