Can a catholic be a democrat?

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I have seen school districts wherein no possible amount of public money will improve education outcomes. I have a relative who is a counselor in one such district. It’s a depressing and thankless job. She says it’s like working in a third world nation. What the children need is not more education money. They need parents—something the government is unable to provide.
OK, so these kids don’t have parents, at least not parents who care enough for their children to make their welfare a high priority. So why do you think these same uncaring parents are going to make good choices when you say…
Children ought not to be condemned to schools of the government’s choice. Let the parent’s choose the schools.
 
OK, so these kids don’t have parents, at least not parents who care enough for their children to make their welfare a high priority. So why do you think these same uncaring parents are going to make good choices when you say…
Your arguments are usually much better than this. It is surely true that there are a number of parents who are insufficiently involved in their children’s education, just as it is true that there are others who would jump at the chance to improve it if that chance were provided them. What is the argument for denying the opportunity to those who would seize it?

Ender
 
OK, so these kids don’t have parents, at least not parents who care enough for their children to make their welfare a high priority. So why do you think these same uncaring parents are going to make good choices when you say…
There are some parents who simply don’t care; they may be druggies or absent. Other parents find themselves locked into a school system that is destructive to their children with no way out. At least give parents the option to take their children out of a failing school. That was the case in Washington DC. Parents loved vouchers. There were not enough for everybody, but everyone wanted the chance to opt out of the failing schools. The politicians took that option away from them.
 
I would absolutely support vouchers if private school tuitions and fees were capped at a set, affordable amount, so they couldn’t just raise tuitions in response. We saw what happened with college tuitions once the government got involved, and I’m not letting that happen to our high schools too.
It’s true, whenever the government gets involved, prices rise, whether it’s schools or housing. I would rather see government not involved in schools at all. It just makes things worse. The problem of course, is funding schools in low income areas, and for that there may be no other option than use of tax money. But if tax money is to be used, it should be directed to the end users—parents or students, to be used for the schools of their choice.

(In my own diocese, Catholic schools have no tuition, provided the parents are tithing to their parish.)

But the greater problem is not the funding, it is the continued destruction of families, which the government has contributed to. Unless family disintegration can be reversed, noting can save education. What community can thrive with a 50% or 60% or 70% out of wedlock birth rate? It is indicative of a collapsing culture.
 
Ender;1192all the possible arguments said:
Actually Sandra Day O’Connor was appointed with the expectation that she would overturned Roe. Reagan indeed promised to appoint justices that would overturn abortion and Sandra was his first one who was supposed to overturn abortion. It is true that Borke’s nomination had influence on the future of nominees but i think that using Borke is a cheap excuse. To justify what it was Reagan’s poor choices. Anthony kennedy was very well knowm for being pro choice. Reagan was adviced multiple times to choose someone other than Kennedy because he was openly pro choice and Reagan refused to get someone else. I also don’t like the wording that he was his “last choice” as if he tried multiple people before. Kennedy was only the second choice after Borke (the nominee was Borke, then douglas w. Which was very briefly and then reagan went with Kennedy) and reagan was repeatedly told not to choose Kennedy. Reagan instead of going with other choices (he could have very well tried two or three more people) despite promising he waa going to overturn abortion goes with someone openly pro choice. He could have very well appointed a pro life person with little record (remember that the main issue with Broke was that he had an extensive written record. He could have perfectly had nominated someone with no written records who was actually pro life) But no instead he looks for the biggest pro choice he can found and that is the one he goes it. It is his fault because he had options, he was warned against Kennedy and still while having option he choose to go with the pro choicer. You paint Reagan as if he had no other way around which is not true. As long as he had another option and as long as he knew what it was coming which he did, it is his fault.

Also I think the "renquist and white were appointed before Roe " is another extremely cheap excuse because it gives the impression that Roe came like a bucket of cold water as first surprise to everyone one. Earl warren was before them in the Court. William Brennan was way before them. It was no secret that earl warren had an agenda. It was very well known that Warren, Brennan and Hugo black wanted to bring abortion. They were all anti religion and had their war custom on openly for very a long time. It was very well know that abortion was coming to the court and that there was a wing pushing for it before they were appointed. Saying that they came before roe ignores completly the fact that everybody knew they will be voting on the issue of abortion and that you needed to get judges to fignt against Brennan and Hugo Black. Warren was the one who introduced the right to privacy, do you really think that no one knew that when they did that they were thinking of opening the path for abortion?

