"Losing ourselves altogether"

From "The Philosophers and Churchmen Who Fell for Fascism." This is a lesson for any believer who comes to prioritize political commitment above first things:

“Everything begins as a mystique and ends as a politique,” [Charles] Péguy wrote. By “mystique” he meant the transcendent commitment to a certain ideal. One enters into public life inspired by notions of justice, liberty, fairness, and right, but in the actual action of politics, one faces repeated temptations to compromise, to put victory above truth and virtue. The great danger is that this process can be imperceptible to the person undergoing it. “An action begun as a mystique continues in politics, and we do not notice that we are crossing the dividing line. Politics devour the mystique and we fail to jump out.” Without knowing it, we make little choices to compromise on telling the truth, or to use underhanded means to achieve our ends, or to slander our opponents. As time goes on, the compromises get deeper and deeper, and we risk losing ourselves altogether.

It is possible, however, to jump off this terrible train at any point. Maritain did it. Péguy wrote that a person with his or her heart in the right place can discern, finally, where the dividing point is that separates support for one’s ideals and the embrace of the brute political power struggle. If a person chooses to jump out, he will be called a traitor by his political compatriots. But for those who stay on board the train of moral compromise, Péguy had harsh words: “The real traitor, in the full sense of the word, in the strong sense of the word, is the man who sells his faith, who sells his soul and gives himself up, loses his soul, betrays his principles, his ideal, his very being, who betrays his mystique and enters into its corresponding politique.”

Nathan Beacom, "The Philosophers and Churchmen Who Fell for Fascism," The Dispatch, March 23, 2026.