Mere Christianity, LA, and the Danger of Loving “Humanity”

“If you leave out justice you will find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials ‘for the sake of humanity,’ and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man.”
— C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book 3, “The Cardinal Virtues”

We are living through a moment that C.S. Lewis warned about long before most of us were born. His words — written not for politics but for the human heart — now echo through the streets of Los Angeles, through the debate over immigration, and through the growing divide in how Americans understand compassion itself.

At the center of this crisis is one simple question:

Do we love real people — or do we love the idea of “Humanity” so much that we forget the actual humans standing in front of us?

The False Compassion That Always Fails

The modern Left insists it is motivated by compassion. The slogans sound noble:

• “No human is illegal.”
• “Sanctuary for all.”
• “Justice for the oppressed.”

But slogans don’t feed families. They don’t protect neighborhoods. They don’t secure borders. And they don’t uphold the rule of law that keeps real, flesh-and-blood people safe.

When you strip away the bumper stickers, what remains is a pattern of lawlessness justified by abstract love for “Humanity.” It’s not rooted in personal responsibility for actual citizens, legal immigrants, or the families watching their cities decay.

This is what Lewis meant when he warned that loving “Humanity” in the abstract — while ignoring justice — turns men into monsters. In pursuit of utopia, real people suffer.

What Trump Is Trying to Do (Whether You Like Him or Not)

Contrary to what critics shout daily, Trump’s position — and that of many like him — isn’t rooted in hatred. It’s rooted in ordered compassion.

• Secure borders aren’t cruel — they’re how you create a nation where both citizens and legal immigrants thrive.
• Deporting those who break the law isn’t heartless — it’s respecting the sacrifices made by legal immigrants who followed the rules.
• Enforcing laws doesn’t tear families apart — it protects communities from the collapse of law and order that always harms the poorest first.
• Preserving the rule of law is what keeps the mob from replacing the government.

Justice creates the space where compassion can actually function.

Without it, you’re not left with mercy. You’re left with chaos. And eventually, with tyranny.

History Screams the Warning

What we’re witnessing isn’t new. The human heart has tried this before. And every time, it ends the same way.

🇮🇹 Rome (Late Republic)

• Rome let its borders weaken and its politics collapse into mob rule.
• Populist leaders bribed the masses with promises they couldn’t keep.
• Eventually, order collapsed and dictators like Caesar and Augustus rose — crushing freedom to restore stability.

🇫🇷 The French Revolution

• The Revolution began with soaring ideals: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”
• But without justice, those ideals produced the Reign of Terror — mass executions in the name of “the people.”
• It ended with Napoleon’s iron fist.

🇩🇪 Weimar Germany

• Weak leadership allowed lawlessness, riots, and border failures.
• Economic and social collapse paved the way for Hitler, who promised “order at any cost.”
• The world paid dearly.

🇻🇪 Venezuela

• Populist leaders promised endless compassion for the poor.
• Lawlessness and corruption destroyed the economy.
• Today, Venezuelans starve while the government clings to power.

The pattern is always the same:

First, the breakdown of law is tolerated in the name of compassion.
Then comes collapse.
Finally, tyrants emerge to “restore order” — at the cost of liberty.

If Trump (or Any Leader) Does Nothing

If leaders do what the Left demands — ignore borders, legalize lawlessness, tolerate riots — the future is already written.

• Cities will continue to burn.
• Lawlessness will spread and harden.
• Economic and social systems will fracture.
• Vigilantism will rise to fill the power vacuum.
• Eventually, Americans will cry out for order — and someone will answer that call. But what they offer may not be freedom.

The Bible saw it long before Lewis did:

“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”
— Ecclesiastes 8:11

Mercy without justice is not mercy. It’s the seedbed of evil.

The Arguments You’ll Hear — And Why They Fail

1️⃣ “You’re exaggerating. This isn’t Rome or Nazi Germany.”

• No one said it is — yet.
• History doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme.
• Every failed nation said, “That can’t happen here.” Until it did.

2️⃣ “Deportations are cruel. You’re breaking up families.”

• Enforcing law isn’t cruelty — it’s stability.
• Real cruelty is incentivizing people to break laws, risk their lives, and then abandoning them when the system collapses.

3️⃣ “Trump’s just a racist.”

• This is an attack on motive, not policy.
• Every nation has borders. Enforcing them isn’t hate — it’s responsible leadership.

4️⃣ “The system is broken; sometimes you have to break laws to expose injustice.”

• True civil disobedience accepts consequences for breaking unjust laws.
• What we see today is not protest — it’s anarchy enabled by cowardly leaders who refuse to enforce any laws at all.

5️⃣ “Jesus taught us to love and welcome the stranger.”

• Yes — with wisdom, order, and justice.
• Even ancient Israel had strict borders and immigration laws.
• Romans 13 teaches that government exists to enforce law — not erase it.

Lewis’s Warning Has Come to Our Doorstep

Lewis wasn’t writing about immigration. He was writing about human nature. He understood what few today still grasp:

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.”

Sometimes, the loving thing is the hard thing.

The Simplest Summary

The Left says:
“We must have compassion, even if it destroys justice.”

The Right says (or should say):
“True compassion cannot exist without justice.”

Loving Humanity without justice leads to cruelty.
Loving humans with justice allows mercy to thrive.
Lewis warned us. History confirms it.
And America is standing right on the edge.

— Gentleman Outlaw