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On April 11, 1963, John XXIII issued the encyclical Pacem in Terris, a powerful call for a world in which there were neither victims nor executioners that cemented the pontiffs reputation as Good Pope John. With the world having teetered on the brink of nuclear war during the October 1962 Cuban missile crisis, a papal appeal for peace on earth was well received everywhere, including the Soviet Unionalthough the view in some Vatican quarters that the masters of the Kremlin took the encyclicals message to heart was rather naive.

What, then, did Pacem in Terris teach? And how does its analysis of world affairs look, six decades later?

John XXIII taught that the world had entered a new historical moment, characterized by the widespread conviction that all men are equal by reason of their natural dignity. That conviction implied that the classic Catholic social doctrine principle of the common good had a global, not only national, dimensionwhich in turn meant that peace on earth had to be pursued through the establishment of a worldwide public authority. That global authority ought to make the protection and promotion of human rightswhich Pope John defined expansivelyits fundamental objective.

As for communist states, they, too, ought to be enfolded within the global political community, for communist movements, whatever their false philosophical teachings, might nonetheless contain elements that are positive and deserving of approval. Finally, Pacem in Terris taught that the arms race was a snare and a delusion; universal disarmament was a moral imperative demanded by right reason, for, in an age such as ours, which prides itself on its atomic energy, it is contrary to reason to hold that war is now a suitable way to restore rights which have been violated.

For all that John XXIIIs grand vision inspired hope that the world could find its way beyond the knifes-edge stalemate of the Cold War, the lacunae in the encyclical that friendly critics pointed out after it was issuedits lack of attention to the realities of power in world politics, its misreading of the intrinsic linkage between Marxist ideas and totalitarian politics, its seeming indifference to the enduring effects of original sin in the political spherewere, in the retrospect of sixty years, deficiencies indeed.

The Cold War ended, not because trust (another key theme in the encyclical) had been established between imperfect democracies and pluperfect tyrannies; it ended thanks to what William Inboden (in The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, The Cold War, and the World on the Brink) describes as the strategy of negotiated surrender devised by the United States and supported by its Western allies. And while an arms race did, in the 1980s, intensify the dangers of nuclear war at several moments, it also broke the capacity (and will) of the Soviet Union to continue the competition.

As for the encyclicals proposal for the development of a universal public authority capable of addressing issues of global import, the incapacities and corruptions displayed by the United Nations since Pacem in Terris was issued, not least in the defense of basic human rights, have raised serious questions about both the feasibility (even desirability) of any such enterprise.

John XXIIIs welcome stress on human rights as an important issue in international public life was validated by the revolution of consciencethe human rights revolutionthat his third successor, John Paul II, ignited in East Central Europe in 1979: a revolution that was another key factor in the nonviolent collapse of European communism. But neither the Church nor world politics has been well-served by the tendency in Pacem in Terris to label as a human right virtually every political, social, and economic desirable: a tendency that has subsequently become an irresistible temptation for the Holy See in its address to world politics.

In his commentary on the encyclical, the great Jesuit theologian John Courtney Murray argued that John XXIIIs notion of the ideal political communitywhat Murray described as the free man under a limited governmentwas drawn from Thomas Aquinas. Yet if Pacem in Terris drew part of its inspiration from the Angelic Doctor, where in the encyclical did one find echoes of Augustine, that other great master of classic Catholic political theory? Was the pope, some asked, sufficiently aware of the expansiveness of human political folly, and the dangers of tyranny embedded in utopian visions of human perfectibility, as Augustine surely was?

An inspiring and noble vision, an inadequate analysis of the obstacles to that visions realization: that seems a reasonable judgment on Pacem in Terris at its sixtieth anniversary.

George Weigels column The Catholic Difference is syndicated by theDenver Catholic,the official publication of the Archdiocese of Denver.

George Weigelis Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington, D.C.s Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.

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Photos by Levan Ramishvililicensedvia Creative Commons. Image cropped.

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Pacem in Terris After 60 Years | George Weigel - First Things

Harlan Crow, a Republican megadonor who has secretly taken U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on luxury vacations, has given $53,000 to the Republican Party of Wisconsin and Republican members of the states congressional delegation over the last 20 years.

