Where do we stand?
by Giuseppe Gori
IMPACT!, December 2007 - page 2

The Family Coalition Party will be successful in affecting our society because it is based on the tradition of western thought. The basic philosophy of the FCP is not new. Other parties in some European countries have successfully represented this tradition. However, the concept is not to be minimized. This is a primary concept, not a shallow ideology.

We are not comparable to the other parties in Ontario or in Canada. We do not change our policies because of the policies of other parties or the 'opinions' of the media. We are not just reacting to current problems (e.g. abortion law, homosexual 'marriage'). These, and other problems, exist and existed in the past. We are not espousing the latest ideology as the other political parties do. Ideologies, such as global warming (which substituted the ice-age theory), eugenics, globalism and many others, are adopted and discarded by these parties as tools to move the masses through fear and emotion. They are tools to move voters into some group action, so that someone can be placed at the head of the group.

The less shallow and more success-ful (excluding the two major parties) is the NDP. However, the NDP was founded on a dream for a compassionate society on the basis of a shallow marxist philosophy that is falling apart. We believe that the FCP has a true compassionate philosophy.

The two largest parties in Ontario, the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives, have no philosophy and a vague ideology. Their program is "to win". Once the objective becomes to overpower others, then the end justifies any means. Lying, infiltrating other organizations, soliciting money from big business for 'benefits', biased election rules, are all justified if the goal is to be achieved. 

At best, these parties follow a modernist, secularist ideology and operate on a 'constructed' reality: there is no recognition of what is true and false, good and evil.

The only reality that matters is the one that people see (mostly on TV), understand (as filtered by the education system and the media) and are prepared to 'support' (because it is 'Canadian Culture' - i.e.: everybody says so). Within these ideologies, the legal definition of 'person' (the constructed reality) becomes real to the point of justifying extermination of the unborn, while the scientific, biological truth is not relevant and not "heard" by the courts; the legal definition of marriage supercedes the substance of natural, real, procreative marriage. 

Such leaders and political parties will be unmasked as lacking a legitimate purpose and a program compatible with Natural Law and with the essence of man, which includes both physical and spiritual values engrained in Christian teaching and western tradition.

The FCP has a basic philosophy. We know what we are talking about, not out of our own effort in creating a philosophy, but out of our humility in recognizing Truth and Natural Law. We recognize, understand and rely on the work of the fathers of civilization, from Plato and Aristotle, through the great philosophers of Christianity, such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to the current teaching of the orthodox Christian Church.

Plato recognized reality beyond what our senses perceived, beyond and against the rhetoric of his contemporaries (sophists). He saw moral responsibility as an essential, universal good.

Aristotle's work, although criticizing some aspects of Plato's thought, was based on Plato and continued the search for what is good and real. FCP supporter Prof. Terry Barker calls this "spiritual realism". Aristotelian logic was then transmitted to the Arabic and the Latin medieval traditions.

Hippocrates, considered to be the father of medicine, introduced his famous oath, which included an anti-abortion pledge. Physicians recited Hippocrates' oath for over two thousand years. Christian philosophical thought flourished both in the "dark ages" and during the Renaissance. Thomas Aquinas and later Christian philosophers still considered Natural Law and the work of classical philosophers as fundamental ingredients of their philosophy.

Modernism, instead, is a constructed reality that has emancipated itself from classical philosophy and Christianity. It is based on nothing, reacting to perceptions and shallow on substance. 

If we know where we stand, where do we go from here? Actually, it is not so much about us "going" but about other parties shifting where the wind blows. The FCP is on a solid foundation. In Ontario, we will become a substantial 'third party' because no other party represents spiritual realism. On this solid basis, we can develop truly compassionate policies that will benefit society. 

A lot of work has to be done to improve our message and our presentation, to become known, to acquire trust and make inroads with the media. As any athlete knows, he will have to work on techniques but the fundamentals come first. The FCP started from good fundamentals and it will be a beacon of light for our society in the future.

Giuseppe Gori