(Pope) James david Vance the first

It is difficult to deal with the smug nature of J D Vance. It took him awhile to come to the defense of Trump, but in a recent address, he stepped forward to indicate that the President was right about Trump’s theology as was he as well. Their logic was that if we went to war in the Second World War, then Pope Leo had to be wrong about the morality of the war of choice in which we are now embedded in Iran.

Evidently Vance never heard of the Just War Clause that is based in Natural Law which states that there are absolutes that need to be followed. It was started by St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In essence, it was brought into existence because there is the fundamental premise that “thou shall not kill.” If you must go war, you need a justification for doing so. This is referred to as jus in bellum or right reasons for going to war and jus ad bellum which states the way that the war must be conducted.

Although the Just War Clause started in the Roman Catholic Church, it became the secular standard for war as well.

There are guidelines for any country to be involved in war. First, it must be a recognized authority who begins the war. It must be fought out of self-defense. It must be as a last resort as well as having a reasonable chance for success and clear intent. It aims for proportionality and humane treatment for all persons involved. Humane rules of engagement should be employed. The wiping out of a people, genocide, makes the one disobeying the above is a war crime.

The War in Iran breaks every one of the Just War standards.

Recently Vance has convinced himself that he knows more than the Pope as he plays gotcha in support of Trump who is usually on the wrong side of anything that is ethical. The problem is that Trump and Vance don’t know what they don’t know. Trump self identifies as a “stable genius” and Vance plays the political game of “I gotcha” by seeking their rightness by having a superficial view of a middle schooler. (apology to Middle Schoolers) They proclaim much of what they don’t know in their quest to support the unsupportable.

The inability to see the ramifications of this war of choice points to so much of this administration. They know enough to talk the language of war but not all the divergent catastrophes that have ensued.

This superficiality has been contagious in the Republican Party. Has anyone wondered what happened to that rising Republican star Congresswoman Elise Stafanik, who entered Congress as a reasonable person, and then decided to hitch her career to Trump and MAGA? She is the individual who brought down the Presidents of Penn, Columbia, and Harvard with her “just answer yes or no” questions which did not permit the depth of discussion that was needed. She found herself with little support from Trump when she had her eyes on the Office of Vice President where Trump ignored her, became our representative to the United Nations, but wanted a higher office as Governor and received no support from Trump. She could no longer help him. She realized that she hitched her ride on the wrong horse and resigned from politics having learned firsthand that Trump’s first and only concern is what have you done for him lately.

Instead of honoring their religious traditions and knowing something about them like Kennedy and Biden, Vance merged his soul with that of Trump which is deadly and thought that he knew more than the Pope.

Trump continues to post his sentiments about Pope Leo being wrong and now tries to bait him with superficial arguments. Recall it was Trump who couldn’t answer the question about his favorite bible verse so he said that he has so many that he wouldn’t know which one to choose. Yes, he has elevated his lying to lying about his own lies.

A final word on (Pope) Vance. He indicated that the Pope should stay with morality and let Trump handle the politics. He doesn’t realize that politics is defined by how power is distributed. Social justice is one of the pillars of ethical thought. Morality and politics must go hand in hand.

Vance has a book coming out on June 16, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.  That should be as helpful as Hawley’s book on true manhood, titled Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs. Remember Hawley was the Congressman who raised his fist in support of the gathering of the January 6 mob and then could be seen during their attack running as fast as he could out of the building to the tune of the Benny Hill Theme Song. One of my favorite courses was Latin as it required you to know grammar and was the root of so many words. Latin has a certain ring and seriousness about it. Jus in Bellum and Jus ad Bellum. Maybe we should introduce the words of the EA school motto, Esse Quam Videri, be authentic, be real to (Pope) James David Vance the First.