Left-wing ideology has enveloped America’s “elites in virtually every institution” and attacked the values that made this nation a world leader, says Catholic author Bill Donohue.
Such leaders “think that there are certain segments of our population, which are not capable on their own, of practicing the vital virtues of personal responsibility, self-control and perseverance, the vital virtues which enable all other people to succeed in society,” said Mr. Donohue, longtime head of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
Speaking from his New York City office, he called out transgenderism, COVID restrictions imposed by state leaders who did not adhere to them and a departure from traditional values instilled in previous generations.
His suggested antidote: “Trust your gut” when confronted with theories that reflect “the madness of our time” and push back against those ideas.
Mr. Donohue expands on these themes in his new book, “War on Virtue: How the Ruling Class is Killing the American Dream,” which was published last week by Sophia Institute Press.
In an interview with The Washington Times, he said his experience teaching Black and Puerto Rican students in the 1970s convinced him that “everybody can learn if you give them the tools. [And] the tools are not ‘equity’ education.”
Instead, he said, if those “vital virtues … are imbued in you, you are likely to be a success.”
Mr. Donohue said those who have abandoned these virtues to insist “racism and structural oppression” are at the root of societal problems are harming the communities these elites say they want to help.
He said his book tells the story of progressive sociologist George Fitzhugh, who in the 1850s supported slavery “because he believed that black people were inferior. … As slaves, they were the ‘freest’ people in the world, because everything was taken care of for them.”
Such thinking, Mr. Donohue said, extends to the modern age and has sparked what Charles Murray called the “custodial democracy” in which the state has to assist Blacks and “push them across the finish line.”
He blames a postmodern “attack on truth” for today’s societal views that there are genders beyond male and female: “There’s no such thing as a third sex, nevermind the hundreds of them that some of the mad people are trying to argue,” he said.
“We don’t need to depopulate the asylums we need to build more of them,” Mr. Donohue said.
He said that while Karl Marx, co-author of “The Communist Manifesto,” held a “flawed understanding” of human nature, he “at least had a vision for the future to make society better.”
By contrast, he said, today’s leftists “don’t have a future they can look forward to. They know socialism doesn’t work, communism doesn’t work, [so] they become nihilists.”
Mr. Donahue said a return to the “natural law” common to Aristotle’s and St. Thomas Aquinas’ works is a way forward.
“We know what makes for the good society, and it’s built on a natural law understanding that there are things in your heart of hearts that you know are fundamentally wrong,” he said. “It’s wrong to kill innocent human beings, that you don’t need to be taught by the government, and when the government tells you that it’s okay, then you need to resist.”
After 30 years as president of the Catholic League, Mr. Donohue admits there are times when he wonders about winning the battle.
“But I have two choices,” he told an interviewer. “Either I quit or continue to fight. It’s an easy choice for me. I’m an Irish Catholic New Yorker and the fight is still in me.”
Correction: In a previous version of this story, Bill Donohue’s name was misspelled.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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