What I believe

George Bernard Shaw said “An election is a moral horror, as bad as battle except for the blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it."  He was right.  I’ve been reflecting on weight topics for years and in the last ten years, since retirement, I’ve come to a simple conclusion:  Keep It Simple.  Weighty issues usually can be understood as moral issues and my default position is the Ten Commandments. 

I was a registered Democrat for many years.  I think back on that time and I realize that the Democratic party of my youth really stood for something particularly in the area of civil rights.  I wonder how Kennedy would view his party today?  Based on his descendants’ public positions on matter that effect our society, I’m guessing that he would, overall, be considered out of step with the Democrats of today.

And what DO Democrats stand for today?  In a short and by no means conclusive list, they support unlimited LGBTQ rights, same-sex marriage, abortion on demand up to birth and infanticide at a live birth (read that failed abortion), environmental rights over human rights, and free healthcare for all (read that socialism).  The list goes on but these are the hot button issues.  This is a large part of their platform.  Any old-time Democrats today who don’t know this, aren’t paying attention.

Over a period of time, as I became more thoughtful on the best way to approach social problems, I found myself more and more being drawn to the Ten Commandments.  They are really good rules and definitely not guidelines.  There aren’t any ifs, ands, or buts attached to them.  They say what they mean and can be applied to any questions in life.    Eventually, I registered as a Republican and then as an Independent voter.  I studied the candidates and what they said.  I believe it’s important to vote policy and who the best candidate is who lines up with policies I support.  I also studied their supporters and followed the money.  But primarily, the choice came down to this.  An individual running on the Democratic ticket supports the entire platform, much of it which is repugnant.  I could not and now cannot, in conscience, vote for anyone running on the Democratic party ballot.

I had a conversation recently with a couple of my friends and I tried to sort out the conflicting information that I feel comes from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops statements.  I also am becoming more and more guided by the inconsistencies of what priests are saying publicly.  Who will I choose as my guide since apparently the USCCB is basically leaving it up to me.  The Father James Martin’s of our Catholic world are unnerving.  And they go unchecked.  We need more brave priests such as  Fr. John Lankeit of Ss Simon & Jude in Phoenix, AZ.   His video at HERE .  This video makes a strong statement about the sort of forthright speech we need to hear from the pulpit today.  We need to be reminded that there is a clear right and a clear wrong.  We much learn how to recognize that which is intrinsically evil.

After talking with my two friends, I share this conclusion:

We bear both a privilege and a burden to exercise our formed and informed conscience and make choices that will and do affect the future of our country. The exercise of conscience and good judgment, however, is not merely something that faithful citizens take out and dust off every four years in anticipation of voting in presidential elections. The judicious adult is one who lives a discerning life, recognizing that, as the Greek philosopher Pythagoras maintained, "Choices are the hinges of destiny." What we decide determines what we do, which determines who we are — as individuals, as a faith community and as a nation. Vote policy, not person. Vote the greater good. Vote for that person who greater advances life and tranquility of order in all stages of life.

 

Vote life and you CANNOT fail to serve all in the very best way possible.