The chosen few

... [William James] gave special attention to the people he called the “sick souls,” those whose inner lives were marked by melancholy or fear, people who felt the world’s brokenness with burning intensity. Instead of dismissing them as unstable, he saw them as people who grasped the seriousness of life. Their suffering, he believed, was a sign that their hearts were tuned to deeper realities. ... 

More. 

We've gone from The Devil Made Me Do It to The Church Made Me Do It

 Oh right, the Church made me eat the donuts.

What a stupid, unserious thing to say.

If you want to know why England is now ruled by its insane Labour Party, you are looking at it.

 

Rod Dreher, Sanctimonious Scold, Turns His War For Seriousness on Herman Cain

Recently it was people in the church whom Dreher labeled unserious because they adopted a realistic view of the visible church where moral failure occurs. In Dreher's view, such people couldn't possibly appreciate how that might turn someone into an unbeliever.

Dreher has moved on to politicians like Herman Cain, whom he labels an unserious amateur, because he sang at the National Press Club, here:

When Herman Cain sang at the National Press Club the other day, I thought it was absurd. There he goes again, the clown. ... You wouldn’t trust an amateur to spay your cat or to give you sound investment advice for your 401(K) — yet there are millions of Republians who think an avuncular amateur like Herman Cain would do a great job as president of the United States, or at least a better job than Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, or anybody else on offer who has actually worked in politics. I’m not thrilled with these choices either, but come on, what is wrong with us?

Dreher is entitled to his opinion.

And mine is that under that dismissal of Cain lurks a disdainful view of Cain's Baptist religion, which isn't as elite as Dreher's Eastern Orthodoxy but which Cain wears far more effortlessly, cheerfully and convincingly than what most religious people put on.

If you want to believe that people who believe what Cain believes couldn't possibly be deep thinkers about anything, go right ahead. But to my way of thinking, I don't want a president constantly having an existential crisis about his faith like Dreher seems to have on a regular basis. He's gone from Methodist to Catholic to Eastern Orthodox to who knows what next.

Herman Cain knows where he wants to take the country, and his moral compass to get us there is set. If you don't want a population which exercises more self-restraint, self-control, savings, investment and personal responsibility for its own success, by all means, avoid Herman Cain. 

But if you want more of the same old same old handwringing about insoluble problems, any of the others will do.

(updated from November 2011)