– Milton Freidman

Whether the topic is “Democratic Socialism,” or priest sex abuse cases, or top-down corruption in the law enforcement agencies Americans used to trust, there is evil all around us, and it’s permeating society.

Evil thrives in an environment of cowardly permissiveness, Matt Walsh eloquently said in a recent article. It is people who allow evil in. While Walsh used this in his column to address the needed cleansing of the Catholic Church, it is also occurring in our government, politics and society.

Overgrown big government has turned honest employees into cheaters, thieves and liars. And then they turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the gross abuses in government so their own personal gravy train does not dry up. Think about the California DMV employees who sleep half the day away while eight-hour wait times for drivers license renewals are now the norm. Or the 3,000 Caltrans engineers who have nothing to do. Or every state agency in California with toxic employees who falsely accuse supervisors of harassment… and good people say nothing.

Today’s Democrats seem to no longer love America. They tear down American traditions and historic statues; they destroy nature while pretending to care about the climate. They create regulations preventing forest management. They create water shortages and wildfires, and then tell us we must “get used to it.” They say we must outlaw the internal combustion engine, and sign laws to limit every Californian to 50 gallons of water a day.

They call this a “new normal.”  It’s not normal and it’s not new; it is Socialism.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and Cynthia Nixon, who call themselves “Democratic Socialists,” want to end capitalism. Numerous Socialists and Marxists writers are calling for the overthrow of capitalism, and American’s Democratic Republic, through violent means, if necessary. We are already seeing the violence in Antifa, which ironically is quite fascist, despite calling themselves “anti-fascists.”

The left attacks innocent people. They are violent. They are envious, and rarely build anything of value. They believe the only good wealth is through government sources, and those attached to government – not through private wealth gain.

Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, “We’re not going to make America great again. It was never that great,” during a speech last week. That is the epitome of evil and hatred of a country in which he has become successful.

“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” (John Stuart Mill, British philosopher, economist, 1867)

That sentiment rings true again today.

We’ve had rampant sex scandals in Congress and state Legislatures. California’s gross State Capitol sex scandals became so prevalent and such a distraction from the business of socializing the state, the Democratic Senate and Assembly leaders shut down the investigations, without rooting out all of the perpetrators, leaving a significant stench still under the dome. They essentially did what decades of Catholic Bishops have done with homosexual and pedophile priests – covered up the worst abuses, and forced out the victims and whistleblowers.

Ironically, “while the California Legislature is trying to ban reparative therapy for gays who don’t want to live a gay lifestyle, the sham sexual harassment investigations of predatory lawmakers continue en force with lawmakers still enjoying attorney-client privilege, which I have written about since November 2017,” I recently wrote in a column.

Perhaps they learned from the best: Former President Bill Clinton has gotten away with accusations of sex abuse and rape for decades. Why?

Taxpayers have unknowingly paid out millions to settle California lawmaker’s sex abuse cases, as well as those in Congress.

Hollywood also did the sex abuse cover up for years – that is until Ronan Farrow exposed Producer Harvey Weinstein as a decades-long serial rapist, abuser and sexual bully.

It was not only an open secret about Weinstein, but that to succeed in Hollywood, pretty young women had to sleep with some successful director, producer or studio mogul. It wasn’t just confined to Weinstein.

What was most informative following the Weinstein expose` was how many already successful Hollywood starlets only spoke up about being sexually harassed, abused, assaulted or raped AFTER they were successful. Those who spoke up early on usually ended up leaving Hollywood for normal lives or were blacklisted by those who sought to abuse them.

We have unbridled corruption at the top of our federal law enforcement agencies, in the environmental protection agency, and the IRS, to name only a few. Corrupt agents at the IRS abused their authority during the Obama years, targeting conservative groups. Now corruption is commonplace at the highest echelons of the FBI, CIA and DOJ, where high-ranking officials have become grossly politicized. While this all happened under the Obama presidency, it didn’t start there.

Going back to the Clinton presidency, politicization of everything was the focus, and corruption was also quite commonplace. During the eight years of the George Bush presidency, it only continued and thrived because Bush and his administration never drained the swamp from the Clinton administration. So we’ve had decades of this abuse of government.

Matt Walsh recently reported there are at least 260 cases of sexual abuse against minors in protestant churches every year. “There is no evidence, and no reason to believe, that they are any better at dealing with the problem or any less likely to cover it up. In fact, some in the Protestant community believe they are worse in that regard. And Christianity isn’t the only religion struggling with this issue. The Jewish community has its own problems. As do Muslims. As do Buddhists,” Walsh reported.

He correctly identifies the sex abuse crisis in the sports world, and in medicine, “where thousands of physicians have been accused of assaulting their patients. Two of the most prolific sex abusers in American history were doctors — Larry Nassar, who assaulted hundreds of young athletes, and Early Bradley, who molested over 100 small children in his pediatric office.”

News legend Tom Brokaw was accused of sexual harassment in what he says was an ambush. “I have no idea whether Brokaw is a sexual harasser or not,” I recently wrote. “However, former NBC correspondent Linda Vester and another woman say Brokaw sexually harassed them 20 years ago – apparently “unwanted advances” now constitute sexual harassment. Do you think these women would be accusing some obscure guy they worked with 20 years ago who wasn’t famous and rich, of “unwanted advances?”

The University of Texas has announced a new program to treat masculinity as a “mental health issue.”

“Toxic masculinity” is now a crime on college campuses. Learned professors want “Toxic masculinity awareness” taught to children as young as kindergarten, while sex abuse and harassment among professors and college staff continues.

This isn’t guys gone crazy. This isn’t “feminism.” It is evil, which means profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity. Any of the above scenarios can be described as immoral, wicked and depraved.

Walsh says evil must be condemned from the pulpit. He is right. But evil must be condemned from government, Congress, Legislatures, academia, sports, and news organizations.

Listen to the hysteria and blatant lies told on “news” programs by ranting hosts, by former top-level Obama administration officials, and former Republican officials and consultants. These are people who don’t want their evils uncovered.

I’ve suggested a reformation is needed in the Catholic Church to root out the evil. Matt Walsh says, “Lay Catholics are not powerless here,” and the laity “must wield its power.”

Voters must do the same. There is no longer time for false civility while our state and country are being destroyed by evil doers. Evil is everywhere.

“To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.”

Abraham Lincoln