It is very painful to watch. So many people see the nation’s problems and are very articulate in sizing them up. They can be good observers and provide brilliant analysis.
However, what is afflictive is that many of these people need to see the crisis better. They do not take things to their final consequences. Some don’t go far enough in their analysis. As a result, they get it wrong when looking for solutions.
Reasons for Getting It Wrong
Some get it wrong because they look for solutions that address symptoms, not causes. They will heroically attack abortion, for example, but not the impure behaviors that trigger it. They will oppose the green agenda because it hurts the economy but not the heretical Gnostic doctrines behind it. They will attack Critical Race Theory but not its Marxist class struggle philosophy.
Others get it wrong because they think they can tweak the system and return to the way things were before. Others rightly conclude that the situation is horrible. However, they want to get rid of everything and start over again without a blueprint or concrete plans for rebuilding.
However, the main reason people get it wrong is that they need to understand the crisis better. America is not just facing some disastrous events or a period of instability or turbulence. The world is facing a process called the Revolution with a capital R. Its ultimate goal is to destroy what is left of Christian civilization. When one understands the nature of this worldwide crisis, it necessarily makes the response more effective.
A Revolution With Five Characteristics
This historical process is described in detail in the book Revolution and Counter-Revolution by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira. The eminent Catholic thinker and man of action discusses the main characteristics of this Revolution and thus provides the means to get it right.
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In the first part of the book, the author defines the five fundamental characteristics of the Revolution, the supreme enemy of Christian civilization.
These five characteristics are:
- It Is Universal
This crisis is universal. All peoples and places are affected by it to a greater or lesser degree. This Revolution is everywhere. There is no Benedict Option to which one can go to escape from it.
- It Is One
This crisis is one. It is not limited to a single issue but makes links to all other issues. The Revolution is not a range of problems developing side by side, independently of each other. It has unity.
The author uses the brilliant analogy of a forest fire, saying that when a fire breaks out in a forest, it cannot be regarded as “a thousand autonomous and parallel fires of a thousand trees burning in close proximity.” It forms one fire burning one entity, which is the forest. Moreover, the great force of the heat of each little fire causes them all to intermingle and multiply in effect. The forest fire is a single fact, manifested in many ways. So also is the Revolution.
- It Is Total
In any given country, this crisis develops and invades all powers of the soul and fields of culture and human action. The Revolution is not limited to one field like politics or economics but invades them all, even the most unlikely things. This totality explains why there is now “racist” math or “sexist” grammar and pronouns. This Revolution invades all fields.
- It Is Dominant
The Revolution dominates the culture and society. Through this dominating force, it achieves consistent and vigorous results. Everything works efficiently toward the Revolution’s goal of destroying Christian civilization.
- It Is Processive
Finally, the present crisis is not a collection of spectacular yet isolated episodes but a process already six centuries old. It is a long chain of causes and effects producing successive convulsions since the fifteenth century. The Revolution can be traced and understood by looking at history.
Identifying the Enemy
These are the five characteristics of the Revolution. It is universal, one, dominant, total and processive. This is the enemy, and it has a single goal—to destroy Christian civilization. People get it wrong when they clash with this enemy without considering these points and goal.
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The left very often, but not always, understands these aspects of the Revolution and acts accordingly. Thus, the left can embrace a wide variety of causes as part of a universal process. The radical activists of the LGBTQ+ movement willingly add another letter to their alphabet to make other leftists part of their cause. They understand how it all comes together and targets the Church and Christian civilization.
Failing to See the Final Goals
Many times, however, conservatives can get it wrong because they do not consider these five characteristics of the Revolution.
For example, many people try to reduce the fight to a process that has as its goal the abuse of control, power and money. Those things are involved in the struggle, but the Revolution’s ultimate goal is destroying what remains of Christendom.
Others reduce the crisis to individuals like George Soros or Klaus Schwab. They are revolutionaries, but they are not the Revolution. They want to destroy the Church and Christian civilization because of the Revolution’s revolt against God. It is a fight spearheaded by the devil.
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Thus, the debate must be framed from this perspective to get it right. Indeed, the left frames the debate this way.
Seeing things this way clarifies what is at stake. It allows a proportional counter-revolutionary action. People can see how this offends God and Our Lady. This vision increases one’s love of God by forcing one to turn to Him, work with His grace, and find solutions. People will get it right because it addresses the big picture.
The article above was adapted from the talk titled “Where We Need to Go: Christendom and Organic Christian Society,” given by the author during the 2022 National Conference of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) on October 30.
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