Author Daniel Schwindt has released a new book titled "The Papist's Guide to America."
Schwindt's central thesis is that Catholics are necessarily alienated from the American political context. He also believes that this alienation not new or even surprising. Using the work of Alexis de Tocqueville, he argues that the principles adopted by the Founding Fathers, combined with the individualistic philosophy of Americans in general, created an atmosphere of intellectual arrogance and general ignorance, since men learned to trust their own opinions as the most reliable source of truth. This dangerous mentality he groups under the term "liberalism," and according to Schwindt everyone in American politics is a liberal of some sort. Republicans are "Right liberals" and Democrats are "Left liberals." Due to these circumstances, Schwindt believes that religious people can only participate in American politics by leaving their faith at home. Since this is not possible, believers are then forced to adopt a form of hypocrisy if they wish to be active in public life. Clearly, if Schwindt's thesis is correct, this puts American Catholics in a state of serious tension with their political structures.Videos