NATIONALISM AND THE NEW PHARISEES, PART III

      Washington State, whose current Governor Bob Ferguson is a notoriously vicious anti-Christian fanatic, is pushing a Bill through the State Legislature which would jail Catholic priests for breaking the privileged Seal-of-Confession. The move is part of the general breakdown of our Legal Establishment as we move further into an outright Police State. The Courts have recognized privileged communications for decades, (e.g. Priest/Penitent, Doctor/Patient, Attorney/Client and spousal immunity) from testimony) although the Uniparty's thirst for power and American society's general indifference to Privacy Rights could well break down this precedent too.

     Tom Homan, a former Obama immigration official who switched sides after 2016, now is the so-called 'Border Czar' in the Department of Homeland Security. DHS is run by Christian Nationalist Kristi Noem, who has no issue with Homan's goons kicking down doors of churches to drag off those subhumans in chains and no issue with cutting off funding to Catholic relief agencies who don't toe the Party Line on immigration. Of course, when Democrats do these things, it's bad: but when Republicans do it, American Catholics can't seem to fawn over them effusively enough. 

      Christian Nationalism by its definition is a religion of partisan politics and not of Faith. The Catholic Church learned from experience the folly of mixing faith and government during the Middle Ages; it led to two schisms (three if we count the French Revolution), some of the most corrupt Popes, and produced a society that paralyzed Western Civilization for nearly 1500 years. Fake Catholics like former Hollywood/Silicon Valley corporate lawyer JD Vance have been dispatched by the White House to try and win over the skeptics in the Church with pious platitudes. Vance is an admirer of the Mediaeval Social Order, just as many Christian Nationalists in the Administration admire the theocratic monarchies of the Ancient Middle East. Both movements, of course, fit snugly with the Great Reset ideology of a utopian society run by a Technocratic Elite and faith is considered a useful tool to keep the masses under subjugation.

     The dangers of utopianism and millenarianism were highlighted last week when the White House announced an absurd scheme to form an Anschluss of sorts with the Zionist Regime in Israel. The plan revolves around depopulating the Gaza Strip and 'relocating' the estimated 1.8 million of the survivors of the Zionist onslaught to Concentration Camps elsewhere. The majority of these people---who really were displaced by immigrant invaders---are suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, various diseases brought on by lack of basic services, and severe physical and psychological wounds brought on by Zionist barbarism; hence many are not likely even to survive the transit, should it happen.

    Now, we don't yet know whether or not the Neocons can or will actually do this, but it illustrates the brutality and disregard for human life underlying the Christian Nationalist movement. Both them and their Zionist confederates believe themselves a Chosen People with a Divine Mandate to create a Millenarian Utopia. Their misinterpretations of Biblical prophecy have deluded them into believing that the modern State of Israel somehow factors into what they call God's Plan, which they presume to know. 

   Mike Huckabee was appointed US Ambassador to Israel, pointedly bringing Real-Estate mogul Steve Witkoff in tow. Huckabee is connected to televangelist James Robison. During his Presidential Run, he was funded by the Hollywood producer of the Left Behind series, Tim LaHaye. “We never can accept the notion that Israel will be divided, that Jerusalem will be carved in half. Let us be clear: The boundaries of Israel are not given by the United Nations but by almighty God,” Huckabee said in 2015. His positions haven't changed, upon being appointed Ambassador he gloated: "The title deed was given by God to Abraham and to his heirs. So you want to talk occupation? I never use the term West Bank. I find it offensive. We’re talking about Judea and Samaria.”

    Pentagon Chief and former Fox News host, Pete Hegseth is a Christian Nationalist in addition to being a White Supremacist. He likewise holds Millennarian fantasies; speaking before the Arutz Sheva Conference in 2018, Hegseth remarked of his trip to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem that:  “As you stand there, you can’t help but behold the miracle before you. And it got me thinking about another miracle that I hope all of you don’t see too far away. Because 1917 was a miracle. 1948 was a miracle. 1967 was a miracle. 2017, the declaration of Jerusalem as the capital, was a miracle. And there’s no reason why the miracle of the re-establishment of the temple on the Temple Mount is not possible.”

