I watched this morning the 60MINUTES interview with Robert Gates the former head of the CIA, NSA, and Secretary of Defense. I have always been a fan of Mr. Gates. Very much a pragmatist. A big proponent for a strong national defense and a critic of President Biden’s Foreign and Defense Policy. “In forty years, he (Biden) has never been right on a defense issue”. Mr. Gates moved as far away from Washington D. C. as he could—to the People’s Republic of Seattle! So much for getting away from the “Rothschild, Jacobin- Robespierre- Bolsheviks” of the progressive left.
But in the interview with the head CNN “virtue signaler” and prime example of “white privilege”, daughter of Gloria Vanderbilt and Yale graduate, Anderson Cooper, he noted that the reason he was afraid of Donald Trump was that Mr. Trump was anti- institutional and he (Mr. Gates) believed that it is institutions that could see us through these troubled times.
A common definition of institutionalism is something like this:
institutionalism
(ĭn′stĭ-to͞o′shə-nə-lĭz′əm, -too′-).
1. Adherence to or belief in established forms, especially belief in organized religion.
2. Use of public institutions for the care of people who are physically or mentally disabled, criminally delinquent, or incapable of independent living.
institutionalist n.
American Heritage®
Let me deal with the 1st definition. A great Quote from C. S. Lewis states: “If religion is you’re God, then God cannot be your religion” I am a Catholic. My relationship to God does not go through the government of the Church. I recognize the faults and the accomplishments of the Catholic Church. The institution of the Church has contributed to the growth and development of my family. It has been the source and inspiration of my vocation as a surgeon at St. Al’s—I had to be affiliated with a hospital that had a daily Mass (St. Al’s no longer does). But I pray to God not to the church or anything else. The demise of the institution of the church particularly in Black inner-city communities that has occurred along with the demise of the family in those same communities and the cotillions, and the youth sports programs, are the result of increasing government programs that act as agents for dependency and subjugation of a people. Does the agent of subjugation, dependency, or enslavement matter? An individual, a church a corporation or a government can be the agent for all forms of evil. It is not the agent that matters, it is the act. The church has enslaved, and she has been the agent for abolition. The church can say that it stands for liberty and “free will” or it can be an advocate for communalism and socialism. A slave owner can free his/her slaves or he can continue to participate in a “chattel” economy.
The second definition must be an old one and needs to be updated because it defines the mission of institution as the “care for people who are physically or emotionally disabled or criminally delinquent or capable of independent living.
I am not a full-fledged libertarian. I believe there is a small role for government when it comes to taking care of the poor, mentally ill and those with chronic diseases. I think the private sector and the church do a far better job of allocating scarce resources and organizations like the Boise Mission and food banks across the country and SAMARATIN’S PURSE do a far better job than most government agencies. But even private church run organizations like Catholic Charities who now see over 50% of their revenues coming from government sources, are becoming dependent on government in order to maintain operations—“no margin, no mission”. As government controls more and more of our GDP individuals have less money to contribute to charities and the charities become more dependent on government.
Being anti-institutional like Mr. Trump doesn’t mean you are against institutions and the role they should play in our society. It does mean that one is against the government controlling the institutions—schools, hospitals, churches, or the institutions controlling the government like Fascist Germany and Italy—large corporations and banks—The Rothschild, Council of Foreign Relations, Socialized Medicine and World Central Bank crowd.
Mr. Gates fails to identify the difference between institutions that limit liberty, and institutions that support liberty and freedom. The purpose of government, of the church, of the various charities that support the poor or sick, is to make individual people less dependent. Freedom and liberty should always be preserved—even at the expense of institutions. King George represented the institution of monarchy. We didn’t think that monarchy was an institution worth preserving. Nor do we think Marxist organizations or those organizations that call themselves charities, Black Lives Matter (BLM) for example, are worthy of individual or government institutional support. Same thing with Planned Parenthood. When the government becomes the means of supporting causes of any kind it opens itself up to imploding from within by making bureaucrats responsible for the allocation of scarce resources. Put the resources in the hands of individuals and private charities and schools and churches and the poor and infirmed, will be taken care of far better that what we see today. Look at Cuba and Venezuela, and Seattle and Portland, for examples of “government charity”.
Mr. Gates is a good man. He should know better than to paint with broad strokes. Maybe he has become so much a part of the establishment that he fails to recognize a bad institution from a good one—a Catholic Hospital that forbids abortions and receives government support is very different than Planned Parenthood or BLM that also receives government support. Maybe some in our country have already taken the next step by failing to recognize the difference between good and evil, and worse yet if we can still see the difference, many are lacking the courage to confront it.
Donald Trump recognized the difference, and he had the courage to confront “institutional evil”. That is why so many in the “deep state” are afraid of Mr. Trump. I hope we have leaders in our State who demonstrate Mr. Trump’s same sense of virtue and courage. Evil needs to always be confronted. Time to “Bully the Bully”. Even if it carries the imprimatur of “institution”.
I believe Brad Little, and “The Mikes” are prime examples of “institutionalists”—in the most corrupt sense of the word. MIGA (Make Idaho Great Again) “Fight Like Hell”
