The Wandering Heretic

In September of 2007, the internet columnist Kathie Shaidle changed the name of her blog from Relapsed Catholic to Five Feet of Fury. At that time, I posted an article basically expressing my fears the Shaidle had started on the slope downward toward compromise. I assumed eventually that formally cutting her ties to the Catholic faith would be reflected in her politics.

I publically repent of that article. Or to put it in an even more accurate way, I was an idiot.

If anything, Kathie is more pointed and even more explicitly Christian—after all, “traditional Catholic” was probably never a moniker she possessed in any case—than ever before. Kathie says that she never made the claim to being a “good Christian” but that would be accurate for any of us. None of us are good Christians by the common definition. Jesus himself had said some things to the Pharisees that would be considered “unchristian” by many in our society. Even Kathie hasn’t called anyone “whitewashed gravestones” or “dens of snakes” yet…. Yet.

Kathie’s latest posts show that compromise is not a word she understands. Her foundation in personal ethics is rock solid. Her writing style would probably make Ezekiel wince, but that is what makes her worth reading.

Case in point, this one single short post—“The Fall of Conservatism”: I guess we all have to read this damn thing—skewers the viewpoint of New Yorker columnist, George Packer, in amazingly pointed and powerful prose. At the same time, she gives a better analysis of why “conservatism” of the “compassionate” or “neo-con” variety is failing in the first place. I quote her piece to some length below, simply because it is a whole set of courses on Conservative Philosophy/Politics/Ethis 101 to advanced studies in less than 700 words.

Here’s the real problem with Establishment/Movement Conservatism:
It refuses to address the very issues that working class people bitch about among themselves and that the elites won’t even acknowledge:

• racial/cultural divides and differences, such as taxpayer sponsored serial unwed motherhood that’s become an institution among blacks, hispanics and lower class whites
• illegal and legal immigration, its effect on everyday life (”press one for English”) and the resentments these effects engender among immigrants vs citizens
• tort reform (because most politicians are lawyers, we’ll never see that happen)
• the sense of entitlement that seems to be the one thing all Americans have in common anymore, from the “right” to hog the sidewalks with their goddamn giant baby strollers to the “right” to blast their goddamn rap music out of their ugly cars while talking to their stupid friends on their stupid cellphone. Jezuz.

Instead we hear about crap like “global warming” (junk science), “health care” (buy insurance when you’re young and healthy or shut up later if you didn’t), and “social security” (no one was supposed to live as long as you people are, and you know it; you should have saved your own damn money.)

Bush’s attempts to reform social security demonstrated the sad truth that most people are stupid, selfish, lazy leeches who just want the “free stuff” they “earned”.

Then Kathie notes how the “Reagan Revolution” started out correctly, but still needed to expand its target in terms of social theory:

Reagan campaigned on “protecting” you from Big Government. But isn’t it just as vital, today more than ever, for someone to “protect” us from our parasitical fellow citizens: those who demand an unearned share of our income, to use on gay weddings and “sensitivity training” and unisex bathrooms and free abortions and bus trips to the casino and — in the case of welfare bums — satellite tv?

People who will sue us into bankruptcy for the crime of looking at them funny, or losing their “favorite pair of pants”, or failing their stupid kid in Third Grade.

And I even hinted at a belief that Shaidle was going to soften her approach? What could I have been thinking? If you don’t like Shaidle and her non-PC writing, then I suggest you have not once read the Old Testament prophets. I also seriously doubt if you have read much of the Gospels or Paul for that matter either. Believe me, Shaidle comes a lot closer to their style than your preacher in the pulpit on Sunday.

Next, Shaidle condenses the entire ethos of the Conservative movement—or at least what the ethos of the Conservative movement should be:

Here’s what I want:

• to make and keep as much of my money as possible and spend it on whatever I want, including my own health care and nobody else’s
• the right to free speech, private property and self-defence (none of which are, for all intents and purposes, rights that Canadians freely enjoy)
• for everyone else to grow up or shut up

Add to this some pithy sayings that should both shame and encourage us in our Christian walk. “You can always get another job, but you only have one conscience.” That statement reflects her own experience in terms of being unemployed, most likely due to her non-PC language in her columns not to mention in her personal life. At the same time, Shaidle—while unemployed—is not caving in to the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s attempts to silence her, but is hiring a lawyer to fight for her defense (not to mention the rights of Canadian bloggers of all stripes and colors to write freely as well).

I say, Kathie Shaidle is the prophetess Deborah for our generation(Jdg 4:4-9). Even more accurately, she is a Jael, with her tent peg held ready above the heads of those who would undo the legacy of the West (Jdg 4:21). If you aren’t reading her website daily, why bother having an internet connection? If you haven’t downloaded and read her PDF book, Acoustic Ladyland, then why are you reading her daily?

Do both. Do them now.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 9:41 am and is filed under Culture, Journal, Reviews, Wrong Turns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Or, if you wish, you can find all the posts Caine