ProPublica reported last week that Crow had flown Thomas on his private jet to expensive vacations sailing on Crows super-yacht across Indonesia and allowed Thomas to stay at his secluded luxury resort in upstate New York. Thomas had not reported the gifts on ethics filings.

Crow has given millions of dollars to conservative causes, groups and political figures. ProPublica reported that hed given $10 million in publicly disclosed contributions, yet that does not include donations to dark money groups that do not need to be reported.

The Texan also has a collection of Nazi paraphernalia, including two paintings by Adolf Hitler, a signed copy of Mein Kampf and in his garden are statues depicting 20th century dictators, including Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. Crow has said he collects these items because he hates communism and fascism.

Campaign finance reports from the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) show that Crow has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Wisconsin Republicans in recent years.

The Republican Party of Wisconsins financial relationship with Crow began in 2004 when he gave $5,000. Since then he gave contributions of $10,000 to the party in 2016 and 2020.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has received $11,200 in donations from Crow since 2015, Green Bay-area Rep. Mike Gallagher has received $11,100 since 2018 and La Crosse-area Rep. Derrick Van Orden has received $5,700 since 2020.

Spokespeople for the state party, Gallagher, Johnson and Van Orden did not respond to requests for comment.

More here:
GOP megadonor who took Justice Thomas on luxury trips has given ... - Wisconsin Examiner

A screenshot shared in a tweet by Andrew Bridgen (a former Conservative MP who currently sits as an independent after having had the whip withdrawn earlier this year) purports to show a list of Communist Rules For Revolution. Mr Bridgen shared it with the words: These rules were written in 1919. Over 100 years later people have intrinsically not changed that much. We should all read and study this, it must be resisted at all cost.

This list dates back several decades, and has been widely labelled a hoax.

The screenshot, which has also been shared a number of times on Facebook, says:

In May, 1919 at Dusseldorf, Germany, Allied forces captured a very significant document: Communist Rules For Revolution. As you read these Rules now 50 years later keep in mind what you are reading and hearing every day via news media.

A. Corrupt the young: get them away from religion. Get them interested in sex. Make them superficial; destroy their ruggedness.

B. Get control of all means of publicity, thereby:01. Get peoples minds off their government by focusing their attention on athletics, sexy books, and plays and other trivialities.02. Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matters of no importance.03. Destroy the peoples faith in their natural leaders by holding the latter up for contempt, ridicule, obloquy.04. Always preach true democracy, but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible.05. By encouraging governmental extravagance, destroy the credit, produce fear of inflation with rising prices and general discontent.06. Promote unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders and foster a lenient and soft attitude on the part of the government toward disorders.07. By specious argument cause the breakdown of the old moral virtues, honesty and sobriety.

C. Cause the registration of all fire arms on some pretext with a view to confiscating them and leaving the population helpless. [sic]

This document has been shared in various forms, primarily in the United States, over more than half a century. But theres little evidence to suggest that it is a genuine Communist document, and its origins have been repeatedly debunked by various sources over the years.

An article published in the New York Times in 1970 described the list as one of the more durable frauds popular among far right and antiCommunist organisations, and found that, despite it having been re-printed in several regional newspapers over the years, The National Archives, the Library of Congress and the libraries of the nation's universities have no copy or trace of the [original] document.

According to the article, the FBI and CIA had both also been unable to authenticate the document, while then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover reportedly said of it: We can logically speculate that the document is spurious.

An article published in the Washington Post, also in 1970, reported that the list had been used as evidence that a Communist plot was responsible for civil disorders, sexual permissiveness, pornography or even gun control legislation, and the rules also featured in a book titled The Hoaxers: Plain Liars, Fancy Liars, and Damned Liars, published in the same year, which says there is no question that the list is a fraudulent concoction.

These articles were challenged in 1973 by Ashley Halsey Jr., then-editor of the National Rifle Association magazine American Rifleman, who claimed in an article that the document was obtained and translated by a US Army captain, who passed it to New World Newsthe magazine of the Moral Re-armament religious movementwhere it was published in 1946.

