The Republic of Texas?

So I know I said I was going to start blogging about Faith and reasons for belief and I will, but I had an interesting thought that I felt the need to blog about. 

 This morning on facebook I came across a link to a petition for Louisiana requesting to secede from the union.  I know I recently said I would seriously consider moving to Texas but we need to think about this a little.  Let me start off by saying that I’m not opposed to the idea of Texas, Louisiana, and some of these other more conservative red states seceding but I think we need to step back and rationally think about this for a  bit. 

 To begin with, what is our true motive for this?  I think a fundamental flaw in our society is that we think we can create some sort of utopia here on earth.  We think that we can have Heaven on earth.  The reality of this is that we cannot.  We are called to further the kingdom of God and work against injustice but we are NEVER going to have a perfect society.  We live in a fallen human world, and there will always be sin and corruption. We are not citizens of this world; we are merely pilgrims on a journey. 

 Second of all we have to remember that extremes are never good.  The spiritual life teaches us that very clearly.  We have to live our lives rooted in truth and in a balanced way.  I mentioned in a previous post this week that in our culture today no one recognizes anything as evil anymore.  We don’t want to say something is sinful or wrong.  Well that is not the correct way to live.  But neither is being overly pious and living in a way that everything is sinful.  This we call scrupulosity, this is also not the correct way to live.  The problem with extreme liberalism is that it destroys the moral order, the family, gives people a false sense of compassion, and destroys any sense of truth our society has.  The problem with extreme conservatism is that it creates an “ever man for himself” mentality and does not take into consideration the human condition with a true sense of compassion. 

 I would be afraid that a country that was composed of only red states would not solve the issues we have as a nation.  I think we would have a whole new set of problems.  Once again don’t get me wrong, if things get really bad I’m thinking moving to Texas and joining the secession is better than the alternative, however what kind of society would that create?  For example would it be a more racist society?  Those states already have a tendency to be more racist.  In the process of fighting against the redefinition of marriage would we react with hatred of homosexuals?  I’m not ok with gay marriage and gay adoption but I am also not ok with gay bashing and hatred of gays.  We would we have some sort of compassion for the poor and government assistance programs or would we eradicate those things completely?  Would we allow immigration and welcome those who need a better life or would we completely close our borders and have even stricter immigration policies than we currently do?  I’m just speculating here.  I don’t know what would happen but I think we need to think about these things a little bit. 

 

I know where Catholics stand on all those issues and I have a feeling we would still have things we have to speak out against in a “red state” world.  The Catholic position in political life goes much deeper than no abortion.  The pro-life issue maybe the biggest and most important issue but it is not the only issue. If Abortion was illegal our job would not be over.  So would seceding be a better situation than what we currently have?  Maybe, in some ways, but let’s not be too quick to divide this country up yet.  We can’t make a perfect society.  Maybe we need to work harder in Evangelizing the current culture and country we have rather than making a new one.  I know some of us may end up with no choice and end up having to go the “let’s move to Texas and secede” route.  However, I think we need to remember that while it could be better and provide solutions to some things it will come with a whole new set of problems.  Our job as Catholics will never be complete whether we remain the United States of America or divide into The Socialist States of America and The Republic of Texas!