Also note that I did not say “the only justice that has fought”. You are assuming I said that Rehnquist was the only one who fought against Roe and that is not what I said. What I said was that the justice who fought his entire life: Rehnquist entered the Court before Roe knowing that Roe was coming and ever since before Roe he pushed against it. Both Scalia and Thomas came later and also later in life. Scalia indeed is fully pro life and has always been good about defending life, but when he came to the Court he was not precisely young and came in the middle of it. The one who spend his entire life from before roe until after roe was Rehnquist and the one who was Chief justice was renqhist. Scalia and Thomas are associate justices and the truth is that he (because he was the chief not scalia) could not getit overthrown because of three rrepublicans that ended up there because republican presidents did a lousy job nominating justices.
 
Of all the pos
Whether or not you consider Republicans to be pro-life or not the fact remains that without exception every bill introduced anywhere in the country to restrict an abortion is introduced by Republicans and opposed by Democrats. Given that, I’m not too exercised about whether they all get 100% ratings from the Right to Life folks. The choice between the parties (on this issue) may not be perfect but it is obvious.

Ender
And on what you mention here, I have an actual question which is something I have never been able to understood from Republicans. Why republicans insist on fighting the abortion war with a waepon that everybody know it does not work? Passing bills that are clearly unconstitutional does not do absolutely anything to win the abortion war. Why in the world if we know that passing bills that restrict abortion on the first trimester are clearly unconstitutional and that each and every one of those bills will get challenged, the republicans inisist on using that as the pro life way to fight abortion?
If we know the problem of abortion is that at a constitutional level you cannot place an undue burden on the wan’s right to choose, isn’t the right way to do this to take an effective case (and not an unconstitutional bill that everybody knows that the court is not going to even look at it) take it to the supreme court knowing that you have four judges on your side, that Sonia Sotomayor does not fully agree with roe so you can convince her is you do it right, that you can convince Kennedy as he is a flip flopper, and try to get the actual cause of the problem overthrown? Doesn’t that sound much more intelligent than being fighting lost battles that you know you won’t win just to call yourself pro life.
 
And on what you mention here, I have an actual question which is something I have never been able to understood from Republicans. Why republicans insist on fighting the abortion war with a waepon that everybody know it does not work? Passing bills that are clearly unconstitutional does not do absolutely anything to win the abortion war. Why in the world if we know that passing bills that restrict abortion on the first trimester are clearly unconstitutional and that each and every one of those bills will get challenged, the republicans inisist on using that as the pro life way to fight abortion?
If we know the problem of abortion is that at a constitutional level you cannot place an undue burden on the wan’s right to choose, isn’t the right way to do this to take an effective case (and not an unconstitutional bill that everybody knows that the court is not going to even look at it) take it to the supreme court knowing that you have four judges on your side, that Sonia Sotomayor does not fully agree with roe so you can convince her is you do it right, that you can convince Kennedy as he is a flip flopper, and try to get the actual cause of the problem overthrown? Doesn’t that sound much more intelligent than being fighting lost battles that you know you won’t win just to call yourself pro life.
Prolife people ought to look at all possibilities. Sometimes abortion restrictions do work out.

It’s no good to defend inaction on abortion because oppostion is “unconstitutional”. Nowhere in the Constitution does it guarantee abortion access. Abortion on demand is a misinterpretation of the Constitution. Some justices agreed that it is. Roe was decided on a 5-4 vote, so one person made the difference. One person could make the difference again.

But we’ll never get there with Democrats in power.

I do not personally see how a Catholic can be a Democrat nowadays.
 
Your arguments are usually much better than this. It is surely true that there are a number of parents who are insufficiently involved in their children’s education, just as it is true that there are others who would jump at the chance to improve it if that chance were provided them. What is the argument for denying the opportunity to those who would seize it?

Ender
I did not intend my comment to be an argument against vouchers in general. I was just struck by the juxtaposition of those two paragraphs of JimG, one of which blames lack of good parenting, and the other of which trusts parents to make good decisions. Of course if parents are being good parents, they will be the ones who will make the best decisions regarding schools for their children. But that does not address the problem of children whose parent or parents do not bother to research the choices.
 
Prolife people ought to look at all possibilities. Sometimes abortion restrictions do work out.

It’s no good to defend inaction on abortion because oppostion is “unconstitutional”. Nowhere in the Constitution does it guarantee abortion access. Abortion on demand is a misinterpretation of the Constitution. Some justices agreed that it is. Roe was decided on a 5-4 vote, so one person made the difference. One person could make the difference again.

But we’ll never get there with Democrats in power.

I do not personally see how a Catholic can be a Democrat nowadays.
Abortion restructions work on the second trimester. In the first trimester not really. Undue burden. I didnt say that nothing should be done i am saying that republicans are doing it the wrong way and knowing is the wrong way.

And I know that is not on the Constitution I just can’t understand how “we can’t get there”. No democrat can stop anyone from filing a writ of certiorari. You have only three people in the Court who fully agree with Roe. How can democrats stop anyone from taking the issue to the court? If republicans keep on doing it wrong you can have all nine justices waiting to overthrow roe but it will never get done because Republicans still want to do it the wrong way.
 
