Archbishop Burke: The Dems are the party of death

[mkingdomlvr]

The Catholic Church has not aligned itself with any Political Party. It may appear so, as the Dems. are pro abortion, pro embryonic stem cell research, pro gay marriage etc. and will not blink an eye if euthanasia comes on a ballot. What the Church said, “Vote for the party/candidate which is less/least likely to spread the evil of abortion”. No one can know the future and what you say about pols. is correct. Few of them can be trusted once the aura of money and power gets into their system. But the Repubs. did “appear” to be the least pro abort of the two viable parties during the Presidential election. If “either” party, or a third or fourth party became viable for the election of 2012, one which supported moral ethics and values, I would vote for them.

The stench we have in government now will only increase.

Personally, I think the politicians are using the Catholic/Pro Life vote. I don’t believe any of them have any intention of dealing with abortion, but they continue to promise they will because they know they’ll get all that free support from the Churches. There are too many moderates in this country who support abortion, and those politicians are paying lip service to us, while winking at the moderates to tell them they’re not REALLY going to make abortion illegal. While a recent poll did say more Americans consider themselves pro-life, when you drill the poll down, more Americans still do not believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases. A higher number of Americans believe in stem cell research and euthanasia and the younger generation is overwhelmingly pro gay marriage.

No politician is going to alienate all those moderates-no matter what the Catholic church or any other Pro life group thinks. It’s time to stop giving these hypocrites our time and our money.

Making public statements about politicians is not converting anyone to a Pro Life point of view.

 

[Nick_in_MB]

Personally, I think the politicians are using the Catholic/Pro Life vote. I don’t believe any of them have any intention of dealing with abortion, but they continue to promise they will because they know they’ll get all that free support from the Churches.

That I can agree with. Too many politicians just offer lip-service to their constituents. I even voted for one, on a local level, once because he said he was doing just that. I figured it was the most honest thing a politician has ever said.

 

[mary_bobo]

The Catholic Church has not aligned itself with any Political Party. It may appear so, as the Dems. are pro abortion, pro embryonic stem cell research, pro gay marriage etc. and will not blink an eye if euthanasia comes on a ballot. What the Church said, “Vote for the party/candidate which is less/least likely to spread the evil of abortion”. No one can know the future and what you say about pols. is correct. Few of them can be trusted once the aura of money and power gets into their system. But the Repubs. did “appear” to be the least pro abort of the two viable parties during the Presidential election. If “either” party, or a third or fourth party became viable for the election of 2012, one which supported moral ethics and values, I would vote for them.

The stench we have in government now will only increase.

The stench will increase and the electorate will send the same people back to Congress in 2010.

 

[turtle18]

I think Archbishop Burke is correct–the Democrats are the party of death. Not only are they pro-abortion, the lifestyles they promote (homosexuality & contraception) lead to the spirtual death of the soul as well.

I think there is a lot of rhetoric about the Democratic party being the party of compassion and the party for the poor, but please show me the statistics were poverty has decreased under their administrations–you can’t because they don’t exist. It’s all destructive rhetoric on their part. You can’t champion the poor at the expense of the middle and upper classes. The middle & upper classes are not evil–they create jobs. What do you say about a poor person who spends half their income on lottery tickets–is this not being greedy? We have a responsibility to take care of the poor, a personal responsibility that is not abrograted by voting Democratic and shifting the responsibility to the government. What are we going to do when all of our Catholic charities are dependent upon the government for funds to operate? Those funds from the government come with strings attached–and they are usually strings that oppose our faith.

But that doesn’t mean the Republican party is perfect–it is just the better choice of two options. They are more likely (although not guaranteed) to put pro-life candidates on the Supreme Court.

I amazed at how bent out of shape people get about people dying in war–as if it is somehow worse than people dying in an abortion. They see the moral need to stop a war but they don’t see the moral need to stop abortion. The truth is way more people are killed by abortion each day than in the Iraq War–but the Iraq war is so visible, so awful, so brought into their lives on a daily basis through the news media–they feel a need to act on it. Whether you realize it or not, the media is controlling your believes and your thought process.

 

[authenticity]

The CCB of America has published 5 non-negotiable. The Democratic Party supports Abortion, Gay Marriage, and Fetal Stem cell Research - and it is highly questionable if the proposed universal health care system will support euthanasia (by rationing their universal health care). That leaves human cloning.

Other than human cloning (not sure of either parties possition), on each of the remaining 4, the Republican party is more inline with church teaching.

I think people are responsible for the consequences of their actions - that leaves a lot of blood on the hands of those who vote democrat.

Understand that I grew up in a day and age that almost all Catholic’s voted Democrat due to social justice issues. It is not that those issues have gone away, but that there are more threatening ones into today’s political climate.

I think that the Democrats were taken over by the Far Left, the Marxists. Past generations of Catholics voted Democrat because they not only supported social justice issues, but more specifically the working class. Republican support of Big Business hasn’t changed at all.

I don’t think either party cares about the working class. The Democrats support a welfare state, where the government not the family raises the people. The Republicans say they support the family but it’s more the corporate state, where non-democratic institutions control the people.

