Tea at Trianon: The Day After

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The Day After

Well, we survived the last four years. Hopefully, we will survive the next four years. I guess I did not realize how important free birth control is to some people. We have become a nation of weaklings, ready to sacrifice our human dignity for momentary pleasures. Such a people cannot rule themselves, but will be ruled by others, and in the end we will be trampled by the nations, like ancient Rome before us. Share

15 comments:

lara77 said...: Well in the end the people spoke and I guess in talking to many people they would rather trust a man who has tried hard to get the nation back on track VS a man who said "I will tell you my plans after you vote for me." We remain as divided as ever with a blue nation and a red one. My prayers are for our President and that we somehow learn to compromise OR we will all pay the price.; November 7, 2012 at 9:28:00 AM EST
May said...: Hedonistic people don't deserve the vote. They have no right to inflict such misery on everyone else. Well, I hope they enjoy what they have unleashed.

I just KNEW this was going to happen!!!; November 7, 2012 at 11:15:00 AM EST
May said...: However, at least Obama's victory is inspiring pro-lifers to fight even harder. They might have fallen asleep under Romney.; November 7, 2012 at 12:42:00 PM EST
julygirl said...: Right on! Also we must not let control slip out of our hands. The only way I know how to do that is to keep your demands known to your Congressional Rep. and your Senators. Over the past two Centuries the Presidency has attempted to wrest more and more control from the People and our Legislators, and this President is no exception.; November 7, 2012 at 12:51:00 PM EST
Divine Theatre said...: I am embarrassed to be a woman. I hope that good people realize that not all women expect to be coddled. The future of this great country is more important to me than my immediate desires.
We are not doomed, however...merely delayed.; November 7, 2012 at 1:21:00 PM EST
AliceS said...: You're right about that! One good thing is that this so-called president cannot run again in 2016 for the office!
As Jefferson once so succintly put it, "a democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." So it is today.
We live in a republic, but right now, I don't know what we are living in; darkness for sure.
A little civil disobedience, anyone?; November 7, 2012 at 3:00:00 PM EST
Divine Theatre said...: lara,
What, exactly, are Barack's plans?; November 7, 2012 at 3:44:00 PM EST
May said...: Lara, my prayers are for the President too, that he become PRO-LIFE and RESPECT our constitutional rights!!!; November 7, 2012 at 11:44:00 PM EST
lara77 said...: I deeply respect the Catholic beliefs of many who write on this blog; of course you also realize that millions of women of all ages in this country are of different faiths and they alone reserve the right to deal with matters as abortion and contraception. Many of you find this abominable;yet the genie is out of the bottle. Whatever your opinions the fact is many women are not going back to the 1950's. As this nation loses it's white majority other groups from hispanics to gays are demanding their rights to sit at the table. One's religion may preach the immorality of abortion and homosexuality while the next person's religion says something entirely different. We remain a fundamentally Christian and Protestant nation yet Catholicism is the single largest faith. I cannot speak for Catholics( I am Protestant),yet respect and a glimmer of understanding do go a long way. Someone earlier asked me what is the President's plan for this nation? I believe the last four years is a preview of the next four. I would love to see real compromise from both sides. I find it immoral that the man recently running for President on the Republican ticket has millions locked away in offshore accounts; after all, it is legal. Really?? I thought a President ran on better ideals; that we are all Americans and we are in this together. Oh well, there is my two cents for what it is worth. Thank you for allowing participation on this website.; November 8, 2012 at 9:43:00 AM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Lara, it is not a matter of going back to the 1950's. And it is not just a matter of religion. It is also a matter of science and reason. In the 1950's, they did not have sonograms. Now we do. We can see the child in the womb. And yet Obama has made abortion a keystone of his platform, calling it a "women's health issue." He has voted not only against the Born Alive act but against the ban on partial birth abortion. He has voted that if a baby survives an abortion, the baby must be be strangled or otherwise murdered. He thinks it is okay for a baby to be stabbed in the back of the neck and have it's skull crushed. Not even Arlen Specter thought partial birth abortion was alright.; November 8, 2012 at 10:36:00 AM EST
thetimman said...: Elena, I thought your post was correct in very particular and very succinctly stated. I think one blessing of the Catholic blogosphere is to give us a sense that when we are to be martyred that we have a more tangible sense of our brothers throughout the world and our solidarity together.; November 8, 2012 at 11:53:00 AM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Thank you, Timman. That is a good point about the blogosphere.; November 8, 2012 at 12:12:00 PM EST
lara77 said...: Elena, speaking for myself, I cannot conceive of any woman having an abortion so late that the baby is born alive. It is beyond a nightmare; that is murder. How do you pass a law and police that law? Do you have the police in every doctor's office or clinic? Do we want women to go back to the back alley abortionists? How many women die as well as their unborn children? It will be an issue that will never end. You are right on technology and what science knows. That to me holds true for so many issues; I do not believe gay people choose to be gay. Sorry, we are hard wired at birth and that is how many scientists see the issue.I guess the conversations will continue as long at there are people who care about others and this world.; November 8, 2012 at 1:06:00 PM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Abortion has been illegal before and it can be enforced. But you have made a good point. There is more to it than just changing a law; people's hearts must be changed until they come to respect life at all stages of existence. The law is a teacher, however, and people cannot be enlightened when the most barbaric and cruel laws, such as those which permit partial birth abortion, remain on the books. Obama is leading us further away from a genuine respect for life but enabling those laws which permit infanticide.; November 8, 2012 at 1:45:00 PM EST
May said...: Legality does matter. Take, for instance, pro-life speaker and attorney Rebecca Kiessling. Her mother wanted to abort her and even went to two back-alley abortionists but the fact that it was illegal, combined with the unsafe conditions, led her to abandon the idea. Today she is grateful that she was prevented from killing her daughter.

As for religion, yes, abortion is a mortal sin for Catholics, but then so are murder and rape. Shall we allow murder and rape because they are "religious issues" and we cannot impose our views on the rest of society? No, because separation of church and state is not the same as separation of morality and state. There are some things we know through faith, that we should also be able to know by reason alone, and these should inform the law, even in non-confessional regimes. You don't go around slaughtering your children. We shouldn't need special revelations from heaven to be able to see this.

Furthermore, our country was explicitly founded on the right to LIFE, liberty and pursuit of happiness of each and every human being. We are supposed to believe that ALL MEN are CREATED equal in respect of these rights. (And that includes persons conceived in rape, incest, etc.) We have often failed to live up to these principles, but they are nonetheless the basis of our nation. Promoting legal abortion is sheer TREASON in this country, and really in any country, because what is government for, but the protection of the innocent?

It just makes my blood boil. Over 55 million American lives lost already, and where is the outrage???!!! And why should we make child-killing "safe" for the killers anyway? If you commit a crime, you face the consequences! Tough!; November 8, 2012 at 6:01:00 PM EST