"We cannot think ourselves out of the radical individualism and utilitarianism that afflict us in the liberal democracies. We need a deep change of heart. Nor will any merely political system do it for us." - Francis Canavan SJ, Fun Is Not Enough, p. 352

Also from Francis Canavan: "Liberty and equality cannot be the highest values of a political system, because they relativize and ultimately destroy all other values. ..." (1 of 3)

"... When we make them our supreme norms, we have no set of objectively valid human ends that can provide answers to the questions, liberty for what? & equality in what? We therefore cannot have the communal beliefs without
which in the long run there is no community...."(2 of 3)

"... In short, American society now lacks what Walter
Lippmann called the public philosophy....We are left with an unending battle between conflicting claims to liberty & equality, & no publicly acknowledged principle with which to resolve the conflict."- Fun Is Not Enough, p. 45

I've been revisiting my late friend Francis Canavan SJ's Fun Is Not Enough, thinking about him & other conservatives who, in recent decades, blamed the decline of morality on "radical individualism."

This article by Archbishop Listecki is typical: https://www.archmil.org/Our-Faith/Blogs/Archbishop-Listecki/JEL-20150624.htm ...

... And here's a more recent example by Bishop Serratelli: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/the-loss-of-freedom-in-a-culture-of-radical-individualism-3915.

Canavan at least recognized that radical individualism wasn't just a liberal problem. Conservatives were likewise vulnerable to it, hence the need for social solidarity (communion) under God. ...

... But I don't think Canavan could have predicted how, during a public-health crisis, it would be the liberal "radical individualists" who would champion social solidarity for the good of life. Neither do I think he could have imagined how @firstthingsmag, which he loved, ...

... along with many Catholic leaders of the pro-life world in which he moved, would become the true radical individualists--crying "MY FREEDOM" rather than wearing a mask to protect others' lives. ...

... It seems while U.S. Catholic pro-lifers were focused on reversing Roe, a terrible darkness was spreading unchecked, excusing all manner of selfishness in the name of moral superiority. Francis, who's 100% anti-abortion, tried to warn us about it in his 1st papal interview ...

... But we didn't listen. And now we're paying the price as the President, whom the @EWTN empire would have us believe is "pro-life," is playing with trucks on the White House lawn as thousands of Americans die needlessly.

Praying for the Pope's intentions and for our country.

In a nutshell: Social conservatives™ spent decades creating the bogeyman of the selfish "radical individualist" who cares only for his own freedom at the expense of social solidarity, protection of life, and the common good. And now it's 2020 and they've _become_ that bogeyman.

I say this as one who, ideologically, checks off every major "social conservative" box. We were blindsided by our refusal to consider the consequences of focusing our energies upon political/legislative solutions to problems that require evangelization and conversion of hearts.

*Should have said "blinded" rather than "blindsided." But we were certainly blindsided when the consequences of our actions became impossible to ignore.