I would like, therefore, to make a modest proposal: that we insist upon civil conversation concerning what our public figures actually say, and refuse judgment based upon hearsay, or, what amounts to the same thing, partisan politics.
So, for example, anyone, no matter how staunchly Republican, ought to take issue with a remark of President George W. Bush in his Memorial Day speech (May 26, 2008): "In a world where freedom is constantly under attack and in a world where our security is challenged, the joys of liberty are often purchased by the sacrifices of those who serve a cause greater than themselves." There is no cause greater than the human person; no one can serve a cause greater than himself. What the President said is not true.
Final causes greater than the private good of the individual human person? Yes, there is God, for one, and then there is the common good of the political community. So on what side of the debate between De Koninck and the personalists is Fr. Sweeney? (According to his public FB profile, he likes Catholics for the Common Good.) Both God and the political common good are goods of the individual, that is true, but they are common goods, not private goods. What George Bush means may be worded poorly for Fr. Sweeney's tastes, but I think we know what the former President is getting at.
DSPTOnline
Catherine of Siena Institute
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