Presentism: Loss of Memory, Denial of Hope

“Catholic” Grandma Nancy Pelosi fervently defended the use of stimulus funds for contraceptive services: fewer kids = less expense = more for us here and now. This unveils the inner economic logic of liberalism: borrow against the future to enjoy the present; the debt will be repaid by our children and grandchildren; contracept and abort and therefore destroy the generation intended to repay or debt. The culture of sterility (contraception, abortion, gay sex) is at the same time an ethos of Presentism or indulgence in the present. Economically, it is praxis of debt and consumption. Spiritually, it is a religion of despair. The gay lifestyle is paradigmatic for liberal policy: indulge in the present because there is no fruitfulness or next generation to sacrifice for; borrow against the future since there really is no future beyond the immediate present.

Consider the society we boomers entered in the post-WWII era: large families, sharp gender roles, austere and frugal financial habits learned in the depression (“neither a lender nor a borrower be.”) Tested and chastened by the Depression and War, our country experienced a revival of religious faith led by Billy Graham, Bishop Sheen and Father (of the family rosary) Peyton.

The Cultural Liberalism of the 60s inverted all of these values and exalted: economics of debt, credit cards and consumption; sexuality of sterility and recreation; a rejection of authority; and preference for indulgence over sacrifice.

The various currents of liberalism generally share a renunciation of past orthodoxies, traditions and beliefs in favor of a “change we can believe in.” So, Hans Kung just wrote wistfully about what an “Obama papacy” would represent in contrast to Pope Benedict who is “looking backwards.” Post Vatican II progressivism identified that council as a radical break from the past in contrast to John Paul and Benedict who insist on seeing it in continuity with the past. Liberalism is fundamentally a break with the past, a rejection of tradition, and therefore a loss of memory in preference for a euphoric present and an immanent and utopian future. At the deeper level, however, contemporary liberalism is abandonment to the present because of despair about the future: there is no transcendent hope and therefore a retreat from fruitfulness and the sacrifices it requires. So, a culture of sterility produces negative population growth and trillions of dollars of deficit spending and national debt. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide become fundamental rights because pain carries no seed of future glory.

Obama’s entrustment of the stimulus plan to Pelosi and her lieutenants shows that he remains in bondage to the thought patterns of cultural liberalism. Last week, while encouraging inter-religious dialogue and harmony, he solemnly declared: “Remember,” pausing to bring additional gravity to his words, “there is no religion that advocates killing of the innocent.” The man who repeatedly resisted the Baby Born Alive Act said this with a sincerity greater than that of Bernie Madoff, Father Marciel Maciel and Rod Blagojevich combined. Our President demonstrates a complete disconnect between his rhetoric and the brutal realities his policies impose.

Our prayers for President Obama need to be joined to a realism that demons like these will not be exorcised without fasting and extended spiritual combat.