    There are no shortages of crackpots like these in positions to do actual damage. House Speaker Mike Johnson holds to the same beliefs, as does Trump's 'spiritual adviser, televangelist Paula White, among many others. The Catholic Catechism, however, stands opposed to these millenialist and utopian schemes.  

# 675 "Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. [Lk. 18:; Mt. 24:12] The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth [Lk. 21:12; Jn. 15:19-20] will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh." [2 Thess. 2:4-12; 1 Thess. 5:2-3; 2 Jn. 7; 1 Jn. 2:18, 22]

# 676 "The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, [DS 3839] especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism. [Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, condemning the "false mysticism" of this "counterfeit of the redemption of the lowly"; cf. GS 20-21.]

    Thus we see that these movements, despite their claims, are in no way consistent with the teachings of actual Christianity. 

    Those who have studied the histories of religious movements are universally agreed that there are tendencies towards dangerous cults arising within them throughout history. Cultures much like Postmodern America: legalistic societies where normal sexual love, emotional expression, and personal freedom are heavily restricted are breeding grounds for these evil doctrines. It becomes even more dangerous when fueled by hatred and paranoia, because the adherents of such doctrines psychological project all of their fears upon their perceived enemies. This explains the sheer callousness and demonic fury that looks with glee upon scenes of the utmost cruelty and horror with complacency. The New Right's motto, Facts Don't Care about your Feelings, sums up their entire social philosophy succinctly.

     Just as the New Right is the Reactionary concomitant to the Whacko Left; the Christian Nationalists and their associated cults are the reactionary counter-extreme to Rainbow Churchianity. This is why we should trust in the established teachings of the centuries when we have questions of faith; and not be led astray---and ultimately to disaster---by the posturing of charlatans and neurotics. 

 

THE SUPER BOWL AND TRASH CULTURE

       Today marks the annual American version of the Bacchanalia; arguably the most important of our National Holidays: Super Bowl Sunday. Unlike the way that most holidays are observed in the US, Super Bowl Sunday doesn't even pretend to be some solemn display of patriotism or religious belief: it is an open expression of everything that Postmodern America truly venerates: celebrity worship; consumerism; the winner-take-all. success-at-any-price philosophy of life; manufactured drama and controversy---in short, it's a day when all Americans can take pride in Trash Culture. 

     Trash Culture has become our defining national characteristic: it permeates most of our day-to-day lives. Our whole national ethos is one big marketing campaign wherein both our national and individual characters are stamped with various brands carefully sold and packaged by Madison Avenue shylocks and Hollywood Media moguls along with the ominous, unspoken threat that not going with the flow can have serious consequences. 

     Ostensibly, the Super Bowl is the NFL Championship game; but in reality things like sportsmanship, teamwork, and strategy play very little part in the whole extravaganza. Like statesmanship in politics; justice in our court system; truth in our schools; information in our media---these are all quaint terms that are spoken occasionally to pretend that anything that goes on in our institutions have the slightest moral justification for their existence. 

   In fact, ethics and moral justification are also largely sham terms today. These are things that nobody ever thinks about; it's just accepted that ethical principles are whatever anybody in authority says they are and whatever 'public opinion' agrees that they are. Invariably, defining one's ethics by such standards leads to the self-righteous, black-and-white thinking that become so characteristic of Postmodern America. In such a society, the personal becomes political and non-conformity effectually becomes criminal. We saw during the Scamdemic how this was translated into actual policy; but we've been seeing it for a long time already in Cancel Culture, speech codes, elastic definitions of sexual impropriety, etc. 

   Such cultures invariably micromanage us down to the personal level and those who don't conform are treated as enemies. What's worse, those who shape these acceptable social norms are forever swinging from one extreme to the other; and unfortunately there's never any shortage of certain persons who crave power and would love nothing more than exercise it. Hatred and Revenge often factor into such personalities, and such people are literally capable of anything. They see enemies all around them, and no level of destruction is enough for them to satisfy the demons within themselves. 

    We can see how sham-extravaganzas like the Super Bowl are mere symbolic expressions of our degenerated culture; but it has its parallels throughout our society in general; like the old proverb Art Imitates Life. The superficiality of the whole spectacle, its sheer pointlessness and stupidity; its glorification of success and force: all of these things reflect what we are as a society. It's reflected in the governments we elect, the corporations we serve, the religions that we follow, the schools we attend, the laws we make, and how our lives in general are conducted within the communities in which we live. 

