“Collectivism is the "philosophy" of every cockroach and sewer rat: "If I want it, I must need it, and if I need it, I have a right to it, and if I have a right to it, it doesn't matter what I have to do to get it."

“To refuse any bond of union between man and civil society, on the one hand, and God the Creator and consequently the supreme Law-giver, on the other, is plainly repugnant to the nature, not only of man, but of all created things; for, of necessity, all effects must in some proper way be connected with their cause; and it belongs to the perfection of every nature to contain itself within that sphere and grade which the order of nature has assigned to it, namely, that the lower should be subject and obedient to the higher."― Pope Leo XIII (1810 –1903), Libertas: On the Nature of Human Liberty

Scripture Text: (Amos 9:11-15)

Thus says the LORD:

On that day I will raise up

the fallen hut of David;

I will wall up its breaches,

raise up its ruins,

and rebuild it as in the days of old,

That they may conquer what is left of Edom

and all the nations that shall bear my name,

say I, the LORD, who will do this.

Yes, days are coming,

says the LORD,

When the plowman shall overtake the reaper,

and the vintager, him who sows the seed;

The juice of grapes shall drip down the mountains,

and all the hills shall run with it.

I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel;

they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities,

Plant vineyards and drink the wine,

set out gardens and eat the fruits.

I will plant them upon their own ground;

never again shall they be plucked

From the land I have given them,

say I, the LORD, your God.

There is a right order for nature, and for the human family as well: both emanate from the same creator. As we go through the last months of this presidential campaign here in the United States, perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from these passages. The moral life and the natural order of a structured society are goods in themselves; they reflect the Maker in whom we believe; and they are the product of the efforts made by individuals to hold up the human person as a valued individual, while our political efforts drive us toward the kind of society in which every person has value.