Morally Coherent Catholic Voters Should Decide the 2012 US Presidential Election Comments
One simply cannot be a faithful Catholic and hold what is euphemistically called a "pro-choice" position on abortion or fail to defend true marriage and the family and society founded upon it. The same elite who currently control the Democratic Party - which abandoned its one time support for all the poor, including children in the womb - has now abandoned true marriage and the family and society founded upon it. They will reflect this in their ... Continue Reading
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While I concede that Christians cannot operate in a political vacuum, I still believe that mixing politics and religion undermines religion. While I see a general inclination towards the Republican party in this particular forum, the reality is that there might be just enough virtue in both parties to form one moral party, but even that will be quickly cancelled out once the egos and ambitious take over. Politics is about the acaquisition and maintenance of power and the politically ambitious will say whatever it takes to acquire power, seeking 50% plus one votes. At the moment, the base of Republican support is corporations, disaffected whites and the "religious right". If the gay community were to switch sides, the Republican party would quickly moderate their message. If the "religious right" were to switch sides, the Democratic party would moderate their message. In truth, we really have no real choice. I agree that morals should guide our votes, but the reality is that abortion and gay marriage are only symptoms of even more fundamental problems that neither party are willing to address because it might mean laying the blame where it belongs; on each and every one of us.
Government-run welfare is not the only way to help the poor. If Catholics will only practice principles of subsidiarity and 'universal destination of goods', the poor will always have the help they need. Catholics oppose abortion simply because it is evil (a sin that can draw down God's judgment on our nation). St Catherine of Siena's The Dialogue teaches that even if one will do a great good in the world by means of a single sin, it will be not pleasing to God (man should not "cause the injury of sin to self in order to be useful to others... it is not lawful to perform even one act of great virtue and profit to others, by means of the guilt of sin" - quote from The Dialogue chapter on 'A Treatise of Discretion').
As one woman said about the Democrats, "This is not my father's party."
The Democratic Party used to be a great party that stood for social justice, caring for the poor, etc. Now it's about promoting abortion, same-sex unions, unethical research "because we can", etc. And it's putting millions of tax dollars, that should go toward creating jobs, to abortion clinics and special interest groups. If abortion clinics are so precious, let the Hollywood elite fund them with their own money; use the tax dollars for something useful.
Craig, I understand that you feel called to help the poor; however, the current system (run by Democrats in power) just isn't cutting it. Many people are unemployed (remember, the so-called "unemployment rates" are only the people who qualify for unemployment checks; people who don't qualify aren't counted, neither are people who stay home because they got laid off and/or can't find work, so it's actually much higher than reports indicate). Many others are abusing the system... there are families at a school I know of in which BOTH parents stay home and play video games all day, living off the government assistance that is given to them for their children. EVERY household should have at least one working parent. Everyone who wants to work should be able to work. And nobody should be allowed to "live off the system" without contributing: either a job or volunteer work (a lot of people start out as volunteers and get hired by the companies/businesses they volunteer with). We need to have a new plan, one that focuses on creating new jobs and rewarding companies for keeping jobs in America. Maybe have an extra tax on companies that hire people overseas, and that tax money can go toward creating jobs here in America, and maybe tax breaks for keeping all the jobs in America.
And those programs you speak of, have already been cut extensively over the last few years. I live in California, a state that is always blue in election years. Everything is being cut and we are wondering where all the tax money went. No money for schools, road repairs, etc. There is a program called "Child Action" that pays for child care, that gets cut off after you've been on it and had a job for a while (Stage 3). The problem is, the jobs are minimum wage and you cannot afford child care without it. So you lose your job and go back to Stage 1.
And I beg to differ. Marriage and abortion are not "minor issues". Marriage/Family is the foundation of every civilization. When you undermine that with things like cohabitation, divorce and remarriage (promoted by liberals, the media, etc.), society starts to crumble because families are unstable. Kids are scarred permanently from growing up in broken homes. Fatherless children are much more likely to commit crimes, join gangs, teen pregnancy, poverty, abortion, depression, etc. All preventable if we as a society value family and uphold marriage and the family unit. And abortion is making us fall below replacement rate. We need to be at 2.1, but we are at 1.87 children per family. We are going to have a huge problem (like China has) where there is a high percentage of elderly people and not enough workers to pay for them. And then we'll have another big problem: the government will start to determine who is unworthy to live, who doesn't contribute enough, and then start enforcing mandatory euthanasia for the retired and disabled (their justification will be that there is not enough money to sustain them).
Ms. Fluke must think we're really stupid. Birth control costs $9/month at Walmart. That is $108/year, not $3,000 a year. Either she's pulling our leg or she was badly ripped off. And if you can't afford it, you go without it! Sex is not a need; the highest life expectancy is women religious. The people who think sex is a need have either been brainwashed or they're selling something. Or both.
Craig,
You have given a breif opinion of Romney here without any factual information but if you are trully concerned with the poor I want let you know my opinion of Obama from the facts we have been given.
