A little over two weeks ago I wrote about “fairness” and how this reasonable concept has morphed into an evil.  Not for the first time, I invoked C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” in that piece.  That book is, I think, a work of modern prophecy.  It sees so clearly into humanity, and most importantly our foibles, that there simply must be some sort of supernatural inspiration involved.  The overarching lesson of the book is that evil, real genuine evil, is not a matter of the spectacular, the mass murder or the gang rape, rather it is a matter of perversion wherein the good is altered ever so slightly until it becomes the evil.  It is not that rape and murder are good, but that they are relatively easy to control.  But perversion, of the type the book considers, is so gradual and so miniscule as to escape detection until it is too late.  The perversion can lead to the spectacular evil – like it does for Raskolnikov in “Crime and Punishment” – but often the perverted state is sufficient unto itself to rob the world of good. I look around me and I see the principles of perversion the demon Screwtape teaches so evident.

Thus, allowing pro-Palestinian protest – a good thing, permitting freedom of thought and expression – in London every weekend somehow is perverted into rendering London a “no-go zone” for Jews each weekend.  So bad have things gotten that they are no defacing portraits of former British Prime Ministers at Cambridge.  Freedom of expression becomes threats of racial violence and vandalism, whilst hiding behind claims of freedom of expression.  That’s Screwtape to a “T.”

Racism is evil and to combat it is good.  And yet our fight against racism has travelled to places like D.E.I. and “disparate impact thinking” to such a degree that meritocracy is on the verge of death.  The overzealous pursuit of one good being used to destroy another good.  Oh how Screwtape dances with delight.

Terrorism is a frightening thing and we should be on guard against it.  But just as the hunt for communist perversion lead to the completely evil McCarthy hearings – so it would seem the hunt for domestic terrorists is taking us down the same path.

Federal investigators asked banks to search and filter customer transactions by using terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” as part of an investigation into Jan. 6, warning that purchases of “religious texts” could indicate “extremism,” the House Judiciary Committee revealed Wednesday.

Fox News Digital has learned the committee also obtained documents that indicate officials suggested that banks query transactions with keywords like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops and more.

WOW!  No one wants to relive the Oklahoma City bombing of 30 years ago, or the far less consequential Jan 6 riots at the Capital.  But again, here we see the perversion of that pursuit, not to mention the perversion of our technological capabilities, turning that desire into a mania that casts suspicion on very normal, even upstanding, Americans.  And so Screwtape throws a celebratory party.

All of the examples of perversion I have listed here are plays upon institutional and bureaucratic passion.  You can’t write rules to control passion – its control is a matter of internal character development and discipline.  It means our institutions need to consider character when hiring and it means our institutions need accountability to even stronger character.

President Biden got one thing, probably only one thing, right in the SOTU this week – America seems at an inflection point.  But it is not a choice between left and right, Democrat or Republican – it is a choice of character.  Do we wish to be a nation of people that pursue passion to the point of perversion and ultimately evil or do we want to be a nation of people that pursue character and goodness?  Only time will tell and I am afraid that time is shorter than we might hope.