I Am a Catholic, And I Vote
Posted by: tony on 11/27/2007 12:47 AM
Updated by: tony on 11/27/2007 12:47 AM
Expires: 12/28/2007 12:00 AM
Though being a faithful Catholic, and engaging in the current political process in the United States makes me ill at times. I was reading on Intentional Disciples, the following:
A particular problem of conscience can arise in cases where a legislative vote would be decisive for the passage of a more restrictive law, aimed at limiting the number of authorized abortions, in place of a more permissive law already passed or ready to be voted on. Such cases are not infrequent. . . In a case like the one just mentioned, when it is not possible to overturn or completely abrogate a pro-abortion law, an elected official, whose absolute personal opposition to procured abortion was well known, could licitly support proposals aimed at limiting the harm done by such a law and at lessening its negative consequences at the level of general opinion and public morality. This does not in fact represent an illicit cooperation with an unjust law, but rather a legitimate and proper attempt to limit its evil aspects. [ed. - emphasis, mine.]
"Limiting the evil aspects". I believe that is where we're at as Catholic when it comes to voting. We have differing viewpoints with regard to the hierarchy of evil, and therefore have different "agendas" with regard to the politicians we support. We are called to utilize out informed Catholic consciences to vote for the politician who has the best chance at minimizing evil.
One of the issues that has been causing me consternation is the insistence of the powers that be to back the "Rudy juggernaut". I believe much of it is driven by a fatalistic pragmatism. The "doomsday scenario" goes like this:
The daughter of Satan, Hillary Clinton, is poised to take her party's nomination
America's Mayor™, Rudy Giuliani, is the only one able to beat her in the general election
It's acknowledged that Rudy has a lot of socially liberal baggage that follows along with him. Though he has promised to nominate strict constructionist judges, there are no guarantees, and if elected, one would guess that there will be a huge increase in "gay rights" and other issues we social conservatives disagree with
If Rudy is nominated, prominent social conservative (mostly Evangelical Christian) leaders have promised to run a third party candidate against him, giving social conservatives two bad choices. Vote for Rudy, when you know in your heart of hearts the other guy is the better man, or vote for the better man, handing the country to Hillary
So here is where I have a problem. Paul, the regular guy and someone who I consider a "blog friend", will refuse to vote for Rudy. He believes (as I do) that a "President Giuliani" will be a death knell for the pro-life wing of the GOP. I have even gone so far as to state that I think that it would be better to vote for a pro-abortion Democrat than a pro-abortion Republican.
I will never support Giuliani in the primary. Currently my favorite is Fred Thompson, followed by Huckabee, Romney and McCain. My goal is to see Rudy beaten soundly in the primary. I believe all faithful Catholics should be doing the same.
However, where the rubber meets the road, should Giuliani be nominated, and I were to salve my conscience by voting for a pro-life third party candidate, I would know in my heart of hearts that I was casting half a vote for Hillary. If she got into the White House, especially if Democrats retained control of the House and Senate, we could expect countless more babies to die than under a President Giuliani. We can expect increased funding for Planned Parenthood, federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, "fairness doctrine"-like attacks on our free speech rights, many new and varied taxes and social programs, and new attacks on pro-life activists and groups.
And I know that I would have been responsible for that and when I die, I would have to explain it to Jesus and the countless innocent victims of abortion in heaven.
I can't do that.
Though I would love to poke my finger in the eye of the Republican party for forgetting their loyal base, I can't get that sort of satisfaction on the backs of dead babies.
I will fight, with every fiber of my being, a Giuliani nomination. If however, he is nominated, I will be pulling his lever.