While we cant verify the claims made in this article, it stands at odds with the findings of several other reputable sources mentioned in this fact check.

More recently, fact checkers Snopes wrote that it appears far more likely this list was compiled by Americans in 1946 than by Russians in 1919, citing the fact the the earliest known versions of the document appeared around the same time as Winston Churchills 1946 Iron Curtain speech, in which he called on Western nations like the US and the UK to unite to prevent the spread of Communism.

If an MP makes a false or misleading claim on social media, they should correct this quickly in a clear and transparent manner, including on the same platform where the claim was made. Weve contacted Mr Bridgen about his tweet and will update this article if he responds.

Image courtesy of Chris McAndrew

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List of Communist Rules for Revolution has been widely debunked - Full Fact

The history department hosted a student research presentation, Ideology, Identity, and Memory in American History: A Panel Discussion April 12 in Bellarmine Hall.

Organized by Melissa Chakars, Ph.D., chair and professor of the department of history, the event featured the work of graduating history students who presented their ongoing theses for feedback from history department faculty andaudience members.

The three presenters, Max Moyer 23, Connor Mignano 23 and Maura Burrell 23, chose their topics based on academic experience and interest, which ultimately decided the theme and title of the panel.

Moyers thesis, From Enslaved to American: Analyzing Changes in Black Identity in South Carolina during Reconstruction, focuses on the identity of African Americans during the Reconstruction period in South Carolina.

The main thing I found during my research, my initial research, was that people look back upon this period with a sort of racial bias, with a bad taste in their mouths, because the gains that were made, whether it be through legislation, through social movements, whatever it is, were rolled back 10 years later, Moyer said.

Christopher Close, Ph.D., associate professor of history, said the panel was an opportunity to celebrate the students research and present it in the format of what it would be like at aprofessional conference.

The panel is really just a chance for the students to present the research theyve been doing all year, to talk about the findings, Close said.

Mignanos thesis, Myth and Memory: The Lost Cause in Philadelphia, focuses on the Lost Cause, the idea that the Confederate States of America went into the Civil War for other reasonsbesides slavery.

The primary objective of my thesis is to present a side of American history that is often left rarely explored, Mignano said. Histories of the Lost Cause focus almost exclusively on the South, and while I think that this is a fair point of analysis, I dont think it captures the full story.

Burrells thesis, US Catholic Institutions between Anti-Communism and Central American Solidarity, focuses on how the Cold War affected Catholic universities throughout the decades, and St. Joes in particular.

I think its important as members of the St. Josephs community [to know] a little bit about the history of St. Joes and how it was affected by the Cold War in general or just the world in general, Burrell said. I think we dont tend to think about those things actively when we attend school.

Burrell said the panel served as a great way for students working on their theses to gain insight and advice on how to move forward with their research.

I think its just a good opportunity to be like, Hey, this is what Im doing, I think its really cool, and this is where Im struggling and get pointers on how to make it better, Burrell said.

Read more from the original source:
History students present theses research at panel discussion - The Hawk

Lawmakers this week tabled a pair of bills that would make it harder for third-party and independent candidates to land on the ballot ahead of Montanas 2024 U.S. Senate race.

The House State Administration Committee voted to table Senate Bill 566 on a nearly unanimous voice vote Wednesday. Two days earlier, the same committee though with less agreement tabled Senate Bill 565.

Critics saw the bills, both sponsored by Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, as attempts to consolidate support behind Republicans as they marshal resources to challenge U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, Montanas only remaining statewide elected Democrat and a key piece in the fight for partisan control of the Senate.

I have had a lot of my folks from back home reach out to me and ask me to vote no on this, Rep. Gregory Frazer, R-Deer Lodge, said of SB 566 in committee Wednesday before making a motion to table the bill. A lot more than I thought. And with all due respect to the sponsor, because I know that hes worked very hard, but as the conduit of my constituents, Im their voice. Im going to oppose this bill.

