"You ain't a lawyer no more, Dave. You a gangster now. On
the other side. A whole new ball game. You can't learn
about it in school, and you can't have a late start."
Carlito's Way

Carlito's Way tells the story of a lukewarm Christian, or perhaps an old-school, Constitutional liberal who has just been released from the Democrat plantation, who is trying to break free from his sinful gangster lifestyle.  Throughout the film, the reformed, quasi-Christian liberal finds himself in compromising situations.  His life and liberty are constantly under threat.  Without exception, his troubles come from his association with people who still think it's 1969, or 2004.  Lukewarm Christians, in other words.

And also liberals.

In the scene above, Carlito has to fight his way out of a room full of lukewarm Christian liberals with little more than his wits.  Some naive kid drags Carlito into a drug deal, so that he can show him off to all his "friends."  The kid's friends are all lukewarm Christians who deal in self-righteousness and manufactured social causes (symbolized by the drugs), but the kid doesn't know it.  The kid gets what he voted for, and ends up face down in an empty cooler.  Carlito barely makes it out of the room with his life.

Close one, buddy.

Kleinfeld is a smug, self-righteous grifter who works for the DNC, or an establishment news outlet.  He also symbolizes the false prophets who preach a prosperity gospel without repentance to lukewarm Christians.  Believing himself incapable of error, and also untouchable due to his privileged legal status, Kleinfeld skims millions of dollars from donations received in the name of the party.  When faced with the necessity to follow through with his actions and commit an obvious, unrighteous crime, Kleinfeld exclaims with incredulity, "I'm a liberal," or perhaps, "I'm a pastor," implying that he can't follow through with the consequences of his sin, because his righteousness makes him incapable of it.  He crossed the line.  He crossed it, because he never thought he'd come anywhere near it.  Because he believed himself to be above the line of moral culpability, he wasn't looking for it.

So, inevitably, the line came to him.

Gail symbolizes truth, and is Carlito's love interest throughout the film.  Carlito dreams of taking Gail away from the lukewarm, liberal wasteland they currently inhabit, where Antifa members and gay privileges activists harangue him at every turn.  In prison, Carlito learned that there is no such thing as minority-group rights, only human rights, and that anything that requires a permit or license is, legally speaking, not a right.  Rights can only be exercised in real time by any given individual; privileges must be granted (and can be revoked) by an entity more powerful than the individual.  Since nobody in this town wants to hear it, Carlito knows he has to get out.  When he is faced with the recording of Kleinfeld ratting him out, Carlito has to make a decision.

Stay true to the code of the rats, or repent?

Carlito tries to walk the line, and symbolizes the lukewarm Christian who has one foot in the world, and one foot in paradise.  He buys a train ticket to get out of town with Gail.  Carlito knows better, but since he has once again become entangled with his former way of thinking, he has to face the consequences.  Can he play with sin and still escape?  Will Carlito avoid the consequences of his sin nature on sin's own terms?

Or should he have never returned to his vomit in the first place?

While it's possible to enjoy the film as nothing more than a warning against the dangers of clinging to an obsolete way of thinking about politics (or anything), Carlito's Way also cautions against trying to make it to Heaven with one foot in the world.  If you want to make it to Paradise, you can not compromise your pursuit of truth.  If you believe that the "yourness" of truth is what's important, you're more interested in the fact that it's yours, not whether or not it's true.  As a result, you will be gunned down on the train platform of the world.  If you try to define truth on your own terms, if you choose “your” way like Carlito did, you won't even get on the train.  You will die on the platform.

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto the Father, but by me.”
John 14:6

If, on the other hand, you pursue truth with all your heart, mind, and soul, you will find yourself in Paradise, dancing by the crystal sea.

I sincerely hope to see you there.

Thanks for listening.