Would a pro-life Democrat really split the Catholic vote?

[flameburns623]

I have pointed out before that Catholics on this forum increasingly seem to identify Church teaching on social justice exclusively with opposition to abortion.

Taking a look at the first two pages of this subforum seem to confirm this
impression of mine. Little or no conversation opposing the war, death penalty, or standing against structurally-immoral aspects of our culture like racism or oppression of the poor.

Plenty of threads on various aspects of the abortion debate, a few on turning back health care reform. One or two raising the issue of same-sex attraction. Mostly what appear to be wholesale endorsement of Republican Party talking points. (I’m a pro-life paleo-conservative Republican myself btw).

On the EWTN newsbroadcast, The World Over, someone commented that the Democractic party could readily split the Catholic vote in the United States if they would simply run pro-life Democrat candidates who were nonetheless progressive on other issues. Looking at this webforum, I am not entirely sure that is true.

Any thoughts?

 

[Elijah_Baley]

Having had Sunday last the unfortunate experience of hearing a priest deride abortion and “those illegals” in the same breath of the same homily, I see what you mean. However, as so many pro-lifers vote as single-issue voters and most Catholics who are fine with abortion aren’t, I believe that Democrats turning pro-life would be the smartest thing to do if they really wanted the Catholic vote. Not that the Catholic vote is as unified as it should be or is even enough to win an election, but I’d love to see and vote for a candidate who exemplifies without the slightest compromise each and every Catholic teaching in his platform, whether or not he believes it.

I think that pro-lifers who adopt the Republican talking points wholesale do so for the sake of adopting a thoughtless political identity, despite the internal contradictions of being pro-life and anti-welfare and fanatically pro-death penalty. Pro-lifers often know exactly one thing is true and one issue is right and are willing to deliver their votes to — and tend to defend wholesale — whoever promises this single, important issue.

I’ve said this before, but it would be nice to see the development of a Christian Democratic party, of the sort you see in Europe and elsewhere in the West.

 

[Pamm]

God is neither a Democrat or a Republican. The Catholic Church should not be pro one party or the other. We are voting for people not a party.

 

[Elizium23]

I am a registered Democrat, and an orthodox Catholic. Both parties do lots of stuff that annoys me on a regular basis, but my parents and the vast majority of my friends are somewhere on the liberal spectrum, and despite the fact that for the past ten years, I have invariably voted Republican due to being a pro-life “convert,” I have really regretted having to pass up some good Democrats because of that single issue.

Being registered Democrat grants me the special privilege of voting for my party in the primaries, and thus I can weed out the worst pro-abortion types at that point. However, in my location, that seems to include all of them. I honestly have not been able to vote for a single Democrat since ten years ago.

When I was in college, I left the Church and rejected my family and eventually sank deeply into suffering from bipolar disorder and homelessness. I led a promiscuous lifestyle and I even went so far as to participate in two abortions. Returning to God and His Church in the year 2000 breathed fresh air into my life and into my views. I no longer feel the selfish need to vote for the candidate who will benefit me personally. I keep in mind the needs of my community and my family, of which the Church is a major part. My community cries out for compassionate immigration reform. I live in a border state, and people are literally dying to get here. It is unfair and prejudice against Latinos is rampant. I empathize with Latino immigrants, being the descendant of Irish Catholics myself. The Republican answer to immigration is xenophobic and bigoted at best. Our county sheriff is a reprehensible individual who delights in the suffering of human beings and keeps his jails at a level that has ensured even Amnesty International takes notice. And yet, these people are the guardians of the dignity of human life from the moment of conception, against the blatant evil Democrat stance on abortion.

I often wryly recall the expression my parents always use when there is no good choice on the ballot: “Vote for the guy who’ll do the least damage.” And currently, I stand with the Church who believes that abortion cannot be tolerated at any price. The price of pro-life, in my state, is the oppression of immigrants and Latinos. Unfortunately this will be the status quo for the foreseeable future here.