Election 2008

[kujo]

[quote name='MissyP89' post='1442269' date='Jan 5 2008, 01:06 AM']What happens to us if we do vote for a candidate with a stance contrary to a non-negotiable? To what extent do we have primacy of conscience over this? If it does come down to both pro-choice candidates, will I be in mortal sin if I vote? Can I receive absolution in such a scenario?[/quote]

Word. What's the Church's stance on this?

[XIX]

My understanding is as follows:

Short answer, you can't ideally vote for someone contrary to the five-non-negotiables.

However, you may vote for the lesser of two evils.

There are five non-negotiables, but abortion is the biggest one. It's either abortion or just general defense of the unborn (which would include ESCR and abortifacient birth control as part of the #1 issue). Anyways, if you choose to vote for the lesser of two evils, it may be because the lesser of two evils will at least defend the unborn more than the other guy.

Also, the 5 non-negotiables are intrinsic evils, wrong in all cases. You may, for example, think that taxes are way too high and I would agree with you, but Catholics are allowed to favor tax hikes. Same thing with foreign policy, health care, etc. The Catholic Church does not require us to have a specific opinion on these issues.

Edited January 5, 2008 by XIX

[goldenchild17]

I understand the concern there is in deciding between two top candidates and the morality of choosing one over the other, even if they are both less than desirable. That is something to seriously think about. What I don't get is why we are even really discussing this now. Right now this is not an either or scenario. Granted, some have more momentum right now than others, but no one has won the candidacy from either side as of yet. Why not concentrate on voting for who you want to win the election, who you think is the most in line with Catholic teaching and leave the decision between less desirable candidates for another time, should it even arise as a problem. To me, it's thinking like this that generates the lesser of two evils type of elections in the first place, because people won't just vote for who they believe should win, instead voting for the one who is the "best" out of only those who are deemed "electable." Vote for the best and let the rest play out as the days and weeks and months pass.

[Didymus]

[quote name='Justin86' post='1430519' date='Dec 6 2007, 08:32 AM']Out of the front runners there's Romney(barely), Huckabee, and Thompson. To my knowledge none of the Democratic candidates follow the non-negotiables.[/quote]

What about Paul and McCain?

[Ziggamafu]

Everyone who want an anti-abortion person in office should be throwing their support behind Huckabee or Ron Paul. This is because these two guys (especially Huckabee) are the only two who have any shot at all of a unified Evangelical backing against the Dems. If any other Republican wins the front-running position, there will be a divided Evangelical vote against a unified Dem vote.

JMO

[Ziggamafu]

BTW: [url="http://www.issues2000.org/2008/"]http://www.issues2000.org/2008/[/url]

[XIX]

[quote name='goldenchild17' post='1442304' date='Jan 5 2008, 05:24 AM']I understand the concern there is in deciding between two top candidates and the morality of choosing one over the other, even if they are both less than desirable. That is something to seriously think about. What I don't get is why we are even really discussing this now. Right now this is not an either or scenario. Granted, some have more momentum right now than others, but no one has won the candidacy from either side as of yet. Why not concentrate on voting for who you want to win the election, who you think is the most in line with Catholic teaching and leave the decision between less desirable candidates for another time, should it even arise as a problem. To me, it's thinking like this that generates the lesser of two evils type of elections in the first place, because people won't just vote for who they believe should win, instead voting for the one who is the "best" out of only those who are deemed "electable." Vote for the best and let the rest play out as the days and weeks and months pass.[/quote]
Definitely. Now is not the time to jump off of the Ron Paul bandwagon. He has oodles of grassroots support, and even got into the double digits while being completely ignored by Fox News. If he has a better showing in New Hampshire, he'll have enough momentum to make a run at the Super Tuesday states. If nobody runs away will all of the early electoral votes, Paul will still be in the race.

Maybe RP will turn out to be completely unelectable, but heck, you could say that about Huckabee (in the general) or McCain (in the primary). Who the freak knows at the point? All we have is a relatively sketchy straw poll to go off of. Rudy ignored Iowa, and Fox ignored Ron Paul. The winner of Iowa might not even be the favorite to win the nomination. We really know nothing at this point.