Tea at Trianon: On Luxuries

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

Sunday, January 24, 2021

On Luxuries

From The Catholic Thing:

Trump has been overtly pro-life, and a champion of liberty, especially of religion. His economic policies favored prosperity. They were disproportionately beneficial to Blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities. He started no wars, and negotiated unprecedented peace treaties in the Middle East. He has been a flag-waving patriot, and whenever on the record, he has consistently vindicated the rule of law. On the other hand, his wife may have overspent on Christmas decorations.

A majority of Catholics continued to vote Democrat. There are reasons for this, including habit and history, but try as I do to stretch my imagination, none of them are good. Still, it is not my business how anyone votes, apparently, even when other people’s votes will cost me. At most, I can opine, publicly, for as long as Big Tech graciously allows it. (Their graciousness has been contracting, lately.)

If a majority – whether actual or “virtual” – decides that they’d be better off with, for instance, a shill for Red China; or worse, to cancel established American freedoms; who am I to object? I am, after all, “a foreign agent” myself, looking on from another country that has slid farther down the slippery slope to Hell. But when Catholics look upon Trump’s accomplishments, then sneer at him – after he has endured the nastiest ride in at least the last century of American politics – I find that it annoys me. Especially Catholics I formerly read with attention. But this is a luxury, I know. (Read more.)

Some commentary by Dennis Prager, HERE.

julygirl said...: The Roman Catholic Church was on the leading edge of the introduction of Communism in this Country which began in the '50's. They were a pawn of the infamous socialist/Communist, Saul Alinsky. As a Catholic I embrace the RC Church as a mediator to Jesus Christ, but find it difficult to trust the human, mostly male, hierarchy who have led the Church into one catastrophe after another.; January 25, 2021 at 2:14:00 PM EST