Tester announced his reelection bid in February, ending speculation that he might abdicate the seat. A Republican has yet to formally declare their intent to run, but the party has several potential candidates in the state. Moreover, Montanas other U.S. senator, Steve Daines, chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP organization that helps elect Republicans to the U.S. Senate.

Senate Bill 566 was particularly controversial, generating national headlines and outcry from the Montana Libertarian Party, the only third party in the state to consistently make the ballot. The bill would change how U.S. Senate primaries are run in the state, replacing partisan primaries with a top-two contest in which the two candidates with the most votes would advance to the general election, regardless of party. But the bill would sunset in 2025, meaning that it would only apply to the closely watched race for Testers Senate seat.

Such a shift would unlikely hurt Testers chances of advancing from the primary. But it would almost certainly prevent a Libertarian or other third-party candidate from making it to the general election. In theory, that would then allow a Republican challenger to Tester to consolidate support, as Libertarians are generally seen as more closely aligned with the GOP than Democrats. Tester has won several close races with a Libertarian on the ballot.

While the assumption that eliminating a Libertarian candidate from the general election would necessarily help Republicans has some mathematical and social-scientific flaws, critics pounced on the bill as an attempt by the national GOP to rejigger Montanas elections with a single outcome in mind.

Republicans in the Montana Senate Monday revived and endorsed previously stalled legislation that would provide for a top-two primary in the 2024 race for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Jon Tester.

The bill primarily affects third parties that already have ballot access, Sid Daoud, a Kalispell city council member who chairs the Montana Libertarian Party, said in opposition to the bill during a Senate hearing earlier this month. In an effort to knock Sen. Tester out of the next Senate race, Sen. Hertz is attempting to remove the potential Montana Libertarian Party candidate from taking a percentage in what is expected to be an extremely tight race.

Hertz repeatedly defended his bill as an experiment in democracy that would ensure that the eventual winner of the Senate race would have majority rather than plurality support from Montana voters.

It always bothers me that sometimes our statewide elected officials dont end up with the majority vote, he said earlier this month.

An earlier version of the bill applied the top-two primary system to other statewide races. But on March 26, lobbyist and former Montana GOP Executive Director Chuck Denowh who has worked for previous campaigns of both Daines and U.S. House Rep. Matt Rosendale, a likely challenger to Tester wrote Hertz and legislative drafters to request that the bill be modified to apply only to the U.S. Senate race and sunset in 2025. Hertz approved of the changes.

And when the New York Times got ahold of the story, it reported a text exchange between Republican lawmakers and Senate Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, in which Fitzpatrick said the bill came from Daines and Jason Thielman, Daines former chief of staff who now serves as executive director of the NRSC. Fitzpatrick later acknowledged to the Times that he believed the bill came from national Republicans.

Senate Bill 565 attracted less attention but had a similar purpose, proposing to increase the number of petition signatures required for third-parties to hold primaries.

In my short political career of about 15 years here, what Ive noticed is both major parties are weaponizing our third-party candidates, Hertz said on the Senate floor this month in support of his bill, pointing to instances in which Democrats propped up Libertarians and Republicans backed Green Party candidates.

Critics of the bill seized on its partisan implications and the fact that as with Senate Bill 566 it was gaining steam relatively late in the session.

These are huge changes to our elections, and if were gonna make such a big change, we shouldnt make it at the last minute, Bozeman Rep. Kelly Kortum, the ranking Democrat on the House State Administration Committee, said this week.

Both bills could conceivably be revived in committee. The House State Administration Committees set to meet again on Friday.

House Bill 234 has driven intense debate over in-school materials that some parents view as inappropriate or sexually explicit. But an amendment tacked on in the Senate could clear up confusion and alleviate the concerns of some critics.

The Montana Legislature has advanced a Republican proposal to determine how the state will allocate as much as $700 million in rural broadband funding in the coming years, leaving a Democrat-sponsored proposal that passed the House earlier this year in the lurch.

Republicans largely endorsed Gianfortes revisions, but none of the governors changes won approval from the groups that the bill would affect: transgender, nonbinary and two spirit Montanans and their families and much of the states medical community.

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Bills targeting third parties ahead of Montana's 2024 U.S. Senate ... - Montana Free Press