Catholics and polotics

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Montie_Claunch

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I was talking to my dear ol’ dad (who is not Catholic) and we were on the subject of politics (as were often are) and he was telling me how in years past that Catholics had been dominatily Democrates. Scince I have some political ambitions I was wondering why this was (if this statement by my dad is true)? The reason I ask is I tend to be more on the Conservative side, more so on ethical issues than economic (which sway at time), and I just wanted to know if there was something in Catholicism or the democratic/republican party(ies) which I have yet to see (in my sort time looking into both). Thanks and God bless.
 
Compare Jack Kennedy as a democrat and Catholic in 1962 to John Kerry today.

Since the democratic party deals with direct assistance in social forums it has a lot of appeal with people that are concerned with social justice. It’s easy to tug at people’s hearts with promises to fund social programs in the idea of helping the poor. We all want to help the poor and seeing money go directly to feed, clothe and house the poor is a slam dunk.

But, upon closer scrutiny many have come to see that throwing money at social concerns in the US isn’t solving any problems. I cannot think of a single US Federal Government Social Program that has ever been started has actually met its objective. I can think of some medical ones, but no Social Projects. With that sinking into people that think about what they do rather than just going along with a warm fuzzy, the conservative agenda seems to make much more sense. Empower people to raise themselves out of poverty and make them want to be contributors in society rather than enabling them to remain in poverty for generations, thus actually imprisoning them to poverty rather than actually helping them get out of it.

Couple this change in social thinking with the abortion issue being so central to all political we have a large shift in American Catholic political affiliations.
 
I think political parties are different today mainly because of ethical issues (I have more to say on that, but save it for another thread!)

Also, prior to having government sponsored programs, social justice and other social concerns were taken care of through people’s churches. So, the party that picked up on these concerns grabbed voters. Then, as the world got more complicated and everyone wanted to be inclusive of everyone and everything as “I’m okay, You’re okay”. The Democratic party focus turned to what is right for an individual instead of society/community as a whole. I personally feel that the Republican party is more to developing a nation of people and the Democratic party developing people within a nation. Did that make sense?
 
In my opinion both parties have lost the way. They aren’t what they once were. In the late 30’s FDRoosevelt, who was a Democrat who had work projects to employ the unemployed. It was the middle of the depression and 20 percent of the job force, mostly men did, not have work. The Democrats brought in Child Labor Laws. Up till then cheap child labor was exploited and were often working under intolerable conditions. Labor was in the process of forming unions. The 72 hour work week went away. Overtime pay was established. In 46 we got Eisenhower a republican, we built freeways where everything was pretty much two lanes, one each way. It is quite true that Kennedy welfare programs never seemed to meet their promise. If you think we have poverty today, you should read John Steinbecks “The Grapes of Wrath.” I can remember my dad’s take home pay being 16 dollars a week. Course butter was 5 cents a pound and bread 10 cents a loaf. A can of tuna went for less than a quarter.

In my opinion we need a new national party that has concern for the poor and for morality(life). The so called trickle down economics of Reagen didn’t work any better than Kennedy’s program on poverty and I am afraid Bush’s tax cuts are no better except for those with fat investment portfolios.
 
I was talking to my dear ol’ dad (who is not Catholic) and we were on the subject of politics (as were often are) and he was telling me how in years past that Catholics had been dominatily Democrates. Scince I have some political ambitions I was wondering why this was (if this statement by my dad is true)?
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It’s true.
“Sigh!” It used to be pretty easy. The Dems used to stand for social justice and aid to the impoverished. The Reps (all my family were Reps) were the party of small government and business.
After the 1960’s, things got verrry sticky. Roe vs Wade, the homosexual agenda, stem cells, euthanasia, etc., ad nausem.
Now, the Dems are for “all of the above” and the Reps are not. Of course, there are exceptions in both parties.
Somewhere along the way (via about 40 years) issues of social justice, educating the poor, and healthcare all went fairly much by the wayside.
Both parties claim they’re interested in these issues but extremely little is ever accomplished by anyone.
Sorting it all out has become a nightmare for those who want the good of all.
 
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rwoehmke:
In my opinion we need a new national party that has concern for the poor and for morality(life). The so called trickle down economics of Reagen didn’t work any better than Kennedy’s program on poverty and I am afraid Bush’s tax cuts are no better except for those with fat investment portfolios.
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Weird! I was just thinking the exact same thing today! We really do need a new party.
 
