By David G Bonagura, Jr., The Catholic Thing - “Political problems,” wrote Russell Kirk, “at bottom, are religious and moral problems.” In other words, our beliefs and morals shape our politics, not the other way around. Beneath every hotly contested political topic of today or yesteryear – immigration, tariffs, welfare, health care, DEI, the Cold War, supply-side economic theory, segregation, slavery, westward expansion, independence from Britain – lie beliefs that shape the approach and policy. There is no such thing as a “neutral” politics devoid of prior beliefs and principles.