We should be careful about a party that preaches morality and views people as sheep or pawns in some game for power. That is not a recognition of human dignity, that all people are made in the image of God, which is the force behind the pro-life movement in the first place.

 

[elts1956]

Personally, I think the politicians are using the Catholic/Pro Life vote. I don’t believe any of them have any intention of dealing with abortion, but they continue to promise they will because they know they’ll get all that free support from the Churches. There are too many moderates in this country who support abortion, and those politicians are paying lip service to us, while winking at the moderates to tell them they’re not REALLY going to make abortion illegal. While a recent poll did say more Americans consider themselves pro-life, when you drill the poll down, more Americans still do not believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases. A higher number of Americans believe in stem cell research and euthanasia and the younger generation is overwhelmingly pro gay marriage.

No politician is going to alienate all those moderates-no matter what the Catholic church or any other Pro life group thinks. It’s time to stop giving these hypocrites our time and our money.

Making public statements about politicians is not converting anyone to a Pro Life point of view.

While I agree with your statements about the pols. seducing the pro life folks for their vote, I tend to disagree with your last one. We have remained silent toooooooooo long.

 

[elts1956]

Personally, I think the politicians are using the Catholic/Pro Life vote. I don’t believe any of them have any intention of dealing with abortion, but they continue to promise they will because they know they’ll get all that free support from the Churches. There are too many moderates in this country who support abortion, and those politicians are paying lip service to us, while winking at the moderates to tell them they’re not REALLY going to make abortion illegal. While a recent poll did say more Americans consider themselves pro-life, when you drill the poll down, more Americans still do not believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases. A higher number of Americans believe in stem cell research and euthanasia and the younger generation is overwhelmingly pro gay marriage.

No politician is going to alienate all those moderates-no matter what the Catholic church or any other Pro life group thinks. It’s time to stop giving these hypocrites our time and our money.

Making public statements about politicians is not converting anyone to a Pro Life point of view.

I think it is dangerous for the Church to align themselves too closely with any political party.

By making a statement such as that, the Archbishop may not mean to say that “Catholics MUST be Republican” but it is a message that many will take from it.

I do not think either party is faithful to Catholic teaching, and the Church should be continuing to call for BOTH parties to be more mindful of life issues and social justice.

I think faithful Catholics are doing just that.

 

[elts1956]

I think that the Democrats were taken over by the Far Left, the Marxists. Past generations of Catholics voted Democrat because they not only supported social justice issues, but more specifically the working class. Republican support of Big Business hasn’t changed at all.

I don’t think either party cares about the working class. The Democrats support a welfare state, where the government not the family raises the people. The Republicans say they support the family but it’s more the corporate state, where non-democratic institutions control the people.

We should be careful about a party that preaches morality and views people as sheep or pawns in some game for power. That is not a recognition of human dignity, that all people are made in the image of God, which is the force behind the pro-life movement in the first place.

If my Dad were alive to see the Democatic Party in action today, I think he would cry. He was a hard working laborer and depended on “his party” to take care of the working class.

 

[E.E.N.S]

Right, which is basically condemning anyone who is supportive of a woman’s right to choose to kill her own child. Everyone knows who they were talking about.

There, I fixed your sentence for you.

 

[mkingdomlvr]

While I agree with your statements about the pols. seducing the pro life folks for their vote, I tend to disagree with your last one. We have remained silent toooooooooo long.

More people today call themselves Pro-life, but the majority still believe that abortion should be legal and available. Why? Is it because we’re not showing people enough pictures of dead babies? Is it because the Bishops haven’t excommunicated Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry?

Frankly, I don’t think it’s either of those things. I don’t think we’re going to change anyone’s mind that way.

 

[SonofMonica]

Of course the Republican party deceives social conservatives. Mark my word, this next election you will see the biggest pandering to Catholics and other social conservatives we’ve ever seen. Will the party actually stop abortion and gay marriage? Of course not. (For one thing, too many of their daughters have had abortions to save face. Also, look what happened with Dick Cheney supporting gay marriage now that he is no longer running for election. It’s because he has a gay daughter). And more importantly, there simply aren’t enough rich folks to hang on to a voting base without the support of the Christian right. We saw that ring true with the last election, where John McCain, who was virtually silent on moral issues (how could he speak with credibility after what he did to his wife in a wheelchair?) was handily defeated.

As Catholics, we had better be voting for the individual. In a republic like ours, we’ve got to take the time to do the research on each individual candidate, if we’re going to say that our vote carries moral and theological implications. You cannot, I repeat CANNOT trust or give allegiance to a particular party.

 

[LRThunder]

Of course the Republican party deceives social conservatives. Mark my word, this next election you will see the biggest pandering to Catholics and other social conservatives we’ve ever seen. Will the party actually stop abortion and gay marriage? Of course not. (For one thing, too many of their daughters have had abortions to save face. Also, look what happened with Dick Cheney supporting gay marriage now that he is no longer running for election. It’s because he has a gay daughter). And more importantly, there simply aren’t enough rich folks to hang on to a voting base without the support of the Christian right. We saw that ring true with the last election, where John McCain, who was virtually silent on moral issues (how could he speak with credibility after what he did to his wife in a wheelchair?) was handily defeated.

