Choice between two political candidates

[stinkcat_14]

Here is a problem that I had a couple of years ago. We had two candidates for congress. One basically upheld the churches teaching on abortion, euthenasia,etc. The other was against church teaching. On this information, it would seem clear who to vote for. Here was my dilemma: The pro-life candidate was dishonest and incompetent. I happened to know the pro-life personally and worked with him, and I was on a committee that initiated proceedings to dismiss him from his job. One of the reasons was that he was sneaking out of work early when he was supposed to be in the office.

In this situation, who should I have voted for as a Catholic?

 

[rskempf]

I believe the recommendations have been provided in the recent meeting of the United States Catholic Bishops. They released a “voter’s guide” that outlines how to approach this issue. You can find it within www.usccb.org.

At the risk of oversimplifying their document, you should weigh the positions of the candidates in a particular order. The life issues are first and foremost. Without a respect for all human life we are lost, sort of like building a house upon sand.

After this, comes social justice and the issues dealing with the common good. Please see the document that should appear in all Church bulletins sometime this year before the elections.

Also, anyone we vote for may end up revealing their undesirable qualities while in office. These elected officals are under pressure and temptation. On occasion, they will stumble and fall from grace.

We should work to help them if we can, and pray for them regularly. In the end, please continue to research candidates and vote according to a well-formed conscience. Try to get a neighbor to vote too if you can. Voter turnout is deplorable in this God-given free country.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

When neither candidate is acceptable I would write in a name or cast a blank ballot. Maybe just write in None of the Above.

 

[vern_humphrey]

Why not do the responsible thing and join the party of your choice? Donate time to work for the party. Work for candidates who are honest and pro-life and block candidates who are dishonest and pro-choice.

There is no such thing as a “candidate fairy” who will bring us the perfect candidate – we get the kinds of candidates we deserve. And if we won’t work to nominate good candidates, we deserve what we get.

 

[KarenNC]

Here is a problem that I had a couple of years ago. We had two candidates for congress. One basically upheld the churches teaching on abortion, euthenasia,etc. The other was against church teaching. On this information, it would seem clear who to vote for. Here was my dilemma: The pro-life candidate was dishonest and incompetent. I happened to know the pro-life personally and worked with him, and I was on a committee that initiated proceedings to dismiss him from his job. One of the reasons was that he was sneaking out of work early when he was supposed to be in the office.

In this situation, who should I have voted for as a Catholic?

If he has proven himself dishonest in other things, do you really feel confident that he will be honest in his dealings on issues that concern you more greatly? If a dishonest man says that he supports x, y and z, can you really believe that or would you rather infer that he may well simply be saying such in order to get votes?

 

[rpp]

A dishonest politician?

Isn’t that redundant?

But seriously, we cannot vote for a candidate because of the support of abortion. As others have said, when neither candidate is acceptable, it is certainly permissible not to vote at all or vote for someone else, even write-in your own name.