@jasonwblakely’s critique of @Vermeullarmine’s integralism misses the mark for the simple reason that Blakely cannot recognise irony when he sees it. Vermeule’s use of neoclassical economics is a classic subversion tactic. https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/not-catholic-enough

Rational choice is a terrible description of human behaviour. I am fairly sure Vermeule said this in a lecture he gave at Notre Dame. But it is an excellent prescriptive tool to influence behaviour. @Vermeullarmine recognises this power and seeks to harness it.

This IS the essence of ‘integration from within’. The guts of the administrative state are built out of rational choice theory. To steer the beast you need to use its own body. You cannot simply reconstruct the whole thing from scratch, now written in Thomistese.

To seize power you must integrate - yes integrate - yourself into the power structure. You must meld with it and become part of it. You must take the false doctrines found therein and imbue them with the true doctrines of the Church.

This is what the Church has done throughout history. It took the false power structure of Rome and integrated from within. It took the false religion of Southern America and imbued them with the Holy Spirit.

@jasonwblakely reads texts that were written when the Church ruled all and then fantasising that the modern state can be changed easily. But that is not how the Church gained that power. @Vermeullarmine is right: integration must take place from within. That is the Catholic way.

False doctrines are imbued with the Holy Spirit by coopting them and using them. Over time the false parts fall away and what is true remains. This is how the Church develops.

And yes @jasonwblakely the process IS teleological. Because unlike Marxism, we are guaranteed an historical outcome by God himself. There is your theory of history.