Readers of LRC are well acquainted with the myriad of devastating attacks on personal health and well being, financial security, and political rights that are occuring today. Lew Rockwell has assembled for our daily viewing articles that document the coordinated plans of degradation to our own personal unique DNA, to intermediate institutions such as family and schools, all the way to our collective civilization itself. I question my own psyche during these troubling times for the capacity to hope. Is hope justified today?
I think at least from a Christian perspective there is an “obligation” to hope. Consider this Catholic description of hope.
Hope (Gk. ελπίς from the verb “to anticipate”) is the second virtue. Seldom found elsewhere than in St. Paul, “hope” does not mean to attain that which we desire or to avoid that which we dread. Such cannot be the hope of the Crucified One. Rather, Christian hope is lunging toward the God who will carry us through (not around) the worst. It is in this sense that we understand another of the “seven last sayings” of Christ: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk. 23:46). Having surrendered in faith, he trusts, he hopes, he anticipates that he will fall into the very arms of God. Death, though brutally, vulgarly, grotesquely real, does not prevail. Having fallen, he is caught. As he, so we.
A historical context helps me buttress my hope against my fear. My wife is a journalist who creates television magazine segments and short documentaries. Just this week her documentary “39-45 The Saving of the Jews of France” aired on French television.
Imagine being a Jew, in fact any French citizen, after the debacle of the French army in 1939-40. Yet four years later a great majority (75%) of the Jews did survive; however, clearly the pain and sacrifices were enormous. The documentary recounts several individual stories of luck, courage, and heroism by the Jews and their French saviours. Certainly with no hope there will be no action towards prevailing against the dangers we face. So hope is a necessary condition for the survival of what we value in this world, but we will also need luck, courage and heroism.
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Robert Wenzel has touched on a not so obvious reason for hope that I have noticed and thought possible, that they are going too far too fast. Thus, more and more people have become aware of the threats that have been imminent for many years but have been obscure to most people. On a personal level, I have discussed the dangers with my brother, someone for whom I never recall expressing a political opinion in his life (he is 66 years-old!). Another Wenzel post described the collapse of civilized life in California due to one-party Democratic rule, largely based on an article by Mary L. G. Theroux, Senior Vice President of the Independent Institute. My hopeful take being that the looming economic collapse is now likely to accelerate and occur under the incoming Biden regime, again potentially alerting more of the populace to the perpetual disasters that follow socialist policies.
Robert Barnes, the gregarious, populist legal genius has noted that “you have to lose something to win something big.” (here at 1h22m). And later in the same podcast (starting at 2h03m) he states that [Bill] Gates has “underestimated the degree of opposition” to vaccines. And adds that “more people opposed to forced vaccines now than ever before.” And that “there is Increased doubt, not increased confidence.” So yes, the sprouts of disobedience are growing, notwithstanding the increased level of suppression following the Capitol debacle. Barnes also calls today the end of the 2nd act, the low point of any hero story. He posits that the 3rd act of renewal is to come.
This short exposition is not meant to be a comprehensive review of issues. It is not intended as any particular call to action. It is simply to explain to you, my fellow LRC readers, my state of mind that I expect many of you might also share. And to recognize what I feel, that each of us must find our own reasons for hope that even if things get worse, they will finally get better.
