Patrons: Saints, Sinners and Scientists

St. Francis of Assisi and Charles Darwin are rarely paired as ideological foes, but in his invigorating keynote address New York Governor Mario Cuomo served them up as symbols of the philosophical clash between the Democratic and Republican parties. While Ronald Reagan has questioned Darwin's theory of evolution, Cuomo accuses the President of embracing social Darwinism, "survival of the fittest," as part of his supply-side economic theories.

By way of contrast, Cuomo offered as the patron of his party's principles the man G.K. Chesterton called "the world's one quite sincere democrat," St. Francis of Assisi. The wealthy 13th century Italian, a...

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