Cesar Fernandez-Stoll

Politics is the science of perception, so it is understood in what is known as democracy and for that matter on every other regime, until of course, it is time to ignore the people, openly and blatantly. It is with that perception that votes are issued on behalf or against some particular candidate or political tendency, obtained following one or many illusions that supposedly are going to make thing easier and people happier. Like it or not to admit it; we are all politicians, only some of us take decide to offer ourselves in the body of government, and only some of us truly and dutifully are there to serve the people rather than ourselves. These two distinct type of politics work on different types of perception, because while the ones that see an interest in serving the people, are interested in principle over popularity, the ones that want to be served by the people, are interested in popularity alone, completely ignoring what principle might be.

As in many instances in the past, going back all the way to the beginning, the world, we witness a battle, one where no nations are involved but just two sides and the defined fronts depend on the warriors and not on where they are. The enemy is one that has defies God attempting to be like Him, betraying His goodness and omnipotence, is the devil himself and his hordes of demons and filth spirits condemned forever to perish infinite deaths burning in hell. These forces fight against human kind because they have been defeated by God already the infinite times they have attempted to go against Him. The good side is the side of God who in His infinite love, He is helping us be protected against that menace which infinite number of times tries to break our convictions and our love for our creator. In our times, as in infinite number times before, there is no difference and the threat is again of evil trying to present itself as more powerful than God. The first strategy against God ha...

Saint Mathew was called by Christ to follow Him from being a sinner as a tax collector and so he not just abandoned the practice but also he invited to his house all sorts of sinners in order for them too be able to share the word of Jesus Still tax collecting as it was then identified as a sin it so in function to the activity that requires confiscating form the people denying the virtue of love and their just participation in the common good. Give to Caesar what is of Caesar and to God what is of God. This does not imply an open opportunity for Caesar to deprive his people of the necessary resources to sustain individuals and family or to grow and multiply because still the most important commandment of the law of God, giving Him what is His, is to love Him over and above everything and anything, closely followed by loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. Hence it is not of Caesar to appropriate the virtue of love on behalf of the people.

While we laugh on the last ‘blonde’ joke and we look at the political scene and observe how the election of a black president in the United States becomes a major threshold in the process of cultural integration; we think about how other culture divides can make good use of this experience and we praise the Lord for the gift of putting an end to the racial divide. Yet, it seems in the world there is no particular race or culture, that can escape untouched from stereotyping, and the occurrence of one particular event as meaningful as it might seem to be, is nothing but an opportunity to advance other issues in the political agenda not letting the opportunity pass without taking advantage of precisely the issue that is supposed to ‘end’ it all.