    As a society, we are in desperate need of some collective soul-searching. We need to start asking ourselves some pointed questions about the direction that our culture is going and how we can change it to something better. It starts when we start listening to the still small voice of our own conscience and stop listening to the Noise Machine surrounding us. 

      

NATIONALISM AND THE NEW PHARISEES, PART II

      So, this morning's headlines were ablaze with the news that the Neocons have set up another new Government Task-Force, which is overseen by the Justice Department, to combat 'anti-Christian bigotry.' As usual, this announcement was met with a chorus of cheers from the Uniparty's Amen Corner in the Church which, also just as typically, didn't bother looking into the details. 

    This task force is going to be headed by the Rev. Paula White, thrice-married leader of a Florida Megachurch and televangelist preaching the Prosperity Gospel. 

    This Megachurch was investigated by a Senate Committee in 2007 as one of the many cultish entities hovering around Bush Jr.'s Administration. Rev. Paula is said to be "Trump's Spiritual Advisor" with a relationship going back to 2002, a fact which speaks volumes about the moral compass of the New Right. Paula's Megachurch is the 7th largest of these institutions in the US, with over 20,000 active members. 

     Attorney-General Pam Bondi, former lobbyist for Jeff Bezos and Ron DeSantis' ex-AG, will have 'oversight' of the Task Force. DeSantis, we might recall, famously scrapped Florida's woke educational ideology and replaced it with his own version of Political Correctness in PragerU. This is about what we can expect from this Task Force: 'combatting anti-Christian bigotry' is going to be defined roughly like the Neocons define 'combatting anti-Semitism;' i.e., those who disagree with official policy will become 'anti-Christian' just like any Jews who oppose Zionism aren't considered real Jews. 

    The Prosperity Gospel is part of the same constellation of neo-Christian cults making up the 'spiritual' wing of the New Right. It's essentially a materialist doctrine where God is something like the Grand CEO of the Universe dispensing promotions and Golden Parachutes to all of those who obey the Megachurch leaders. Like it's confederates in heresy---the Christian Nationalists, the Christian Zionists, the Dominionists, the alt-Christian online cults, etc.--- the Prosperity Gospel basically is a Social Darwinist ideology masquerading as a spiritual movement. It's not surprising that the Neocons would find a natural affinity with such characters. 

    What this means in terms for mainstream Christians ought to be obvious: those Christians who disagree with the Uniparty's policies are going to become 'anti-Christian bigots.  In 2017, the Rev. Paula said as much: "It is God who raises up a king. It is God that sets one down. When you fight against the plan of God, you are fighting against the hand of God." 

   Aside from the fact that there is mutual contradiction between electing Presidents and the Divine Right of Kings, the truly concerning part of all of this is that many high-ranking US Officials think just like this. House Speaker Mike Johnson is one; but so is the head of the OMB, the Pentagon, and the Department of Homeland Security, among others. 

   In other words, Christians who don't believe that, say, a person's bank account is the measure of his moral worth: that makes you an anti-Christian bigot. A Christian who doesn't think that mass-deportations are Christian: welcome to the anti-Christian Bigot Club. A Christian who doesn't think that Jesus would approve of ethnic cleansing and genocide: you might get a visit from the boys in black suits soon. Of course, favoring anything like social spending, public education, or organized labor automatically sends you the dog-house (or maybe a FEMA camp or otherwise frozen out of society). When that happens, of course, we'll hear nothing but a symphony of "This isn't what we voted for! Nobody knew this could happen!"

   On the contrary: this is exactly what 'Christian Conservatives' voted for. They wanted anybody but the Democrats, and now they've got it. We've seen Neocon patronage of these whacko cults in both Bush Administrations; we saw Megachurches lining up to support Bush 3.0: the appointments and candidates had histories of supporting these abominable doctrines going back years, and nobody cared enough to ask where all of this was going to lead. 

    Where it will lead is straight into the Great Reset, only with a Cross instead of a Rainbow for its ideological emblem. Christians simply can't afford to look the other way anymore; and a few religious leaders need to start speaking out before they find themselves unable to speak any more. 

    

NATIONALISM AND THE NEW PHARISEES

      During the 19th Century, Protestant Churches throughout the English-speaking world saw an outburst of a new movement called Millenarianism. Based on misreadings of some of the apocalyptic writings in the Bible, some ministers believed that they could predict the date on which Christ would return and establish his Kingdom on Earth. Believers gave away possessions and gathered awaiting the Second Advent; but as that did not happen, the majority returned home sadder but wiser men. 

     Then, as now, though, facts didn't deter a minority of them and new movements and interpretations grew. The belief of these people changed to the notion of what is called in Theology, Dominionism, or the notion that Christ's Advent is determined by man's actions on Earth. The movement was relegated to the fringes of society throughout most of the 20th Century, but with the coming of mass-media, it saw a resurgence beginning around the 1970s. Media spectacles like the Left Behind series generated considerable revenue and spread the cult's doctrines to mainstream audiences. Movements like Christian Nationalism and Christian Zionism are based in Dominionism as well. 

    With the breakdown in the family and the decline in both secular and religious education, such doctrines easily became substituted in many minds for actual teachings of the Christian Faith. Church leaders point out that it is certainly beneath the Dignity of God to communicate His ultimate purposes through riddles and enigmas that only an enlightened few are able to decipher. The doctrines of modern Megachurches are really closer to Gnosticism than they are to anything resembling Christianity. The Apocalyptic writings in the Bible were written in symbolic terms to people living during times of persecution for their Faith, and meant to convey the teaching that God would be faithful to His worshippers until the end. That's the message that these passages have for us today; and it is an absurdity to imagine that these are mathematical and dialectical puzzles pertaining to 21st Century America and that God is somehow anxiously waiting for our generation to figure them all out and bring them to fruition through political and foreign policy. 

    The knaves leading these postmodern movements (for their own sinister purposes) counter that the mainstream churches are in a state of apostasy, and that people should only listen to them because they have the spirit rather than a formal education. That this is Gnostic ought to be obvious; but tying it as they do to politics and economics makes it even more apparent. From an historical standpoint, this doctrine in its entirety is simply a proletarian version of the Divine Right of Kings, and we can hear it echoed everywhere in the effusive and uncritical hymns sung the glory of the Neocons now in control of the US Federal Government. We saw this before to a lesser degree too during the last Bush Administration.

    It is noteworthy that the bulk of criticism aimed at Established Churches rarely centers on actual doctrine, but instead is overwhelmingly focused on political policies like climate change, immigration, social spending, etc. In other words, they've largely absorbed the Leftist ideology that "the personal is political" although in their case, spirituality factors into the same axiom. Thus, opposing the Genocide in Palestine or the treatment of immigrants can qualify one not only as a political dissent, but a tool of Satan as well. 

     It's indisputable that the secular National Government has a duty to safeguard the shared values of traditional religions within its jurisdiction. The Russian Government under President Putin set up a model of just how such an organization could operate under the complexities of a modern Democracy---a model which has been copied by other nations. That, however, is not what the Dominionists have in mind. Their's is an exclusionary cult---and a nihilistic and anti-democratic one at that. We would have supposed that after these cultists' influences on the 2nd Bush Administration had been exposed that we would recognize the dangers of allowing such people near the levers of power again, but apparently not.

    Instead, the Dominionists have grown in power and influence to the point where they are taking over entire State Governments and imposing their perverted fantasies upon the helpless populations. Worse still, the Federal Government is now infested with these dangerous cults and some even hold high positions where they can do real damage. 

    Now more than ever, Christians must hold fast to their fundamental beliefs, because the assault upon us coming from pious frauds is an even greater threat than the ones coming from outright secular atheistic materialists. Rainbow Churchianity is a threat to the faith, it is true; but Pharisaism, is far more insidious, especially when adopted as Public Policy for obviously cynical reasons. 

IMAGINE IF YOU WILL...

        Imagine for a moment that the Democrats had 'won' the 2024 Elections and Kamala immediately had proceeded to elevate a henchman of George Soros and homo-rights activist to the Treasury Department; who then proceeded to open the Department to a WEF Young Global Leader and seized control of agencies investigating his Wall Street cronies. Imagine if Kamala had blocked background checks to potential employees of government agencies, fired all of the departmental inspectors-general, and began systematic purges of Civil Service to appoint Party loyalists. 

