{"id":2416,"date":"2012-09-30T09:20:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-30T09:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/09\/a-brief-response-on-mark-sheas-blog.html"},"modified":"2012-09-30T09:20:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-30T09:20:00","slug":"a-brief-response-on-mark-sheas-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/09\/a-brief-response-on-mark-sheas-blog.html","title":{"rendered":"A brief response on Mark Shea’s blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
There were new posts yesterday, which is unusual. \u00a0Catholic and Enjoying It is typically dormant over weekends. \u00a0Because of that, I missed a little blog post about the state of things politically<\/a> in our nation, and where and how voting might be better used. \u00a0Now it\u2019s no secret to\u00a0those\u00a0who frequent CAEI that the blog has become far more political in recent years, and that the sympathies tend to go toward third party candidates, particularly Ron Paul, and against the two major\u00a0political\u00a0parties. \u00a0This post was no different. \u00a0Since I doubt anyone will read my response there, and since my readership spiked to record\u00a0levels\u00a0this month (still light on comments, please feel free and joining as followers, too!), I thought I would copy and paste my response. \u00a0It\u2019s long for a combox, but probably too brief for other forms, but I didn\u2019t feel like retyping it, since it gets the gist of my thoughts on the political scene, at least in abridged form.\u00a0<\/div>\n


<\/span>Didn\u2019t realize new posts came on the weekends. Here are my quick thoughts. First, voting your conscience can come in a variety of ways. There is no obvious way that real Catholics who really love Jesus will vote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span>Second, we should ask if our system is so corrupt as to be beyond hope or not. If so, then trying an alternative would certainly be justified, if not recommended. But is it really beyond hope as it is? The two parties I mean. Are they beyond hope? Is the corruption that much of a forgone conclusion, or is there something folks could do within the system \u2013 realizing that no real alternative is without the same problems as the dreaded two party system.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span>Third, the deplorable candidacy of Romney. Why does the GOP get such crappy nominations? I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s easy to say because the big money folks want it that way. But really, could it be more? Maybe the good folks don\u2019t want to try, or wouldn\u2019t make it anyway. Let\u2019s be honest, if you are a GOP candidate, you\u2019re going to get reamed up the tailpipe by the media. The country is in trouble we say? You\u2019d never know it watching or reading most national media sources. A few bumps in the road, but we owe our salvation to Obama. Meanwhile if Romney (or any GOP candidate) so much as burps, they\u2019re running three weeks of exploratory investigations and specials.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Think of Ron Paul \u2013 since I know there are many Paul fans here. Think of what the media did to him. Typically they either ignore him, or they love the guy since he\u2019s a Republican who spends much of his time trashing Republicans. Like McCain before him, many seem quite fond of him for this. But going into Iowa, for a brief moment, it looked as though Paul might, just might, get the Caucuses. And what happened then? Suddenly some obscure newsletter from decades before became the focus as Paul had to dodge question after question, suggesting his ties to the Nazis, his Antisemitism, does he have idols of Hitler, and so on. It pissed him off, and rightly so. But it also snagged and snarled his campaign when they could have moved forward. When he fell behind, where did those stories go?<\/span>\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span>So that\u2019s what any GOP candidate must endure \u2013 the gauntlet. Add to that the \u2018thing that used to be conservatism\u2019s\u201d tendency for the circular firing squad. I\u2019ve never cared for that label personally. Since I was old enough to pay attention, this was the thing always known as conservatism. By the time I was old enough, conservatism was defined in our culture as Frank Burns, Archie Bunker, Alex Keaton, the Duke Brothers \u2013 those were conservatives: ready to nuke babies for the American way and screw the poor for Wall Street.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span>I also noticed that there were some conservatives who lived up to those stereotypes. There were others who didn\u2019t. But there was an uneasy alliance. Maybe it was just me, but most I knew who voted GOP in the 90s didn\u2019t think \u2018wow, these guys care so much for Christian\/religious\/pro-life issues.\u2019 They knew there were plenty who didn\u2019t. Many who opposed such things. But there was an uneasy alliance because they saw this global revolution alternately named liberal, or progressive, or the Left as a greater threat. Whatever happened during the 00s to break the alliance, I don\u2019t know. But the idea that suddenly the conservative movement changed? I don\u2019t think so. Not because of this or that or Protestant mega-churches. I have a feeling it was growing hostility by those who paint the national narrative, with a few changes for the worst (the most notable being some conservatives officially willing to utilize torture) causing many to bail.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span>So those are my thoughts as I get ready for some coffee. By now I doubt anyone will come back until tomorrow, but it got things off my chest.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There were new posts yesterday, which is unusual. \u00a0Catholic and Enjoying It is typically dormant over weekends. \u00a0Because of that, I missed a little blog post about the state of things politically in our nation, and where and how voting might be better used. \u00a0Now it\u2019s no secret to\u00a0those\u00a0who frequent CAEI that the blog has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA brief response on Mark Shea's blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There were new posts yesterday, which is unusual.  Catholic and Enjoying It is typically dormant over weekends.  Because of that, I missed a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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