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Dr. Jose Maria P. Alcasid, “to offer another perspective,” in
response to my column of July 2, “Mystery of RP government
corruption,” sent me an article by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
(author of the book Revolution and Counter Revolution). The article
is about Italy and Europe of a decade ago. For lack of space, I had
to abridge Oliveira’s article.
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Thievery made official
If even honest people are asked to pay bribes,
what can be said of the dishonest? Bribery spreads like an oil stain
on a fabric, penetrating the whole fabric of society.
At a given moment, the number of thieves becomes
so high that it is practically impossible to repress crime without
placing the whole nation in jail. The Italian formula mentioned
above is then adopted: Bribery is no longer declared a crime but
only a mere infraction subject to fines. There are actually two
fines: the bribe for the functionary and the penalty for the State.
The person is free to do what he wants. Thievery is made official.
Thus, an ordinary thief who steals a car can be
punished with imprisonment, whereas a politician who traffics in
influence for his election campaign is neither demoralized nor
imprisoned. He just pays a fine. Since he is receiving illicit
funds, everyone comes out ahead. Everyone steals, and stealing
becomes an official custom.
The end of private property
When thievery is thus made official, private
property is doomed to extinction. When stealing becomes generalized,
illicit advantages become the standard not only in doing State
business but any other business as well.
In such a context, hard work loses prestige and
influence, and is replaced by the practice of making money
dishonestly. Thievery becomes king of society. The economic system,
be it communist or capitalist, falls prey to bribery. The country
becomes a “robberland” where a minority of thieves billet
themselves in power.
What remedy is there?
What today’s society really lacks are elites
and especially moral elites. What is missing are those elites par
excellence, where families still retain a memory of their
forefathers, still value their reputation for honesty, and still
desire to serve as models for society.
So much has been done that has concretely ruined
the prestige of true elites. If no work is done to restore them,
nothing can be done.
In the name of favoring the more modest classes,
society has become increasingly egalitarian. This led to the
progressive crushing of authentic elites and the gradual
disappearance of those structures and values which provided the
element for the genesis of authentic culture and leadership.
Thus deprived of authentic leadership, society
is gradually disoriented and increasingly tending toward chaos as
time goes by.
The only real solution
One could argue that many, who rightly see the
lack of religion as the root of all evil, could begin to practice
religion and thus slowly eliminate corruption. However, the fact is
that many of these same people will not take a leading role in
spreading religion because they see that insisting on an atmosphere
of austerity and moral severity would oblige them to change their
own way of life.
These people are comparable to that of certain
gamblers. They will agree that illegal gambling is harmful to the
welfare of the country. However, they still gamble because they do
not wish to change their ways.
Divine Grace
Putting an end to the situation described above
calls for an essentially religious apostolate that attracts Divine
Grace. This apostolate, with the help of grace, must really touch
people’s minds and souls and achieve real conversion. Such
conversions would be the starting point whereby something could be
done. However, these conversions are obviously extremely difficult
in times of general immorality when people are attached to the
advantages vice brings them and have, therefore, little propensity
to abandon their bad life.
Genuine apostles
To delve into the most obscure nooks and
crannies of the problem, a complete solution lies in finding
apostles like those described by Abbot Jean-Batiste Chautard in his
famous work, The Soul of the Apostolate. They must be endowed with
real interior life, desirous above all to see the accomplishment of
God’s will and designs on earth as it is in heaven. They must be
apostles who draw others with their example, move people with their
word, and strive to make the laws of the state in accordance to
those of God, thus changing people’s behavior. In short, the
action of these authentic apostles can really touch souls. If these
correspond to grace, they will convert.
And to convert, contemporary man must be docile
to the recommendation of Our Lady to mankind at Fatima in 1917: They
must pray and do penance.
rqb@manilatimes.net
rq_bas@yahoo.com
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