      Imagine if Kamala's Pentagon boss banned media outlets from press conferences and unilaterally suspended the 1878 Posse Comitatus law (which was put into effect by an actual Conservative Republican) and gave the military internal police duties. 

      Imagine if Kamala's Intel Director appointee was a WEF Young Global Leader and her FBI appointee was a former Obama Intel Operative, both of whom assured the Senate that they would support no clemency for Edward Snowden and fully backed Government Domestic Espionage programs. 

     Imagine if Kamala had created new positions to direct Federal spending without Congressional approval, deregulate Cryptocurrencies without regulatory oversight, and fund an initiative to create databases on all Americans. 

    Imagine if Kamala had turned over the Interior and Agriculture Departments to stooges of Bill Gates, again with no regulatory oversight involved. 

    Imagine if Kamala had declared a State of National Emergency her first day in and began issuing Executive Orders for mass-raids, building concentration camps, sealing borders, and contact-tracing and mass-registrations. 

    If all of these things had happened, do we suppose that there would be nothing but slobbering praise coming from the so-called 'Alternative Media?' Or would we would we be hearing 24/7 outrage over what those Commie Liberals were doing?

   I think that we know the answer to those questions. The question that arises now is: Are we going to stop looking the other way and start standing for the Constitution and self-government again?

CATHOLICS AND THE CHRISTIAN NATIONALIST TRAP

       It is commonly believed that the scourge of Christian Nationalism is confined to certain cultish Megachurches which nominally are Protestant, and that the poisonous doctrines haven't infiltrated Catholicism to the same extent. After all, Pope Francis and several high-ranking officials in the Church have denounced the movement, and there is precedent for it as well. After the suppression of the Cathars in Mediaeval Europe---whose doctrines contemporary Christian Nationalists mirror in many ways---the Council of Florence convened under Pope Eugene IV ruled in 1441:

    "Whoever, after the passion, places his hope in the legal prescriptions of the Law of Moses and submits himself to them as necessary for salvation and as if faith in Christ without them could not save, sins mortally. It does not deny that from Christ's passion until the promulgation of the gospel they could have been retained, provided they were in no way believed to be necessary for salvation. But it asserts that after the promulgation of the gospel they cannot be observed without loss of eternal salvation."

    Christian Nationalism has strong ties to the Zionist Cult; both believe themselves people chosen by God (i.e., a Master Race) to impose their interpretations of the Old Testament via the Force of Law upon their 'inferiors.' Many Catholics seem to be under the delusion that the Christian Nationalists include them in their chiliastic and nihilistic fantasies as well, despite all of the evidence to the contrary. In fact, the Worldwide Web during the last two weeks have been filled with some of most appalling and degrading degrees of fawning apologies for, as well as revolting displays of utter servility to, the Uniparty; even when the very leadership of the Church---whom we presume are better versed on Christian Ethics than Deep State technocrats---say otherwise.

    The Department of Homeland Security---an institution which really has no justification for existing under our form of Government, is currently headed by a rabid Christian Nationalist, former South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. Governor Noem recently staged a photo-op in New York City of herself posing as the Aryan Valkyrie leading the White Knights into battle against the foreign-born who are corrupting our Blood and Soil. 

       It doesn't seemed to have dawned on these very based and Red Pilled Catholics that around 100% of the immigrant roundups and forced deportations are targeting people from predominantly Catholic countries; or that Governor Noem singled out Catholic Services for the proposed funding freeze. Only few years ago, when the Democrats were attempting to defund Catholic organizations over their refusal to implement pro-abortion and pro-homo policies, that was an assault on religious liberty and overt discrimination against Catholics. But when Republicans do it, in the service of the same Uniparty though re-packaged and re-sold under a different agenda, the Catholic laity decides to sit on their hands and do as they're ordered.

     Some of the apologists for the New Order emphasize the few crumbs that the Republicans have tossed us on Social Issues, and blown the significance of these things wholly out of proportion. These actions aren't being done because the Administration cares so deeply about issues important to Catholics; they are doing them because they happen to dovetail with issues pressed by the Christian Nationalists. On top of that, they are mostly hollow gestures: publicity stunts that won't actually effect much of anything. Terminating Federal support for things like Abortion Mills and homo 'equality' doesn't mean making these things illegal: the Reactionaries are simply outsourcing Woke Ideology to State Governors and Wall Street Corporate Oligarchs.

