EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Governor Huckabee Speaks with Catholic Online

By Deacon Keith Fournier
12/15/2007
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

In the midst of campaigning for the Republican Presidential nomination, the former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, whose rise in the polls has been the story of the hour, took time out of his busy campaign schedule to speak with Catholic Online on issues of concern to Catholics.

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Republican Presidential hopeful, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, joined by wife Janet, left, greets supporters after speaking Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007, at the New Hampshire Community Technical College in Berlin, N.H.

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (Catholic Online)

Deacon Keith Fournier: �Governor Huckabee, we thank you for taking this time to speak with Catholic Online. We want the millions of people who view our network to have access to your positions on the vital issues of our day.

As you know, American Catholics are deeply concerned about this upcoming Presidential election.

We were recently instructed by our Bishops to inform our conscience with the truths presented to us in Catholic social teaching and then to exercise our citizenship accordingly.

This Social teaching is not �left� or �right�, �liberal�, �conservative� or �neo-conservative.� It is also not only for Catholics, other Christians or even just �religious people�. It is for all people, offered by the Church to all who seek to build a truly just society. It is called �social� because it speaks to human society and to the formation, role and rightful place of social institutions.

Catholic Social teaching maintains that there are some unchangeable truths, such as the dignity of every human person, and the right to life, from conception to natural death; the primacy of authentic marriage and the family founded upon it; and our obligation in solidarity to one another, and, most especially, to the poor and needy in our midst.

The Catholic position is that these truths can be known by all men and women because they are revealed in the Natural law and expounded upon in Revelation.

It also presents an understanding of human freedom as being properly exercised only with reference to the truth and at the service of our obligations to one another. Any authentic understanding of human freedom must also promote religious freedom because it is a good of the human person and a fundamental human right.

Finally, the compass that is to guide us all as we seek to be both faithful citizens and faithful Catholic Christians is our commitment to the Common Good.

Catholics do not accept the notion that these truths, such as the fundamental right to life, are �religious� positions, in the sense that only religious people need assent to them. Rather, they are human positions. They obligate us all.

Also, we do not accept the notion that our commitment to respect every human life from conception to natural death is a �single issue� approach. Rather, it presents a framework through which we must evaluate every other issue. Children in the womb are our first neighbors. They are also, in the words of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, the �poorest of the poor�.

Catholic Social teaching also offers principles for good governance. Because they are �principles�, they leave room for the application of prudential judgment. Included among these principles is the principle of subsidiarity which, simply stated, says that government is best when it is closest to those being governed and that it should begin with, and defer to, the smallest governing unit, which is the family.

Governor, we have followed your campaign with great interest. As your numbers have begun to rise in the polls, there appears to be an effort underway to �marginalize� you by saying that you appeal only to �Evangelical Protestants�, or to call you the candidate of the so called �religious right�.

As a Catholic, I know that a growing number of people like me, who consider ourselves to be whole life/pro-life, pro-marriage and family, pro-poor, pro-freedom and pro-peace, (and therefore do not like the prevailing labels), are greatly interested in your positions.

Please accept these questions as the beginning of what I hope can be the beginning of further discussions between you and Catholic Online.

QUESTION: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing America today?

Governor Huckabee: �We are, right now, a very polarized country, and that polarized country has led to a paralyzed government. I think the first priority of the next president is to be a president of all the United States. We've got to be the united people of the United States. And a president has got to somehow remind us that we are a great, resilient nation that has to stick together to solve our problems.

I think people in this country are looking for leadership. They're looking for change. They're looking for the people who would be elected to be not so much a ruling class but a servant class.

We've forgotten that. Our Founding Fathers had a brilliant, really revolutionary idea, that the people elected would not represent the elite, but would represent the ordinary people.

Our Founding Fathers had the idea that when we are elected, we're not elected as a part to be elevated up, but to truly remember who it is we work for.�

QUESTION: What is your position on the dignity of every human life from conception to natural ...

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1 - 1 of 1 Comments

Rick C
4 years ago
Thank you for providing this interview for our consideration. Please allow me to comment.

