You’re in good company. As Cardinal Ouellet recently stated “We Need Bishops With ‘Spiritual Discernment’ over ‘Political Calculation’” (see http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/aug/10081903.html )

Well said! Ditto.

The Tea Party people are telling the Republicans what to do, plain and simple. Whether or not you agree with them, they are saying that they want small government, lower taxes, and an end to the social engineering so dear to Democrats’ hearts. In other words—and I agree with this—a clear alternative to the Democrats, not people who will spend and act just like Democrats but with a different letter after their names. IE, not the Republicans who helped get us into this economic mess.

But the Republican leaders do not see this. They keep saying that what matters is beating the Democrats—any Republican will do. This is just another example of that thinking: Vote for the person the Republican Party has chosen and put its money behind, whether this person is pro-life or not. The huge, mobilized crowd of independents do not care whether the candidate wears an R or a D, they care what the candidate is going to do. The sooner both parties realize that, the better for us all. But they don’t believe it.

In MD, I voted in my first primary today for an underdog named Brian Murphy.  He’s pro-life.  Even if it is just a primary, it has become important because the Republicans are starting to sell out the unborn by supporting abortion.  The meme is focus on the economy and have a “truce” on abortion issues.  Truce and abortion nuetrality are ways to say they won’t fight abortion laws.  I suspect Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the US, bought these poor souls to be able to continue their business.  With Obamacare in place, there’s a lot of money to be made or lost specially with the school girls and tax funded abortions.  I’ve done my part and my wife is voting tonight.  The polls are open until 8.

Amazing. We help get them here and then they tell us to shut up and sit on the bench.  Kay Bailey Hutchison pulled the same stunt and look what happened to her. I’m neither Democrat or Republican. I’m Pro-Life. I say we start a new Party and vote our God given conscience. Win, lose or draw, I’m not going to Hell for nobody.

I disagree.  For one thing, there are not enough pro-lifers to form a political party that would ensure abortion is made illegal. 

Vot ing for third-party candidates only ensures that those who support abortion stay in office.  You don’t need to be “smart” to see this. 

The Church has made clear that voting for a less-than-perfect candidate because that candidate hasa better chance of winning is not a violation of your conscience.  Quite the opposite, this has been seen as advancing the churches agenda.  One only needs to peruse the list of statements that were published by various Bishops before the 2008 elections to see that this is the case.

On the other side, if the current political scene in your area is corrupt or defunct, then what have you done to fix it?  It’s one thing to get upset on election night, but it’s another thing to actually do something about it.  I find that a lot of good Catholics remove them selves from the political system because of the corruption that is made manifest.  Instead, we need to be more involved than ever before.  If we don’t fix this, then who will?

What do you do when the Republican is a crook?  Here in FL we have running for Governor a Democrat that is heavily supported by Emily’s List (pro-abortion) and supports the Democratic heavy gov’t platform, but is probably, maybe, qualified to be Governor.  The Republican is supposedly Pro-Life (who knows if he really is or just saying that for votes) and supposedly fiscally conservative, but ran a company that bilked the gov’t for millions and said he did not know how it happened.  He won’t speak with the press most of the time.  So what do you do?  Do you vote for the pro-socalist, pro-abortion Democrat or “pro-life” crook?  I really want to know.

Dear Matt and Pat
Please pass along this message to Governor Mitch Daniels and Governor Haley Barbour - ” IGNORE US AT YOUR PERIL AT THE VOTING BOOTH”. Make sure that you are on the right side: no tax money to pay for abortion, defend the life of the terminally ill, no tax money for eHSC research, no tax money to support human cloning, and support for marriage between one man and one woman.  We need a PARENTHOOD amendment. frank harlow

Sometimes there will be situations in which a vote for a candidate who holds bad positions on moral issues WILL advance the cause of life.  Scott Brown was a classic example of this - not pro-life, but far less extreme in his positions than his opponent, and his election to the Senate made the radical anti-life President weaker.  Every vote for an unelectable third candidate in the Brown-Coakley race was a vote to keep the radical anti-life Democratic super-majority in the Senate.  Does you conscience really tell you that voting for a fantasy candidate will stop the things that worry, frighten and horrify you?

