Can Anyone Find an Appropriate Proportional Issue?... Why Single-Issue Voting Is All We Have Left.
For the record, no church teaches single-issue voting. Single issue voting is the result of moral teaching, not any basis for it. The problem is finding a proportional issue that out-strips abortion as an imperative moral issue. Some contemporary moral theologians seem to think that prescription drug coverage for the elderly or welfare programs or factory closings could potentially fit into this category. Wrong. These issues only concern the quality of life, not life itself. Even severe pain cannot be a higher priority than life itself.
What are the main issues in this year''s (and next year's) campaign? It seems we have health care, the war in Iraq, the environment, energy, and what are termed by most Democrats as "women's issues." Even in the Iraq war - the cost of human life since it began can almost never exceed 500,000. Yet, the yearly toll from abortion is about 1.3 million, with untold numbers falling casualty to destruction of embryos in testing and in clearing out storage facilities. In addition to all of these, we have losses due to oral contraceptives. In this country today, it is perfectly legal for a doctor to reach into the womb and strangle an unborn baby at any stage of pregnancy. But, if he pulls a 20 week old fetus from the womb and strangles it outside of the womb, it is murder. Under U.S. law, the difference between medicine and murder is a matter of location. This logical idiocy is basically ignored, both in politics and in the press. In short, we have a page-four holocaust going on in America while other less important issues cloud the front page.
What happens when a society becomes cruelly narcissistic, butchering the unborn and abusive to women - women who are never named as the victims of abortion? Can it be this cruel in only one arena? No. It will be cruel in other arenas as well. We will have a selfish, self-gratifying culture - and we already do. When we have a culture that cannot love, we are left with only death. Shall we then elect candidates merely because they are electable, or should we vote with our consciences - even if it means looking to only one issue?
As for me, I don't want a candidate who is electable. All incumbents in public office are electable. I want a candidate who has a head on his shoulders and can see what our culture has become, who will strive for justice, and who will steer our nation out of evil. Is abortion a litmus test? No. But there is no issue proportional to it. In this, both "conservatives" and "liberals" seem to have forgotten how to exercise moral reasoning. Neither party seems to be able to put forth a candidate with any integrity, meanwhile both have alienated Christians of all stripes - including me.
What are the main issues in this year''s (and next year's) campaign? It seems we have health care, the war in Iraq, the environment, energy, and what are termed by most Democrats as "women's issues." Even in the Iraq war - the cost of human life since it began can almost never exceed 500,000. Yet, the yearly toll from abortion is about 1.3 million, with untold numbers falling casualty to destruction of embryos in testing and in clearing out storage facilities. In addition to all of these, we have losses due to oral contraceptives. In this country today, it is perfectly legal for a doctor to reach into the womb and strangle an unborn baby at any stage of pregnancy. But, if he pulls a 20 week old fetus from the womb and strangles it outside of the womb, it is murder. Under U.S. law, the difference between medicine and murder is a matter of location. This logical idiocy is basically ignored, both in politics and in the press. In short, we have a page-four holocaust going on in America while other less important issues cloud the front page.
What happens when a society becomes cruelly narcissistic, butchering the unborn and abusive to women - women who are never named as the victims of abortion? Can it be this cruel in only one arena? No. It will be cruel in other arenas as well. We will have a selfish, self-gratifying culture - and we already do. When we have a culture that cannot love, we are left with only death. Shall we then elect candidates merely because they are electable, or should we vote with our consciences - even if it means looking to only one issue?
As for me, I don't want a candidate who is electable. All incumbents in public office are electable. I want a candidate who has a head on his shoulders and can see what our culture has become, who will strive for justice, and who will steer our nation out of evil. Is abortion a litmus test? No. But there is no issue proportional to it. In this, both "conservatives" and "liberals" seem to have forgotten how to exercise moral reasoning. Neither party seems to be able to put forth a candidate with any integrity, meanwhile both have alienated Christians of all stripes - including me.
posted by Father Lee Nelson, SSC at 8:56 AM
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