Central to the story line of Ray Bradbury’s celebrated 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451, is a curious reversal that fascinated the author. In the story, firemen, who are traditionally trained to put out fires, start fires. In Bradbury’s futuristic world books are illegal, since they cause some people to feel superior to others, and therefore must be destroyed. The idea that books that should be read, must be destroyed, is another example of this strange reversal of things. In the novel, firemen go from house to house, ferreting out literary contraband and set it on fire. Interestingly enough, the author had experienced a similar reversal when he was accosted by a police officer one night when he was merely walking with a friend and minding his own business. Police, of course, should be helping, not harassing citizens. With mock sincerity, Bradbury promised the policeman never to walk again. But the germ of this odd practice of doing the opposite of what you are supposed to do had been planted in his fertile brain.
What kind of future world did Bradbury envision where firemen start fires and policemen accost innocent citizens? Was this noted author on to something? He has been credited with predicting a number of innovations, such as flat screen televisions, automated bank machines, electronic surveillance, thimble radios, and self-driving cars. Did the revered writer of science-fiction (who insisted that he never wrote “science fiction”) anticipate that one day reversing one’s sworn duties would become pandemic? We may not be able to answer this question satisfactorily. Nonetheless, we witness reversals of responsibilities that now constitute not only a major problem in our brave new world, but also a threat to civilization.
The most glaring reversal took place in 1973 when seven Supreme Court judges found in the United States Constitution a justification for killing unborn human beings. It took special eyesight to find this provision since the very Preamble to the Constitutions states that it exists in order to “establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, . . . promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity . . .” They found it, nonetheless. It had been hiding for nearly 200 years, “implied in the penumbra,” has Harry Blackmun stated. Judges, sworn to uphold the Constitution were actually opposing it. They were now seeing things that were not there, painting by penumbras, as it were.
Robert H. Bork was defeated in his bid to become a Supreme Court justice essentially because he respected the Constitution and called Roe v. Wade unconstitutional. His defeat was led by “Roman Catholic” senators Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, and Pat Leahy. Judges opposing the Constitution were complemented by Catholics opposing life. Reversals were being reinforced by more reversals. As President Reagan, who had nominated Bork, later remarked, “I believe, as he does, [Robert Bork] that judges are to interpret rather than rewrite the Constitution the Founding Fathers crafted with such care and precision.”
Judge Bork went on to write The Tempting of America (1990) in which he stated rather matter-of-factly, “the right to abort, whatever one thinks of it, is not to be found in the Constitution.” In dissent, Justice White had been similarly emphatic: “I find nothing in the language or history of the Constitution to support the Court’s judgment.” The reversal of integrity is tantamount to tyranny.
We know of priests who promote euthanasia and abortion. Health agencies are now prescribing RU-486, a dangerous drug that has claimed the lives of at least 19 adult lives in recent years. We have school teachers who are required to promote lies and distortions, publishing houses that refuse to publish books that bear witness to Christian values, and politicians who have become enemies of the family. These reversals have caused a widespread distrust of people in authority. What makes the situation even worse is the fact that people with integrity are being persecuted for opposing this wave of tyranny.
Reversing these reversals and restoring integrity among professionals is a daunting task. It will require a new kind of solidarity among grassroots people, family members, plus anyone who is realistic to understand the current threats to the family and civilization. Something of this nature is going on presently in Ontario. Parents opposed to the Liberal government’s radical sex education program organized a multi-city Awareness Car Rally that was held in the Greater Toronto Area on August 1, 2015. Cars were decked out with red flags that read: “No to irresponsible sex education,” or “My child my choice”. The battle lines have been established. The Liberal government has launched a $1.8 million summer ad campaign promoting the sex-ed curriculum. How does one win a war against a government that has unlimited assets at its disposal. “I don’t have $1.8 million dollars to work with,” voiced a spokesperson for the Parents Alliance of Ontario, “but I do have 1.8 million parents to support us.”
We now live under the rule of a professional oligarchy. It is the great task of the people, especially family members, to regain a democratic form of government. The use of the Internet, the distribution of circulars, town meetings, and other ways of informing people that bypass a meretricious Media, will continue to be necessary. It is also urgent that Churches play a more vital role the restoration of democracy of respect for its citizens.
“It is not hard to find the truth,” Catholic philosopher Etienne Gilson once remarked, “what is hard is not to run away from it once you have found it.” The over-riding need, then, is for people to cultivate the virtue of integrity and stand by the truth, as in the case of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher. They must have the courage to serve the truth and resist the temptation to rationalize it away. ”An excuse,” wrote Saint John Paul II, “is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded.” We do not want shield ourselves against the truth. And integrity, in its highest form, means remaining faithful to the truth and doing what is right.
Dr. Donald DeMarco is a Senior Fellow of Human Life International. He is professor emeritus at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario, an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College in Cromwell, CT, and a regular columnist for St. Austin Review. His latest works, How to Remain Sane in a World That is Going Mad and Poetry That Enters the Mind and Warms the Heart are available through Amazon.com.
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