We are taught to believe that being political is through participating in the executive, legislative, judicial systems.
If one is not a member of any of these, it suffices to vote.
If there is not election, it suffices to talk, campaign, or protest around the actions and thoughts of these branches.
Being political is to organize a community to some end.
To have an end is to make a normative claim.
Normative claims are moral claims.
To be political then is to have a moral community.
There are many communities that are organized and function to some end.
The end does not justify the means, for then one could pick a means which ultimately contradicts the end.
One politic is the judicial, executive, and legislative branches.
Another is an office, another a home, another a family, another a civic center, another a church.
Offices, homes, families, civic centers, churches, etc. then are all moral communities organized in a way to help achieve their end.
Thus, it is a myth that not voting means a person is apolitical.
The end of The Church is union with God: Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, in resurrected bodies, to praise God eternally.
The primary, political act of the Church then, is to worship God: hymns, reading of Scriptures, prayer, participation in the sacraments, etc.
The Church is organized with bishops, priests, deacons, and laity -- in communions, provinces, dioceses, local churches, etc.
If a moral community does not have these positions, then the are not functioning well towards the Church's end.
If a moral community views worship as about the worshipper, then they do not work towards the end of the Church.
If a moral community has neither the proper end nor organizing parts of the Church, they any claim to be a "church" is merely nominal.
If a moral community has both, then they have the necessary conditions for the possibility of functioning well as a political body.
Vocation is one way to describe Christian functioning.
Every Christian has a vocation to worship.
The Church worships God through daily prayer, Mass, feasts, and fasts.
Prayer, Mass, feasts, and fasts are particular political acts.
Theology is how Christians explicate and argue on the means of organization and particularity of the end.
"Political Theology" is redundant.
The organization of the American moral community is manifested in the legislative, judicial, executive branches, and the the voting body.
Political debates and voting are arguments over proper functioning.
Proper functioning is always presumably in reference to the end of the moral community.
The end of the American political community is freedom of a sort.
The American political system articulates Freedom as a struggle between economic policy and social justice.
American moral freedom is to be relatively without constraint on individual power or to spread financial assets to those in need.
The American moral community presumes "freedom" and "needs" are understood and well spelled out concepts.
The American moral community debates on whether "needs" should be met this way or that way, if freedom is procured this way or that way.
Many have centralized over one way or another on how these needs and freedom cohere, and how they ought to be pursued.
Most of the centralization results around two sub-communities: republican, democrat -- with a third labeled as moderate. Outliers rest in a variety and are without much effect on the general end nor means that the moral community acts.
Both sub-communities rest within the same general community because they still agree on the end.
Freedom of the American sort is ability to do as the individual will dictates. One sub-community believes all pre-conditions are met to enable this to all people, another sub-community argues these conditions are not yet met but need to be.
The will manifests it's desire in the American moral community by choosing "Economic goods," a physical set of objects which can be purchased.
The objects themselves only matter insofar as they fulfill the desire of the will, can be quickly discarded, or replaced with a newer equivalent or alternative considered more fulfilling.
Rules are established to help achieve a moral community's end. If not, then they become abstracted from their ends and thus arbitrary.
The American moral community's end dictates functioning or rules which help the fulfillment of the wills' desire, i.e. freedom, ought be established.
Corollary: rules are established which prevent someone from denying another person from fulfilling their will's desire.
The American moral community can give no account for someone who follows their will's desire to destruction.
It is either the case that some rules in the American moral community contradict the community's end or they are counter-evidence to what I have said is the American community's end.
Rules are established in the American moral community against certain practices that are fulfilling of the will's desire. E.g. suicide, alcoholism, youth refusing to go to school, statutory rape, being a beggar, etc.
The American moral community can give no account as to why any of these prior examples are wrong. Attempts include (1) effecting others negatively (2) destroyed their life, (3) is not being a productive member of society, or (4) is ruining the moral fabric of the society.
It is a contradiction for a functioning or rule to delimit the end of the rule maker.
(1) implies self-willed and self-effects somehow influence the others will.
(2) comparison of prior activities to current, assuming past activities were more of a "life," when both were willed, merely at different times.
(3) the productivity of the society is to the each that each individual may be self-willed
(4) assumes self-willed is right with arbitrary moral exceptions, often remnant conclusions from bygone, lost arguments.
The Church however can and does give account for how a will can desire a wrong end.
The American politic, the American moral community, cannot give an account for a will gone awry.
Most people can give a story of a time when they willed something they should not have.
Most should then admit that the American political community can only give a reductionistic, insufficient account of their own will.
To participate in a thing is to function in a way that aids the end of that function.
To participate in the American political system is to function to the end of helping Americans fulfill the desires of their wills.
Not my will, but thine be done.
A Christian ought not participate in the American political system, for it contradicts the Church's end.