The "interview" spends more than half of its length on "pro-life" issues, and yet, remarkably, not a single question or word about the Death Penalty in Arkansas. Consider these quotes from the Governor in this interview:
1. "What I accomplished as Governor proves that there is a lot more that a pro-life President can do than wait for a Supreme Court vacancy, and I will do everything I can to promote a pro-life agenda and pass pro-life legislation. I'll veto any pro-abortion legislation Congress passes. I will staff all relevant positions with pro-life appointees. I will use the Bully Pulpit to change hearts and minds, to move this country from a culture of death to a culture of life."
2. "I have always been actively and aggressively pro-life. No candidate has a stronger or more consistent record on the sanctity of life than I do."
3. "The many pro-life laws I got through my Democrat-controlled Legislature are the accomplishments that give me the most pride and personal satisfaction."

Now, I ask you, how can he say those things with a straight face, when we see in this article from Arkansas Matters (http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/?cid=63338 ) the quote: "Since the death penalty was re-instated as constitutional in 1976, there have been 27 executions in Arkansas. Sixteen of those were signed off by former Governor Mike Huckabee". (To be fair, I'll also include this tidbit: "In all, Arkansas executed four people on Clinton's watch.") Fortunately, not as many as the 152 executions that George W Bush presided over in Texas! See "Death in Texas", by Sister Helen Prejean: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17670 (And, of course, we all know that the Death Penalty is NOT a deterrent. For example, see: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/murder-rates-1996-2007 and note that "For 2007, the average Murder Rate of Death Penalty States was 5.5, while the average Murder Rate of States without the Death Penalty was 3.1")
And yet, with all of this "pro-life" legislation, he never proposed doing away with the Death Penalty in Arkansas?

Who are we (any man) that we should dare raise ourselves to God's level by holding someone in judgement and taking their life? And worse, do it almost "gleefully"? (See this article on George W Bush in Texas: http://www.commondreams.org/views/101800-102.htm which brings up some of the same points that Sister Helen wrote about, specifically how apparently little thought he gave when considering each case.)

Another quote: "I support and have always supported passage of a constitutional amendment to protect the right to life. As President, I will fight for passage of this amendment. My convictions regarding the sanctity of life have always been clear and consistent, without equivocation or wavering."
Oh, really? Even if that same amendment would include overturning the Death Penalty?

As far as answers on marriage were concerned, I thought he is quite extreme. He leaves no room for homosexual unions of any kind. How do you think that makes those folks feel, when we now know that homosexuality is not "learned", but is genetic? Does the Gov mean they should be excluded from society totally? Doesn't sound very Christian to me.

Talk about "pandering to an audience", he pulls out this quote and comment: "The late Cardinal O'Connor decried a domestic partnership law (which provided that all couples who signed up, whether heterosexual or homosexual, would be treated the same as married couples) as legislating that "marriage doesn't matter."
I agree with the Cardinal: marriage does matter. And, I would add that nothing in our society matters more."

Wow... that really gives those of us who have chosen to remain single a reason to live, doesn't it?? Guess it doesn't matter the work we do, the good we do, the progress we make for mankind, the charities we support, the support we give to others... throw it all away, because "nothing in our society matters more" than marriage?? Really? Then why was the Gov unsuccessful in convincing even the people of his own state of this? Despite the Gov's efforts, we see that: "In 2004, the state with the highest reported divorce rate was Nevada, at 6.4 (per 1,000). Arkansas was a close second, with a divorce rate of 6.3"! (from: http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/statsUS.shtml)

Aside from social issues, there was not enough discussion in the interview concerning the economy. As a conservative, his first response on the economy was to change the tax system.... and he wants to move NOT to a flat tax, but a "FairTax", which is nothing more than a national sales tax. People are not buying goods now; just think how much less likely they will be to buy goods if there is a significant tax on things you buy! And worse, it will only apply to "new" items, so that will further encourage people to buy "used", which reduces demand for new goods. New goods need to be produced, so it puts people to work. Not so with used goods (except, perhaps, for repair).
He also said: "As I traveled the country and the world over the last decade bringing jobs to Arkansas, the business leaders I met weren't worried about creating jobs, they were worried about finding skilled and professional workers to fill those jobs." I'll bet that isn't the case now! I'll bet they are trying to figure out how to get rid of workers!

I appreciate your providing a place for discussion of your articles and interviews. Thank you!!!

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