Rising Stars

     It’s occurred to me recently that political ascension has come to require physical attractiveness, just as has pop stardom. We have a number of examples before us: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Kari Lake, Herschel Walker, and Ron DeSantis come to mind at once. But while comeliness seems to have become necessary, it is demonstrably not sufficient.

     A rising candidate must be able to offer – credibly — the voters of his constituency what they most value from the political system. Simply looking good on camera will get him some attention, but probably not enough to put him into office.

     Which brings us to the recent meteoric rise of Italy’s Giorgia Meloni.

     Miss Meloni is a very attractive woman, doubt it not. However, she has other things in common with the American politicians enumerated above. For one, she’s an unabashedly forceful speaker, unafraid of what the media or her opponents may say about her. For another, she knows precisely what Italian voters want from their government, and she represents just about all of it – quite credibly.

     Despite the efforts of the secularizers, who’ve been as active in Italy as anywhere else, Italy remains an overwhelmingly Christian – mostly Catholic – country. A great part of Miss Meloni’s appeal arises from her open, fearless Christianity and her political embrace of its fundamentals. Regard the following from her first speech as Italy’s Prime Minister, courtesy of The Catholic Thing:

     “Protecting our natural heritage is no less a duty for us than is the safeguarding of our heritage of culture, traditions, and spirituality, which we have inherited from our fathers in order that we might pass it on to our children…. The day our government took its oath before the head of state was the liturgical memorial of John Paul II, a pontiff, a statesman, a saint whom I had the honor of knowing personally. He taught me something fundamental that I have always treasured. ‘Freedom,’ he used to say, ‘does not consist in doing what we please, but in having the right to do what must be done.’ I have always been a free person, I will always be a free person, and for this reason I intend to do precisely what I must do.”

     Refreshing! At a time when even the highest statesmen of what was once known as Christendom, with few exceptions, downplay their religious affiliations (if any) for fear of alienating the radical atheists, Miss Meloni slaps them across the face with hers. If she governs as she has campaigned, it will constitute a smashing victory for the precepts that undergirded the continent once known as the powerhouse of the world. For history tells us that it is only in a political order compatible with the Gospels that Mankind can flourish socially, culturally, and economically.

     I have no doubt that the Death Cults of Italy are quaking in terror for the thought of what would become of them in a Gospel-compatible sociopolitical order. I doubt Miss Meloni’s administration would make Christianity an obligatory, state-supported religion. But hewing to the principles Christ enunciated in His time wearing the flesh, summarized beautifully in the Ten Commandments and the two Great Commandments, would restore a degree of public order Italy has not known for several decades. Even just rebuffing the waves of illegal immigration would do wonders for Italian society. Ask the French if you doubt that.

     The ascent of Giorgia Meloni should give fresh hope to the weary and heavy-laden of Europe. Let it be a lesson to aspiring political figures in America as well: Embrace the Gospels, publicly and unapologetically. Not as that clown John Kasich pretended to do, but as the Redeemer Himself prescribed and proscribed. And don’t forget to tip your personal trainer handsomely, come Christmas.