“It is indeed true that a new moralism exists today. Its key words are justice, peace, and the conservation of creation, and these are words that recall essential moral values, of which we genuinely stand in need. But this moralism remains vague and almost inevitably remains confined to the sphere of party politics, where it is primarily a claimed addressed to others, rather than a personal duty in our own daily life,” Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), “Reflections on Cultures That Are in Conflict Today” in Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures. Trans. Brian McNeil (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 27 – 28.
Whether we like it or not, the two major presidential contenders are now John McCain and Barack Obama. I am not entirely surprised about McCain, but that Obama has been able to get through the Clinton campaign and become the frontrunner is an amazing feat of its own. Of course the primaries are not over. Neither of them have complete assurance that they will become their party’s candidate. McCain most likely will pull through, but Obama might fall under a deadly (and dirty) political bombshell which will bring Clinton back from the dead.
I support neither of these candidates. I hope I have made this clear. To make myself support one would require me to have a fundamental agreement with that individual. I have not found myself in such a position with either McCain or Obama. Nonetheless, I think it is important for us to examine them and see what possible good we could expect if one of them becomes president. For, it is one thing to play party politics and only look for ways to muddle the situation by taking speeches out of context for the matter of a pretext, or to look at those who support a specific candidate and extrapolate all kinds of meaningless significance out of it, it is another to look beyond such partisanship and discover what we, as Catholics, could look for as ways we can work with the candidate who eventually will be leading our nation. When doing this, there will always be questions, and ones which need to be addressed, and so, while looking at where they stand, questions will be raised here in the practicality of that stand. There will be time, later, to examine their failings. Indeed, much has already been said here that sometimes I wonder if it is needed. Here, instead, it is best to look critically at the positive. In doing this, however, we must realize that when we are in agreement with a given candidate on a specific position, it might be because we share the same fundamental principles with them, but we might not. But if their reasons differ from ours, this must not detour us from working with them when such agreement is possible. This is fundamentally the principle Catholics follow when engaging in inter-faith and ecumenical projects, and it should, of course, follow through in the political sphere.
Let us first look at John McCain. Certainly there is much one can admire in his positions, and also, there is much one can admire about what he has suffered for the sake our nation. Primarily, Catholics are pleased with him because he holds some pro-life positions, and we find this strongest in his position on torture, but also, in a lesser sense, in regards to abortion. Supporters of his also point out that holds a closer position to us on many social values, i.e., the belief that marriage is only between a man and a woman. He also wants to create or better enforce laws which will protect our children from predators. For many Catholics, these are good enough reasons to support him. And if their conscience is satisfied with this after a real thoroughgoing examination of the rest of McCain’s positions and whether or not they think he is a man of character who can do something in regards to these positions and won’t give out on them for political expediency, then I think they have satisfied their political duty and I will not contend against them in their specific choice. For we can work with McCain on these issues. But I would ask – what exactly are his plans here, what exactly will he do to move the pro-life cause forward? And will other policies of his possibly work against the pro-life cause? Will he promote things which will move us one step forward on one issue and two steps back on another? I do not know. Perhaps those who support him can provide reasons for us to believe he will not.
Now let us look at Barack Obama. First of all, what is interesting to me is that criticism of him tends to be mean-spirited and often duplicitous. On the one hand, people will proclaim he has a messianic complex, and that he promises to save the world if elected (which he doesn’t). On the other hand, they say he is a danger because he is telling us that if elected, he will make us work. Which is it? And why is it a danger for him to say this when, normally, the same people will be the ones who say people should be working instead of receiving governmental handouts? Of course, the kind of work he is promoting is not necessarily that of jobs, but something deeper, something more fundamental. It is the work of internal renewal which will motivate people to cooperate one with another for the sake of a better community, for a better society. Ultimately, and this is certainly the best part of his campaign, he is promoting a society which looks beyond politics and the political candidate; he wants exactly what Pope Benedict expressed – a society where morality moves beyond political parties and into the individual, where moral responsibility will be taken up by everyone and not just by politicians. This is not to say the government would have no role to play here, nor does Benedict ever desire such either; but the purpose is to see a better relationship between the government, the local community, and the individual so that the government can better manage the just distribution of goods (as is its job) while the community will, through moral renewal, be committed to this. Of course, as with McCain, there are legitimate concerns. The first one is important: what specific actions will Obama take to make this so? Without knowing this, it is difficult to judge whether or not his methods for his goal are just. Second, and related to this, is what morality is it he will press and encourage? Where does it connect with Catholic Social Doctrine? Where does it disconnect from Catholic Social Teaching? And, like McCain, is Obama really fit to do what he claims he will do? Again, if a Catholic has explored these issues with a deep, penetrating insight, and believe their conscience leads them to vote for Obama, after considering the whole of his person and his positions, and thinking he matches more of Catholic social thought than any other candidate, I think no one should condemn them for their vote. They have done their civic duty.
“The security we all need as a presupposition of our freedom and dignity cannot ultimately be derived from technical systems of control. It can come only from the moral strength of man, and where this is lacking or insufficient, the power man has will be transformed more and more into a power of destruction,” Pope Benedict, “Reflections on Cultures,” 27. We have come to a time in our society where we must overcome our temptation to power. The more we think power will solve the world’s problems the more we will use that power to create more of those problems. We have not the wisdom to use power properly, instead, we continue to be corrupted by it. Tolkien would tell us we have become corrupted by Melkor. Politics, for the most part, is about power; the assumption is that if the right person is put into power, everything will be fixed. The problem is, people from both sides of the political spectrum have fallen for this and have used it to ignore their personal duty. Again, Obama’s message, despite the criticism of some, really has a strong appeal because it is going against this grain, and it is indeed about personal duty instead of personal expectation of the politician to solve everything on their own and then throw them out when they cannot do so (how can they, especially in the political system we have?). McCain’s message is not as strong, is not as encouraging, and yet – we must not forget that there is much in it Catholics need to hear and also agree with. But, it seems that in those same areas, he is weaker than other possible Republican candidates. This is a sad fact, but nonetheless, that doesn’t mean we must abandon him and ignore him. We cannot just go about politics as usual, looking at candidates with dualistic eyes. We must not think it is either/or, but rather, we must look beyond that and look to what is good and follow it. Whatever the choice one makes in the next election, one thing I will say to anyone – don’t vote for someone just because “they are the only viable candidate of my party who can win,” vote for them because you really support them. Anything else diminishes the whole point of an election.
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