As Catholics, we had better be voting for the individual. In a republic like ours, we’ve got to take the time to do the research on each individual candidate, if we’re going to say that our vote carries moral and theological implications. You cannot, I repeat CANNOT trust or give allegiance to a particular party.

While the Republicans may not do enough (or not able to do enough) to stop abortions, the party itself doesn’t embrace abortion as a fundamental right that trumps other rights like the Democrats do.

With Republicans, doctors and other health care professionals don’t have to fear being forced to do abortions or leave for another profession, for example.

 

[SonofMonica]

While the Republicans may not do enough (or not able to do enough) to stop abortions, the party itself doesn’t embrace abortion as a fundamental right that trumps other rights like the Democrats do.

With Republicans, doctors and other health care professionals don’t have to fear being forced to do abortions or leave for another profession, for example.

My post was not intended to imply that Democrats are more pro-life than Republicans. It was a reminder that Republicans are every bit as much politicians as Democrats.

I’m a lawyer, and if this post were about lawyers, I’d tell you to watch out for them as a lot, too. Look for a good one, regardless of who he was affiliated with. We certainly shouldn’t treat politicians any differently.

My central theme is that to vote the party line is not enough. It may be that you vote straight Republican ticket, but it shouldn’t be done out of a blind acceptance of the idea that the entire party is in lock-step with the culture of life. That is not true any more than the idea that each individual Democrat is in lock-step with the culture of death espoused by the Democratic party as a national platform. It is sad we can’t have more than a two-party system for all intents and purposes. Especially from a Catholic POV.

In my state (Arkansas), we did not have a Republican party for most of its existence. If you look at a blue/red map of the states, you would think, as an outsider, that we are a bastion of liberalism in the otherwise red south. However, our Democratic senators and congressmen are largely pro-life, pro-gun, etc. DINOs, some might say. Folks vote for them that would otherwise say Democrats and liberals are wrong.

 

[chain]

please show me the statistics were poverty has decreased under their administrations–you can’t because they don’t exist… You can’t champion the poor at the expense of the middle and upper classes.

You will never see the democratic party try to eliminate poverty and increase the size of the middle class - it would decrease the size of their constituency. They would rather increase the number of poor, to increase their voting base.

 

[Oscarthecat]

More people today call themselves Pro-life, but the majority still believe that abortion should be legal and available. Why? Is it because we’re not showing people enough pictures of dead babies? Is it because the Bishops haven’t excommunicated Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry?

Frankly, I don’t think it’s either of those things. I don’t think we’re going to change anyone’s mind that way.

My wife’s mind was changed because of those pictures- I guess that disproves your theory that those pictures aren’t going to change anyone’s mind.

Reality has a funny way of changing people’s minds.

 

[fix]

More people today call themselves Pro-life, but the majority still believe that abortion should be legal and available. Why?

Poorly formed consciences for a variety of reasons.

Is it because we’re not showing people enough pictures of dead babies? Is it because the Bishops haven’t excommunicated Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry?

Those are not the sufficient, but that does not make them wrong or unhelpful.

Frankly, I don’t think it’s either of those things. I don’t think we’re going to change anyone’s mind that way.

No one argument will do it. It is about the Holy Spirit working on people who will let Him work.

 

[Nick_in_MB]

You will never see the democratic party try to eliminate poverty and increase the size of the middle class - it would decrease the size of their constituency. They would rather increase the number of poor, to increase their voting base.

See, I don’t see it that way.
I see it that my family was poor, were able to then easily buy a house under Clinton, and send me off to college.
Then Bush came along, and the house went into foreclosure, family had to move into a more affordable house (more affordable than the home we could easily afford under Clinton), I had to quit college and get a job to help pay for the new home, and barely get by month to month.
So we have a cheaper house we can barely afford, from having a house we could easily afford, and all that changed was the politicians in office.

 

[aspawloski4th]

See, I don’t see it that way.
I see it that my family was poor, were able to then easily buy a house under Clinton, and send me off to college.
Then Bush came along, and the house went into foreclosure, family had to move into a more affordable house (more affordable than the home we could easily afford under Clinton), I had to quit college and get a job to help pay for the new home, and barely get by month to month.
So we have a cheaper house we can barely afford, from having a house we could easily afford, and all that changed was the politicians in office.

But thats more important than murder of the unborn. Whatever:shrug:

 

[JohnT58]

In reflecting on what the Archbishop said, I thought of praying for a party that was morally righteous and at the same time socially conscious. As far as I’m concerned, neither of these parties bare witness to Jesus Christ.

The rock and a hard place people around the world face. Without spoilling your vote, and in the absence of morally righteous independents, voting for political party amounts to the ‘best of a bad bunch’.

 

[JohnT58]

As Catholics, we had better be voting for the individual. In a republic like ours, we’ve got to take the time to do the research on each individual candidate, if we’re going to say that our vote carries moral and theological implications. You cannot, I repeat CANNOT trust or give allegiance to a particular party.