If one is not a member of any of these, it suffices to vote.
If there is not election, it suffices to talk, campaign, or protest around the actions and thoughts of these branches.
Being political is to organize a community to some end.
To have an end is to make a normative claim.
Normative claims are moral claims.
To be political then is to have a moral community.
There are many communities that are organized and function to some end.
The end does not justify the means, for then one could pick a means which ultimately contradicts the end.
One politic is the judicial, executive, and legislative branches.
Another is an office, another a home, another a family, another a civic center, another a church.
Offices, homes, families, civic centers, churches, etc. then are all moral communities organized in a way to help achieve their end.
Thus, it is a myth that not voting means a person is apolitical.
The end of The Church is union with God: Father, Son, & Holy Spirit, in resurrected bodies, to praise God eternally.
The primary, political act of the Church then, is to worship God: hymns, reading of Scriptures, prayer, participation in the sacraments, etc.
The Church is organized with bishops, priests, deacons, and laity -- in communions, provinces, dioceses, local churches, etc.
If a moral community does not have these positions, then the are not functioning well towards the Church's end.
If a moral community views worship as about the worshipper, then they do not work towards the end of the Church.
If a moral community has neither the proper end nor organizing parts of the Church, they any claim to be a "church" is merely nominal.
If a moral community has both, then they have the necessary conditions for the possibility of functioning well as a political body.
Vocation is one way to describe Christian functioning.
Every Christian has a vocation to worship.
The Church worships God through daily prayer, Mass, feasts, and fasts.
Prayer, Mass, feasts, and fasts are particular political acts.
Theology is how Christians explicate and argue on the means of organization and particularity of the end.
"Political Theology" is redundant.
The organization of the American moral community is manifested in the legislative, judicial, executive branches, and the the voting body.
Political debates and voting are arguments over proper functioning.
Proper functioning is always presumably in reference to the end of the moral community.
The end of the American political community is freedom of a sort.
The American political system articulates Freedom as a struggle between economic policy and social justice.
American moral freedom is to be relatively without constraint on individual power or to spread financial assets to those in need.
The American moral community presumes "freedom" and "needs" are understood and well spelled out concepts.
The American moral community debates on whether "needs" should be met this way or that way, if freedom is procured this way or that way.
Many have centralized over one way or another on how these needs and freedom cohere, and how they ought to be pursued.
Most of the centralization results around two sub-communities: republican, democrat -- with a third labeled as moderate. Outliers rest in a variety and are without much effect on the general end nor means that the moral community acts.
Both sub-communities rest within the same general community because they still agree on the end.
Freedom of the American sort is ability to do as the individual will dictates. One sub-community believes all pre-conditions are met to enable this to all people, another sub-community argues these conditions are not yet met but need to be.
The will manifests it's desire in the American moral community by choosing "Economic goods," a physical set of objects which can be purchased.
The objects themselves only matter insofar as they fulfill the desire of the will, can be quickly discarded, or replaced with a newer equivalent or alternative considered more fulfilling.
Rules are established to help achieve a moral community's end. If not, then they become abstracted from their ends and thus arbitrary.
The American moral community's end dictates functioning or rules which help the fulfillment of the wills' desire, i.e. freedom, ought be established.
Corollary: rules are established which prevent someone from denying another person from fulfilling their will's desire.
The American moral community can give no account for someone who follows their will's desire to destruction.
It is either the case that some rules in the American moral community contradict the community's end or they are counter-evidence to what I have said is the American community's end.
Rules are established in the American moral community against certain practices that are fulfilling of the will's desire. E.g. suicide, alcoholism, youth refusing to go to school, statutory rape, being a beggar, etc.
The American moral community can give no account as to why any of these prior examples are wrong. Attempts include (1) effecting others negatively (2) destroyed their life, (3) is not being a productive member of society, or (4) is ruining the moral fabric of the society.
It is a contradiction for a functioning or rule to delimit the end of the rule maker.
(1) implies self-willed and self-effects somehow influence the others will.
(2) comparison of prior activities to current, assuming past activities were more of a "life," when both were willed, merely at different times.
(3) the productivity of the society is to the each that each individual may be self-willed
(4) assumes self-willed is right with arbitrary moral exceptions, often remnant conclusions from bygone, lost arguments.
The Church however can and does give account for how a will can desire a wrong end.
The American politic, the American moral community, cannot give an account for a will gone awry.
Most people can give a story of a time when they willed something they should not have.
Most should then admit that the American political community can only give a reductionistic, insufficient account of their own will.
To participate in a thing is to function in a way that aids the end of that function.
To participate in the American political system is to function to the end of helping Americans fulfill the desires of their wills.
Not my will, but thine be done.
A Christian ought not participate in the American political system, for it contradicts the Church's end.
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