I don’t care if Barack Hussein Obama was born on the Forth of July in Washington D.C. and his mother and dad were both members of the Salvation Army there are things about him which to anyone who calls himself a God fearing American would be cause for rejecting him as a candidate for public office.
The most unthinkable of all: he voted three times to continue the practice of and was personally responsible for blocking legislative attempts to prevent his desire to deny medical treatment for babies born alive following a botched abortion. But also, publicly displayed his disrespect of and contempt for our flag (not wanting to take sides) yet proudly admitted he and his wife had attended flag burning rallies. As president of the United States he visibly bowed to a Muslim king and then declared America was no longer a Christian nation. These are enough of the facts to remove him from office.
His record of playing the race card for his own benefit and to further polarize the public, criticizes free enterprise and capitalism, seizing and controlling private companies giving them to the very unions whose power hungry leaders had driven them to the brink of bankruptcy, selectively enforces the law through his DOJ and an AG who prosecutes on the basis of color, downplays his failures using manipulated math claiming he did not increase our debt by five trillion dollars, boldly and unashamedly uses Executive Orders to circumvent required legislation to accomplish his socialist agenda and much more clearly display his true character and personality and we can not afford to give the reins of our nation to him for the next four years and should have never allowed in the first place.
This article shows exactly what is WRONG with Catholicism today. Because of minor social issues, abortion and marriage, the Catholic church is abandoning its heritage of helping the poor. By supporting the Republicans, you are supporting the destruction of the social safety net that is helping millions to survive. And, I mean literally to survive. Romney wants to take away Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, job training, food stamps, head start, and so many other things that help the poorest of us.
The Catholic church is siding too much with the rich and powerful. Has the Church forgotten its vows of poverty? I think so.
Excellent article! I take issue with the reluctance of some Catholic Bishops and Clergy to use the pulpit to instruct the faithful on Catholic teaching in regard to such matters as "true" marriage and the sanctity of life. The failure of some to do so for fear of losing tax exempt status, or for fear of driving away their congregation, is unworthy of their calling as shepherds. I would that the stones should cry out when they remain silent.
The practical application of Catholic moral teaching is dependent upon a "rightly formed conscience." Those lacking in that essential character, for whatever reason, are subject to deception and temptation in their secular, social and political life. They are prone to accept immoral political philosophies and tolerate the implementation of immoral policies by government entities.
In our constitutional republic, it is a civic and moral duty to elect good political leaders at all levels, not just those at the national level. To live as a morally coherent Catholic is to merge a rightly formed conscience with pro-active involvement in the secular, social and political life of our nation. That means that, win or lose, such Catholics cannot endorse, vote for or financially support candidates for office that espouse immoral philosophies or policies. For this reason, I cannot vote for either Obama or Romney.
We do not have canonized saints running for office. All of us are sinful and imperfect. We should pray for the wisdom, courage and strength to do those things in accordance with the will of God. Therein we cannot err.
Unfortunately,
Freedom in politics is no different from the freedom inherent in our free-will. It allows for choices. Those choices are made based on our mindset as guided by a heart fashioned by and from all previous choices we have made. This helps explain the following painful truth.
So chances are, regardless of and in direct conflict with your religious faith, if you are a teacher, civil servant, factory worker or any other person who has bound your body and future to an almighty labor union that has assured you of a job, health care and a hardy pension for your absolute loyalty to its agenda and a good portion of your earnings you must be willing to march and protest along side of them and dare not let it be known that you object to its choice and monetary support of progressive democratic political candidates for fear of losing your status.
If you are a conservative minded Black American and speak openly against Obama or his administration you are at risk of being a target of at least severe ridicule and/or even a visit by the New Black Panthers.
If you have a comfortable position in the Democratic Party with any influence over a constituency and wish to maintain that position or have the support of your party for reelection you must vote and be in lockstep with their socialist agenda.
This means there must be millions of otherwise decent God fearing red-blooded Americans who are aware they live in the greatest nation on earth and have benefited by and through their involvement with our free enterprise system of capitalism yet feel obligated to actually vote for a man and an administration opposed to all they stood for and which gave life to their dreams…or possibly even worse, not vote at all.
The sad thing is that these people seem to be oblivious of what could be seen as their hypocrisy. However, thank God, they still have…for a while… the freedom of a secret ballot.
JoAnn speaks truth from the heart.
After reading all the comments here it is clear to me we need a lot more JoAnn's out here if we hope to salvage our faith from the Evil one posioning the minds of "people of good Will".
Many of them will be spit out because they have chosen to be lukewarm riding the fence and thinking their faith can find no home in the world of political debate. When we have a choice to choose good or evil to not make a choice is choosing evil if you are Christian. No way around neglect of duty. You are with Him or against Him just as He said because you must consider those who will be affected by the results of action or inaction. And I would add that if you can not see the differences in the choices we have you need help. Pray more read more and research the issues and candidates but do not take the bait of the deceiver to sit on your hands while he is busy clouding the minds of the undecided.