Abortion restructions work on the second trimester. In the first trimester not really. Undue burden. I didnt say that nothing should be done i am saying that republicans are doing it the wrong way and knowing is the wrong way.

And I know that is not on the Constitution I just can’t understand how “we can’t get there”. No democrat can stop anyone from filing a writ of certiorari. You have only three people in the Court who fully agree with Roe. How can democrats stop anyone from taking the issue to the court? If republicans keep on doing it wrong you can have all nine justices waiting to overthrow roe but it will never get done because Republicans still want to do it the wrong way.
Repubs, as a party, do not have standing to bring such a suit. I think if you look at recent decisions, you will find that four of the justices are totally protective of the RESULT in Roe, even though Ginsberg thinks it should have been legalized under a different rationale. The last abortion case before the Court was about partial-birth abortion. It was a prolife decision but only because Kennedy joined the four truly prolife justices in that one. But Kennedy has voted pro-abortion in other cases not involving partial birth abortion. So, it’s pretty clear Kennedy is abortion-on-demand excepting only for partial birth abortion. Thus, the pro-abortion on demand group (all Democrats except Kennedy) is a 5-4 majority.

Had Obama not been elected, there was a chance for a prolife majority on the Court. But his two appointments have been pro-abortion.

There is no “magic bullet” way back from abortion on demand except through the composition of the Supreme Court. But Obama got elected, so that couldn’t happen. All other efforts, which were all Republican efforts, have had some success at the margins, but not in truly overturning Roe.
 
Obama’s election guaranteed that the Court would remain pro-abortion. He is firmly pro-abortion himself and will not appoint a pro-life supreme court justice.
 
Obama’s election guaranteed that the Court would remain pro-abortion. He is firmly pro-abortion himself and will not appoint a pro-life supreme court justice.
Well, his initial election, yes. The 2012 election really had no bearing on abortion, as no Supreme Court Justices were/are expected to retire from 2013-2016 and it was unlikely anyway that Romney would really care to put a pro-life Justice on the Supreme Court as he was pro-choice himself and would likely care far more about getting a pro-big-corporation Justice confirmed through a Democratic Senate by making sure they were ambivalent on the life issue.
 
The question at its simplest is easy. The Catholic Church has not defined being a Democrat as a sin. Where something is not a sin, one is free to follow one’s informed conscience.
 
The democratic party supports abortion and gay marriage, and other things against church teaching, is it ever possible for a faithful practicing catholic to vote for a democrat and not sin, and is it a sin for a catholic to support obamacare?
I won’t mention what I think about this question. What? I’d say that there are probably more Catholics that are Democratic than are Republicans. The dems are more in line with Catholic teaching.
 
I won’t mention what I think about this question. What? I’d say that there are probably more Catholics that are Democratic than are Republicans. The dems are more in line with Catholic teaching.
I’ll differ with you. In 2012, most “white” Catholics voted Repub. The “Catholic vote” went Dem (barely) because of Hispanics. Look it up. You’ll see. There are those who say the Dems have even lost that edge. Maybe so, maybe not.

The Dems are in no way in line with Catholic teaching. Yes, the party talks about the poor, but does absolutely nothing for the truly poor. Look at SSI benefits; the resource of the disabled poor. It hasn’t changed at all for decades other than the changes caused by COLAs. It’s miserable, and it isn’t even on the Dem agenda. What Dems do favor is shifting incomes within the middle class, and so far that’s about all they have done for any segment of the population. That’s what Obamacare itself actually is; an income redistribution within the middle class. For the poor, it’s crowd 17 million more people onto a Medicaid that was hard to get providers to accept before.

And “Cash for Clunkers”? A middle class subsidy for those who could afford new cars anyway, in the course of which they destroyed the “clunkers” upon which poor people depend for transportation.

And Obama’s dream of “making utility bills skyrocket”? Does he think the poor don’t want to heat their homes or refrigerate their food? They would be the hardest hit of all, and for what? So Tom Steyer would make good on his promise to give the Dem party $100 million in the next election cycle?

No, there’s no “in line with Catholic teaching” to that. Not at all.

Romney could not have appointed a pro-abortion justice without losing more of his constituency than he could have possibly afforded to lose, whatever he thought about it himself. He said he had undergone a conversion in that regard. Many simply chose to disbelieve him, and possibly they were right. But the same people believed Obama when he said he supported traditional marriage. That was a lie, but people believed it. And his constituents forgave him for it; something Romney’s constituents would not have forgiven Romney for appointing a pro-abortion justice.

The Dem party of today is not defensible from a Catholic standpoint. One can choose one’s Catholicism or the Dem party. I made my choice, which is why I am no longer an officeholder in the party. I once believed in the party, and for a time I was right in doing it. But that all changed. The Dem party of my youth bears a closer resemblance to today’s Repub party than to the Dem party of today. Today, JFK would not stand a chance in the Dem party. Even Hubert Humphrey wouldn’t.
 
