A Blue Collar Defense of Latin Integralists

Alas it isn't a good one.

AmConMag: A Workingman’s Case for Integralism by Ian Bothur
The blue-collar mind instinctively understands many of the things libertarian Catholic professors seem to miss.

James Patterson's critique would have been more effective if he had elaborated upon the "theoretical issues" but when the proponents of Catholic integralism, namely Ahamari and Vermeule, have not written treatises themselves, it might be difficult to write an academic response. Hence the essay for Law and Liberty which was probably unsatisfying for those looking for a deep discussion. Patterson's essay is not without weaknesses as well, but he is more correct than Vermeule with respect to understanding the Constitution, regardless of whether he is correctly characterized as a libertarian or not.

The author of the essay writes:

Out in the real world, people say things like “it’s my right to do such-and-such” or “you can’t tell me what to think about such-and-such” and so forth. Such arguments are framed as though rooted in a liberal philosophical tradition, but they are not. Rather, the liberal “order” has merely furnished the masses with a rhetorical mallet. The unlettered man of the real world does not really think like a liberal. He thinks in terms of right and wrong, good and bad. When a plumber says, “you’re entitled to your opinion,” he means that he thinks your opinion is garbage, but does not consider it a valuable use of his time to persuade you otherwise. When an electrician says, “the government shouldn’t force people to do what they think is wrong,” what he means is that he has no faith in law enforcement and is therefore terrified at the prospect of having his weapons confiscated just as the world seems to be growing more dangerous. When a lathe operator says, “it’s not hurting anyone, so who am I to judge,” what he means is that he hates it but is unwilling to damage his already tenuous family dynamic in a failed attempt to stop it.

If people in the real world no longer understand the "rights of Englishmen" or political liberty, than that's not a sign that their simpler worldview is better but that the Anglo-American political tradition has largely disappeared and the institutions of "public education" have failed at handing it on. (Or rather, they have been deliberately used to advance an ideology opposed to republican liberty.)

Aside from his colorblind approach to politics, the average (Catholic) blue-collar worker does not have “republican associations.” He does not, as far as liberals are concerned, participate in the public sphere in any meaningful sense. His life is divided into weeks. In each week, he spends the majority of his time at work and commuting to or from work. He savors every Saturday as his time to recuperate from the drudgery of the previous five days. His Sunday is spent at Mass in the morning and with his family in the evening. In short, the working-man’s whole existence is divided unevenly into employment, entertaining himself at home, and going to Mass. In the liberal worldview, these are all “private” endeavors: He never sets foot in the public sphere.

This is where integralism can enter the heart of every normal, real-world person; in the realization that even the meek and the uneducated are not prisoners of “private enterprise,” but actively participate in the social order; in the sobering sense that one’s life is presently ruled not by himself, nor by those he already yearns to serve (i.e. Christ and His Church), but by a power that is inimical to the common good; and in the knowledge that the claims of liberalism are a farce and do not grant him the benefits of liberty, but in fact justify and enable the most oppressive forces in his life.

If he has no republican associations, that is because he does not live in a real community. That is the public sphere; he doesn't participate in a social order but a social disorder, whether it be the living arrangements where he resides or in reference to how power is exercised over him by those who rule.

We are all in dire need of reasserting the reign of Christ over every single area of our lives. 

The Word of God offers no specific regime for men, nor does it require Latin integralism or for Latin opinions about "Church and state relations," that is the relationship of the authority of bishops to polities, to be fulfilled.