False ultimatums.

(Hat-tip to Andrew Sullivan)

I’ve blogged before on MacIntyre’s thesis that we should resist the argument that one MUST vote, even if all choices are reprehensible. Rather than rethink the questions, or propose a new paradigm for conceiving and dealing with our cultural problems, the antagonists usually propose the dilemma something like this:

To those thinking about “sitting it out,” or “supporting a third party” now, consider an analogy. We are facing a burning building. There is a day-care center full of children burning down and we have three options before us.

A. We have a candidate named John who will rescue most everyone in that building. He hasn’t pledged that he’ll get everyone out just yet, but the vast majority of those kids are going to be carried out alive with his pro-life policies and judges.

B. Or you can protest (with a third-party candidate). Pick up a sign and march because you didn’t get the candidate you wanted chanting, “Rescue all the children! Rescue all the children!” while the building burns and all the children die.

C. Or you can sit it out. Don’t endorse. Don’t vote. And Clinton or Obama will deadbolt the fire exits and rip out the sprinklers. They will then lock arms and prevent any of us from entering the building to rescue the children inside. They will also prevent notification of parents whose children are about to be burned alive.

For years now Catholics have been deceived into following the Democratic party or the Republican party because of such (faulty) logic. The fact is, there are other alternatives. In fact there are a panoply of other initiatives and possibilities for political action beyond the three alternatives “conservatives” frighten us with. Most importantly, one might conceivably vote for the sole “pro-life” candidate, hoping that perhaps the least evil has been avoided, nonetheless treating those few minutes in the voting booth pulling the lever like those few minutes spent scanning the electrical bill and writing a cheque. The interesting thing is, both Republicans and Democrats believe the only solution to save the children from the burning building is the State. Note how no candidate is saying, “actually I can do none of the most important things for solving [insert hotly debated political topic]. That work has to begin in your life, in your local community.” No, they all say: only I (read: Leviathan) can solve these problems. (The economy, immigration, education, crime, etc.)

The notion that the most important fight that pro-lifers are in is the election of Republicans (that is, most important) has done more damage to the actual dissipation of the abortion culture than we seem to realize.