Throughout American history Catholics have been known to be Democrat.

Now I’m an Independent, but as long as you vote for someone who opposes abortion and same sex marriage it’s fine by me.
 
Throughout American history Catholics have been known to be Democrat.

Now I’m an Independent, but as long as you vote for someone who opposes abortion and same sex marriage it’s fine by me.
Yes. The official Democratic Party seems to have deliberately given Catholics the heave-ho by formally adopting abortion on demand in its party platform, and now it is the party of both abortion and gay marriage. Nothing Catholic there.
 
I’ll differ with you. In 2012, most “white” Catholics voted Repub. The “Catholic vote” went Dem (barely) because of Hispanics. Look it up. You’ll see. There are those who say the Dems have even lost that edge. Maybe so, maybe not.

The Dems are in no way in line with Catholic teaching. Yes, the party talks about the poor, but does absolutely nothing for the truly poor. Look at SSI benefits; the resource of the disabled poor. It hasn’t changed at all for decades other than the changes caused by COLAs. It’s miserable, and it isn’t even on the Dem agenda. What Dems do favor is shifting incomes within the middle class, and so far that’s about all they have done for any segment of the population. That’s what Obamacare itself actually is; an income redistribution within the middle class. For the poor, it’s crowd 17 million more people onto a Medicaid that was hard to get providers to accept before.

And “Cash for Clunkers”? A middle class subsidy for those who could afford new cars anyway, in the course of which they destroyed the “clunkers” upon which poor people depend for transportation.

And Obama’s dream of “making utility bills skyrocket”? Does he think the poor don’t want to heat their homes or refrigerate their food? They would be the hardest hit of all, and for what? So Tom Steyer would make good on his promise to give the Dem party $100 million in the next election cycle?

No, there’s no “in line with Catholic teaching” to that. Not at all.

Romney could not have appointed a pro-abortion justice without losing more of his constituency than he could have possibly afforded to lose, whatever he thought about it himself. He said he had undergone a conversion in that regard. Many simply chose to disbelieve him, and possibly they were right. But the same people believed Obama when he said he supported traditional marriage. That was a lie, but people believed it. And his constituents forgave him for it; something Romney’s constituents would not have forgiven Romney for appointing a pro-abortion justice.

The Dem party of today is not defensible from a Catholic standpoint. One can choose one’s Catholicism or the Dem party. I made my choice, which is why I am no longer an officeholder in the party. I once believed in the party, and for a time I was right in doing it. But that all changed. The Dem party of my youth bears a closer resemblance to today’s Repub party than to the Dem party of today. Today, JFK would not stand a chance in the Dem party. Even Hubert Humphrey wouldn’t.
You are very wrong.
 
Anthony kennedy was very well knowm for being pro choice.
You have invented this “fact.” First of all, except for Bork (and possibly Ginsburg) no justice had a well known position on abortion, and since Bork they have all been absolutely resolute in not intimating what their position may be.
Kennedy was only the second choice after Borke (the nominee was Borke, then douglas w. Which was very briefly and then reagan went with Kennedy).
Actually Reagan nominated Bork first, then Douglas Ginsburg, and finally Kennedy. All of this is available on Wikipedia.
Code:
  He could have very well appointed a pro life person with little  record (remember that the main issue with Broke was that he had an  extensive written  record.
You don’t seem to understand how the process works. Any person known to be “pro-life” (by which I assume you mean who opposed Roe) would be anathema to the Democrats, and since the Democrats controlled the Senate there was no possibility whatever that they would ever confirm such a nominee.
As long as he had another option and as long as he knew what it was coming which he did, it is his fault.
At this point I think facts are useless. Reagan nominated the fifth vote against Roe and the Democrats not only defeated the nomination but were brutal in the process. The Senate, controlled by Democrats, had made it clear what fate awaited another such nominee … and all of this is Reagan’s fault.
Also I think the "renquist and white were appointed before Roe " is another extremely cheap excuse…
A justice’s position on abortion did not become significant until after Roe, before then it simply was not an issue.
… because it gives the impression that Roe came like a bucket of cold water as first surprise to everyone one.
Yep, pretty much how it happened.
You are assuming I said that Rehnquist was the only one who fought against Roe and that is not what I said.
True, what you said was that Rehnquist was nominated by a Democrat, which pretty much set the tone for the rest of your assertions.
Rehnquist … could not get it overthrown because of three republicans that ended up there because republican presidents did a lousy job nominating justices.
The presence of the justices appointed by Democrat presidents is apparently an irrelevant factoid. Nothing to see here, folks, move along …

Ender
 
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