     Why are so many Catholics falling into the Christian Nationalist trap? Like many other Americans, they value the security of an authoritarian government more than things like religious liberty; and---also like many Americans---live in a State of Denial that Government Overreach will ever be employed against them. Many Catholics in 1930s Germany made the same rationalizations and it didn't work out so well. 

    It's not going to work out this time either. The Reactionaries have a history going back several years outlining their plans to usher in their version of the Great Reset; and their contempt for Catholicism has been noted for just as long. At best, they consider all religion a useful tool to keep the masses in subjection---an ideal not far removed from the typical Megachurch leadership, but considerably far from the traditions of the Catholic Church. Denial and refusal to stand on principle has never worked, and never will.

       

FEDERAL COURT STYMIES SECOND NEOCON POWER-GRAB

      On Tuesday, a Federal Court Judge derailed another illegal attempt by the Uniparty to circumvent the Constitutional Division of Powers and establish Rule-by-Decree. It isn't as though the Constitution has been more or less of a dead letter during the past three decades already, but the New Right has been driving toward its final extinction.

     The Decree that was blocked this time would have frozen Federal Grants and ultimately based them upon Party Loyalty. Among the proposed defunding of the Enemy Within would have been such organizations as Catholic Community Services. Treasury Commissar Scott Bessent, homo-Rights activist, architect of Soros' social engineering schemes and an elder in a Rainbow Church, supported the plan; as did incoming Christian Nationalist OMB Chair, Russ Vought.  One would naturally suppose that American Catholics would be horrified at this too; but evidently Party Loyalty comes before Faith among them too. 

     The Republican Party of today is not Conservative; it is Reactionary. The reason that we see alliances between Globalists like Bessent and Churchians like Vought is because both ideologies share a common contempt for Popular Sovereignty and the ideals of the Enlightenment (for those who went to public schools, that was the era when our Nation was founded). The Techno-feudalists of the Global Oligarchy and the believers in a State Church are natural allies. Both envision a pre-democratic utopia where mind-control and social conformity are imposed. 

     To this end, the Reactionary Government is moving to stamp out any form of dissent or Congressional oversight, which is one reason that the Federal Court blocked the proposed spending freeze. There are other initiatives being challenged as well, such as the mass-purges of Civil Service personnel. Laws preventing these kinds of purges were instituted in 1871, when we had an actual Conservative Republican in the White House.

    Americans had learned from the experience of the Civil War that partisan appointments could lead to dangerous intrigues (Jefferson Davis was formerly the Defense Secretary, for example). Critics of the current system allege that Civil Servants form the Deep State; in reality, the Deep State operates independently of the Government and civil servants typically just do as they're told. Replacing them with Party Loyalists expands the power of the actual Deep State while making Regulatory Capture permanent. 

    To the same end of Regulatory Capture, the New Right also instituted a purge of the Inspector-Generals' Officers. This move is totally illegal, of course: the law establishing non-partisan positions in the Cabinet to enforce adherence to the law was approved by another actual Conservative Republican in 1974.

      The Snake Oil being peddled by the New Right has nothing to do with reducing Government Over-Reach or making it more efficient. The New Right is about transferring power from the people to the hands of Corporate Oligarchs. The so-called Golden Age they promise is merely the Accelerationist phase of the Great Reset. 

     In order to gain public support, the Reactionaries will throw a few crumbs to Conservatives to divert attention from their broader goals and intentions. To this end, they have the full assistance of the Controlled Opposition Media which trumpet the Official Party Line while discreetly ignoring inconvenient truths and facts. That there are serious problems both with Federal Funding grants and the Civil Service cannot be denied; but a genuine Conservative approach would be reform and not revolution. 

    What we're seeing from the Reactionaries is not reform in any meaningful sense. They are not returning power to the people, but transferring it to other top-down agencies and institutions which will operate with even less responsibility and transparency than before. A Government of would-be Alpha Supermen is hardly an improvement over a vacillating and indecisive one. A modern government is one that serves the people, and one where the people have the ultimate power. We've gotten into this situation by outsourcing our Rights to institutions and expecting them to make top-down decisions. The Oligarchs have encouraged this, to be sure: but demanding more authority and less accountability is not the answer.