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Ryniev:
Weird! I was just thinking the exact same thing today! We really do need a new party.
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I remeber that during the 1870s when Otto Von Bismark was figthing his KulterKamp (which was pretty much a fight against the Catholic Church) that Most Catholics in Germany (which Southern Germany, The Polish possesions, and other parts of Germany where heavily Catholic) formed together and formed a Heavy block which stoped anti-catholic legelation (and possably though not sure put in some social reform) They were called the Centre. You think we should do something like that? ('Cause I would join)
 
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rwoehmke:
In my opinion we need a new national party that has concern for the poor and for morality(life). The so called trickle down economics of Reagen didn’t work any better than Kennedy’s program on poverty and I am afraid Bush’s tax cuts are no better except for those with fat investment portfolios.
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I agree the US needs more than a dominate 2 party system. However, it was Reagan’s economic plans that bolstered the economic growth in the US for over a decade. And it is Bush’s tax cuts now that have the US economy soaring all while we are at war and cleaning up hurricane damage.
 
I’d have to side with those who are calling for a Third Party, and why not a CATHOLIC party at that?
I am Republican, but Republicans don’t do much for the poor and needy, while Democrats endorse abortion, sodomy, you name it. Both parties have indeed lost their way and a solidly Catholic third-party would be a godsend.
Love, Jaypeeto3
 
I don’t know if I would embrace the idea of doing away with the two-party system. The two-party system creates a kind of stability that countries with more major political parties don’t have (take a look a Germany for example). Anyway, I think that it is healthy to have Catholics that are Democrats and Catholics that are Republicans. However, the Catholic members of each party have an obligation to oppose their own party whenever it’s policies violate Catholic teaching. For example, Catholic Democrats (like myself) should be fighting their party’s attempts to legalize gay marriage and protect abortion while Catholic Republicans should be fighting their party on issues like capital punishment, preemptive war, and unfair trade. Catholics are the single largest religious group in congress, if they would stop being so partisan and actualy fought for their faith, we might actually get something accomplished.
 
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St.BJLabre:
I don’t know if I would embrace the idea of doing away with the two-party system. The two-party system creates a kind of stability that countries with more major political parties don’t have (take a look a Germany for example).
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could you be more specific. I am not well veresed in all of German history so I am not 100% sure of what you mean when you talk about Germany as an example. I can think of when it was under the Kiaser in which they wern’t really running the show scince Bismark simply played eavryone off eachother in which 2,4, or 100 I don’t see how it would make a difference he could get it done.
 
could you be more specific. I am not well veresed in all of German history so I am not 100% sure of what you mean when you talk about Germany as an example.
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I’m not a German historian either I was just talking about the disputed elections that just took place in Germany when Schroeder refused to accept the election results as legitimate and to step down. We don’t have that in the United States. Those kinds of things often happen because the candidate with the most votes often has a plurality rather than a majority. Imagine if we had 3 major parties and the popular vote was something like 33% to 33% to 34% and it is easy to see why those elections are often contested, because no one has the majority or even a clear plurality.
 
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Jaypeeto3:
I’d have to side with those who are calling for a Third Party, and why not a CATHOLIC party at that?
I am Republican, but Republicans don’t do much for the poor and needy, while Democrats endorse abortion, sodomy, you name it. Both parties have indeed lost their way and a solidly Catholic third-party would be a godsend.
Love, Jaypeeto3
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I agree, but the Church forbids formation of a specifically “Catholic party” as such. Form a “Christian Democratic” or “Christian Socialist” party, open to all men of good will.
 
Montie Claunch:
I was talking to my dear ol’ dad (who is not Catholic) and we were on the subject of politics (as were often are) and he was telling me how in years past that Catholics had been dominatily Democrates. Scince I have some political ambitions I was wondering why this was (if this statement by my dad is true)? The reason I ask is I tend to be more on the Conservative side, more so on ethical issues than economic (which sway at time), and I just wanted to know if there was something in Catholicism or the democratic/republican party(ies) which I have yet to see (in my sort time looking into both). Thanks and God bless.
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Abortion
 
As someone who is well versed in the history of Germany, I must say that the Catholic Center block in the Weimar Republic was coopted by Nazi promises of Church Freedom, paving the way for the eventual dissolution of the Republic into the Nazi state. Other parties such as the social democrats were also coopted. What I am saying is that a multiparty system is much more unstable and subject to the will of a strong minority party such as the Nazis weilding more power than they really should. Just a thought.
 
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