|
With the election coming around the corner, I thought I'd give my thoughts. Since Catholic Music Zine is not a not-for-profit organization, I can state my views without out any risk of losing my tax status.
Deep in the hearts of many Catholics is the right to lift issue. We prayed for the election at mass. I don't doubt that many other churches did the same. Many have spoken on the importance of voting pro-life. Catholic Answers has even created a “Catholic Voter's Guide,” which is now in video form: http://www.catholic.com/support/voters_guide.asp The voter's guide tells Catholics that there are five non-negotiable issues for the Catholic voter. This means that a Catholic cannot in good conscience support a candidate who takes the wrong stand on any of these issues. The five issues are: Abortion Euthanasia Same sex marriage. Embryonic stem cell research human cloning.
The voter's guide encouraged Catholics not to vote according to a political party, but to research the issues and find out the candidate's stance on these issues. The guide also makes it clear that we shouldn't vote for someone merely because he's Catholic. The voter's guide is a good resource. It helps remind Catholic of the main moral issues are facing our country today. The problem I have with many conservatives is that they talk about the importance of the life issue, but then they give a little “wink, wink” to each other because what they really mean is that we need to vote Republican. We need to remember that it's not just a political party we need to support, it's the intrinsic right to life. The current election is a perfect example of why the Republican vote is not a safe bet on the issue of life. The Republican candidate for president, John McCain, as senator has voted to allow Embryonic stem cell research. John McCain has taken the wrong position on one of the five non-negotiable issues.
I've found only one presidential Candidate who has taken the Catholic stand on all five issues. His name is Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party. I've tried to point this out to Catholics and the response I get is not encouraging. I'm told that “Chuck Baldwin doesn't stand a chance to win” or “if you vote for a third party you'll just be supporting Obama.” Of course these are silly arguments. The only way to “support Obama” is to either vote for him or encourage others to do the same and I have no intention of doing either. What these arguments really show is how bad of a Candidate McCain really is. I've yet to hear anyone defend McCain and explain how he plans to end abortion. No one has shown me how he supports Catholic morality better then Chuck Baldwin. The only reason to vote for McCain is because he's a Republican, and thus keeps a Democrat out of office. This is the hypocrisy of the conservative Catholics. Catholic morality is touted about as an election issue, but then (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) it only applies to Democratic candidates. The reason pro-life candidates don't win is because were fed this hypocrisy election after election. Instead of voting for someone who will work to end abortion, we're told to vote against someone else. More specifically, were told to vote Republican, to keep the evil Democrats out. Voting to keep someone out of office will never end abortion. We need to vote for someone that will fight with us.
|
