The Tea Party Conservative Blog

“The proposed granting of an honorary doctorate at Notre Dame University to our president, who is so aggressively advancing an anti-life and anti-family agenda, is rightly the source of the greatest scandal.”

Archbishop Raymond Burke

Quick – can you name the Roman Catholic college in Indiana? If you guessed St. Joseph’s College, you are correct. If you guessed another institution located in South Bend, I submit you are mistaken. Sadly enough, there is no college or university supporting Roman Catholic ideals in South Bend, Indiana.

Archbishop Burke minced no words in decrying Notre Dame University’s decision not only to ask President Obama to speak at the school’s Commencment on May 17 but to grant him an honorary doctorate as well. Perhaps in his speech the President will repeat his famous words regarding the recent National Day of Prayer, the text of which is reprinted below: “

.”

Archbishop Burke continued with his pointed rebuke: “The path of violation of the most fundamental human rights and of the integrity of marriage and the family which our nation is traveling is not accidental. As Catholics, we cannot fail to notice with the greatest sadness the number of our fellow Catholics who cooperate fully to the advancement of a national agenda which is anti-life and anti-family.”

And therein lies the rub. 57% of Catholics, according to a recent poll, support the manner in which the President is doing his job, while only 33% disapprove. My question is – what are those in the approval category thinking?

How can any Catholic in good conscience support a President and an administration that consistently supports legislation and executive orders (Freedom of Choice Act, government-funded abortions, embryonic stem cell research and partial birth abortions, to name just a few) that are antithetical to long-standing Church doctrines regarding the sanctity of life? No amount of disingenuous spin by “ardent, practicing” Catholics like Nancy Pelosi can obscure the fact that the Church supports – and has traditionally supported - life from conception through natural death. In an area of moral choice so clearly set forth by bishops across the United States (and, of course, in the Vatican) there can only be one reaction to the onslaught of anti-life, anti-family policy that is endemic to the Obama adminstration – peaceful resistance to each and every such policy and education of the country on their emotional, moral and economic cost.

How can Catholic politicans like Kathleen Sebelius be put in charge of Health and Human Resources when they are all too ready to sanction and encourage the abortion (and, apparently, for Governor Sebelius, very, very later term abortions) of 3,700 Americans each and every day?

Perhaps the answer to this question is that some traditional leaders in the Catholic community – like Notre Dame University – are not standing their ground. Caught up in whatever wave of Change Hysteria that has gripped the United States, or in false pride of being a center of the academic dialectic, Notre Dame has succumbed to the siren song of the secular.

It is up to the rest of us (no matter our particular faith tradition) to overcome Notre Dame’s arrogance and the current administration’s dangerous moral path. Opportunities abound to petition the president of Notre Dame, Father John Jenkins, to change course. Take one of those opportunities at notredamescandal.com. Talk to your friends in support of life. Receive the sacraments. Pray.

And be hopeful for a change of heart.

Not all recent poll results have been discouraging. In fact, a recent Rasmussen Reports telephone survey reported that most Catholics and Americans know at least partly what needs to be done. 60% of U.S. Catholics (versus an adverse number of only 25%) say that Notre Dame should obey guidelines issued by the U.S. bishops and not award an honorary degree to President Obama. As a whole, 52% of national respondents supported that position and only 25% opposed it.

Welcome to my new blog!  I am the Tea Party Conservative.

I believe in the strength and goodness of the American people, the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence and fidelity to the United States Constitution. 

With these core beliefs firmly in place, I offer my Ten Principles of Patriotism, which will form the bedrock for future postings of this blog:

1. Respect for human life from conception to natural death.  Life is the first and foremost of the unalienable rights listed in the Declaration of Independence.  Life is a gift from God.  We celebrate and protect the gift.
2. Care for the less fortunate.  We are our brother’s keeper.  Government, however, is not our collective keeper.  We will care for one another without the forced hand of bureaucracy.  But we remember what St. Paul admonished about members of the early Christian community who sought to take advantage of the good will of hard workers:  “If anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.”
3. Respect for the wisdom of our Founding Fathers.  These patriots knew bad government when they saw it.  They knew of the excesses that too much central government interference could bring.  We review their writings every now and again if ever we think that government has all the answers.
4. Sovereignty of the States.  The Constitution requires that the federal government be limited, in favor of control by the states and the people.  We ask our legislators and courts to adhere to the intent of this amendment.
5. Use of our right to vote.  Many recent elections have shown the value of each and every vote.  This is our country.  We act like owners and cast our ballots.
6. Care for our environment.  While being good stewards of our land and resources, we remember that our resources are available to us to be used responsibly by, and for the benefit of, our people.  We cannot put our country, and its citizens’ jobs, at a disadvantage merely to foster some warped sense of environmental primacy.
7. Respect for ethnic and cultural diversity.  Racism is not only immoral, it’s stupid.  We know that the best ideas are those that withstand scrutiny from many different viewpoints.
8. Gratitude for our military.  As we realize all too well, there are those in the world who would seek to destroy us.  We are fortunate to have the many brave men and women who keep us safe and free,  We thank them for their service to this country and honor their sacrifice.
9. Protection of our rights.  We recognize the importance of all of the Bill of Rights, but especially the First and Second Amendments.  We pledge to use these rights responsibly.
10. Continued high expectations.  We expect a lot from our country and our people.  And why shouldn’t we?  We continue to be a noble experiment in the history of the earth.  As Lincoln said at Gettysburg nearly 150 years ago:  “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

     The United States of America is the greatest country on earth.  I thank my father for serving this country in the Air Force and instilling in me a love for my country and the great State of Texas.  I thank my mother for showing me the promise that this nation offers to all of us, if we are willing to work for it.  I thank my wife for showing me that one person can make a positive difference in many lives.

Let me know what you think.  I’ll have the comment section open soon.  Be respectful, use language that can be repeated in polite company and get to the point.