Following the 2009 Election Results which way is the tide turning toward truth or relativism?

Under the surface, and largely unbeknownst to the mainstream media, the tide has been turning to Catholicism for some time. The pontificates of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI along with events such as an increase in orthodox minded seminarians, young priests and young women religious, a return to devotions and a reform of the reform of liturgy have shown us that indeed the tide is turning. However, for some time now western culture has been moving in the opposite direction, where any, whim or opinion that holds that orthodox minded religious thought is antiquated and even harmful is held in high regard. How could this jibe with the turning tide within the Church? Who would win? Didn’t Jesus promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church after He gave Peter the keys (and the 265 subsequent popes) to lead it? The answer is the same answer that has always been, the Church eventually always wins and it will this time as well.

Following the Election of 2008 when liberalism was on the ascendancy, many in the mainstream media joyfully proclaimed a new era, where one could read between the lines and see that traditional views of society, family and religion were on their way out and big government was in. However, a funny thing happened on the way to the revolution, many Americans refused to go to the Bastille with pitchfork in hand. Americans view of revolution was almost always in line with George Washington’s view of limited government and not Maximilien Robespierre’s view of war against society, family and religion. Perhaps the Election of 2008 was a pox on both their big spending houses that was wrongly construed as a vote for Big Government.

Two Out of Three

The Republicans won two of the three big races last night, taking the state houses in Virginia and New Jersey while losing the special Congressional election in New York 23.  What does this mean, other than that the Republicans had a good night last night?

1.    The Demise of the Republican Party was greatly exaggerated.  Whenever a party takes a shellacking in an election, as the Republicans did in 2006 and 2008, common wisdom begins to hold that the party is in deep trouble and may not be long for this world.  Rubbish.  Since the time of the Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans, this country has almost always had a two party system.  The Democrats and the Republicans have fought each other for over a century and a half, and the one thing that can be safely said about this unending political struggle is that there are no final victories.  The Republicans are starting a come back, a familiar theme in American political history, and not very surprising.

Predictions

For political junkies like me, tomorrow begins the political season for 2010 with gubernatorial elections in Virginia, New Jersey and the special congressional election in New York 23.    There is also a special congressional election in California 10, but that is in the San Francisco metro area and everyone, except for the Republican running, David Harmer,  believes that is going to be won by the Democrat, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, and I join in that consensus, although I suspect it might be surprisingly close.

In regard to the three competitive races, here are my predictions: