Finn Wilson

First, Matt, you don’t understand how an analogy works. Yes, countries are not families. But an analogy doesn’t require the two analogues to be identical. Rather, it merely requires that they are in certain respects similar. And that there is an important analogy here is a standard theme in Catholic and natural law political philosophy. For example, Aquinas says: “The ruler of a household is called father, not king, although he bears a certain resemblance to the king, for which reason kings are sometimes called the fathers of their peoples” (De Regno I, 2). But maybe you’ll dismiss that as silly too. Awful luck for St. Thomas, I guess. But second, the “family” part of the analogy is not in any case what was doing the main work. Rather, the more important bit had to do with what putting something “first” entails. And the point is that putting someone or something “first” simply does not entail making anyone else a “subordinate vassal” or the like. The family analogy isn’t necessary to see that. For example, if you put your best friend first, that doesn’t entail bullying other people (your dentist, your greengrocer, your next door neighbor, etc.). If you put your dog first, that doesn’t entail kicking other dogs around. And so on. Similarly, putting America first simply doesn’t entail turning other countries into “subordinate vassals.” If this rather obvious point still somehow eludes you, maybe it would help to consult a dictionary and look up “first.” Third, as to the colonialism of the Catholic empires, that’s a complicated topic, but whatever one thinks of it, winning the New World for Christ is a rather different thing from winning Venezuela for Exxon, or even for the sake of a Pax Americana. And even then it was too often carried out by cruel means (such as enslavement) that the popes and the greatest Scholastics of the time condemned as gravely evil. They were ignored, just as you and too many other Catholics are ignoring the Church’s teaching now. Anyway, since we’re on the topic of silly analogies, I think comparing Trump to Columbus takes the prize. Fourth and finally, your “against that now” remark insinuates that I’ve somehow changed my mind about something. I haven’t changed at all. You’re mistaking your own movement for mine, like the man on a departing train who thinks the railroad platform is speeding away from him. All I’ve been doing is upholding the traditional teaching of the Church, like you used to do.