My short reaction. It is too long. Focus for the most part has been on 3 paragraphs. There’s even more than a few who have focused on just a couple of sentences of the document. No one appears to have had trouble finding exactly what they want to hear in this document and that is a problem. The highest praise folks seem to give it is that it doesn’t get anything wrong. It purports itself to be voting guide, but it is pretty much a restatement of the USCCB’s domestic policy agenda. I don’t have a problem with that policy agenda, but I also don’t see any particular party’s candidates opining to bring back racism or remove the last vestiges of it. (This doesn’t mean someone can’t make a second or third order argument over the matter. That kind of reasoning has its own problems that I won’t go into here.) One thing the guide doesn’t do is provide manifest conclusions over which candidates, as in putative ones informed by watching American elections over the past two dozen years, one should seek to elect. For those so inclined to debate this point, we can take exit polling next November and see which candidate people who based their votes on Faithful Citizenship chose. For those not mired in relativism and who believe in truth, there will be a candidate next fall who will be objectively better than the other candidate.
Or maybe there won’t be. Maybe we will just choose between two candidates who will take courses that any prudential man can choose to follow. Perhaps the Pary of Death and Party of Pertpetual War, Amen, Party are just figments of an overactive imagination. Judging by the reactions, I don’t think so. The real problem and the elephant in the room is that there really is no agreement. I am sure there are plenty of bishops who would be perfectly happy adopting Priests For Life’s Voting Guide. Since I’m somewhat cognizant, even after a few drinks, I would know from that guide who to support in the next election, particularly once we are done with the primaries. I’m pretty comfortable asserting that there are a number of bishops who find the Republican platform outside its abortion plank and a few other positions to be completely repugnant. If one wanted to abuse Faithful Citizenship and just do an issue comparison, there is no question which party one should support in the next election.
Maybe like Soloman, we should split the baby right in the middle. Half the Catholics should support the Republicans, the other half should support the Democrats. Of course, if we are really talking about the life and death of babies, we should try to act in some form of solidarity. I’m open to a more explicit answer, and I think there are a number of Catholics who are. Until that time, there are two candidates that I would consider offering my vote. The others would involve too much of a cooperation in evil for me.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In