... "Because the democratic process operates apart from the Church, it possesses no corrective against corrupted human nature beyond its own equally corrupt judiciary, which ends by judging not only points of law but morality itself." "There is no mention of the family in the U.S. Constitution, nor in any others patterned on its principles, and that in itself is ominous. With the onset of democracy, the family's juridical standing disappeared, along with that of God and His Church. Nor is there any mention of marriage, upon which the family rests as a social institution above all others. From the moment all men were declared equal, the family was legally replaced by the individual as basic cell and archetype of society. In other words, family rights simply disappeared into "the Rights of Man." In a radio broadcast in 1949 Pius XII said, "Counterfeiting God's designs in social matters has taken place at the very root, by deforming the divine image in man. For his true figure as a creature with an origin and destiny in God, has been substituted the false portrait of a man autonomous in conscience, uncontrolled master of himself, irresponsible towards his neighbor and the social group, with no destiny beyond the earth, with no purpose beyond enjoying finite goods, with no law beyond the 'fait accompli' and the undisciplined satisfaction of his desires." In addition to the previously mentioned topics, Hertz also addresses the clashes between science and faith, the Secret of La Salette, papal politics, and the apocalyptic "abomination of desolation." Whether you agree with her or not, Solange Hertz causes us to reconsider basic assumptions of the Brave New World that we live in; assumptions we might otherwise have never questioned in our lives. Because of its thought-provoking nature, Beyond Politics is a must-read for all Catholics who are seeking to preserve their Faith.