Whether your voting tendencies lean toward the social left or the social right, one of the greatest freedoms of being a voting Catholic is the freedom from being defined with either.

For every aspect of Catholic Social Doctrine labeled as “wingnut” by the left, there is a counterpart the right will consider a dangerous capitulation to socialist propaganda.

I’m not liberal OR conservative. I’m Catholic.

It is important to remember that just like our faith itself is a process of ongoing conversion, every election is an exercise in continual formation of our social conscience.

So I always default to the three-part examination of voting conscience offered by our Bishops in the excellent “Faithful Citizenship” campaign (http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org/). It should be promoted among all U.S. Catholics by every parish, and the three-part “formula” really deserves a place in any essential CCD and RCIA curriculum in the U.S.

Specifically:
“The Church calls for a different kind of political engagement: one shaped by the moral convictions of well-formed consciences and focused on
1) the dignity of every human being,
2) the pursuit of the common good, and
3) the protection of the weak and the vulnerable.”

Whichever candidate or policy, however imperfect, can maximize those three goods gets my vote.

Comments from the peanut gallery: 1) vote your conscience; 2) don’t vote for any democrat; 3) in Florida, hold your nose and vote for the pro life candidate (republican) for governor.  We’ve seen that the democrat party is overrun by secular progressives who don’t intend to let the constitution get in their way and religion and being pro life just gets in their way.  We saw what “pro life” democrats do when the party line dictates during the healhcare debate.  ( in case you hadn’t noticed, They fold and voted pro choice)  Once we rid the congress of the democrats, we need to rid the republican party of similar progressives who also think party above country and principles.  We need to take the first step to get rid of the dems because they hold a majority in the house and near majority in the senate and that will spell the end of this country as we know it if we let them stay in office after 2010.  Don’t fall for these dems who voted for the healthcare, cap and trade, card check, higher taxes, more spending etc. just because they now say they are against the Obama admin.  They’re not trust worthy.  One of two things will happen over the next several years.  Either the republican party will return to the republican form of government as our Founding Fathers envisioned or the people will form a new, third party.  Curently the ruling class, secular progressives, rule the democrat party and the democrat party is their voice.  Also read “5000 year leap” by Dr skousen and refresh your understanding of our government and the role of religion in our government.

Slow down a bit.  “Vote your conscience?”  ONLY of it is properly formed in the teachings of the Catholic Church which are based on Natural Law.  If your conscience is too self-centered to see the intrinsic evil of abortion because you have jumped on the social justice bandwagon, that’s a problem and just plain wrong.  THat’s how Obama got in - those 52% of Catholics voting their (badly formed) consciences.

The idea that the tea Party has hijacked the Republicans is incorrect. he Tea Party doesn’t hijack anything, it favors less gov’t intrusion in our life (for most of us a good thing), less taxes (another good thing, in my opinion). Vote your conscience for heavens sake.

We can dump pro-abortion Republicans just as fast as we dumped pro-abortion Democrats.

I agree, we must vote a clear conscience, one that Jesus would use for us. In my view, abortion is caused by people who are selfish and don’t believe that life begins at conception. Abortion is like crime or terrorism, its difficult to stop. The people who do these things are not nice nor can they be convinced to stop their action. I believe that doctors and nurses are not responsible for abortions. The funding of abortion in America amounts to approximately one dollar from each American per year.
Broken families, drugs and a permisscuse life style cause most of the abortions. I pray for my elected officals and hope that they do a good job in governing America. The Roman Catholic Church has its laws for us to follow, not for the non-catholics.

We have a crook on the republican ticket running for governor of florida. Rick Scott defrauded medicare over a billion dollars and walked away from that scandal saying he didn’t know, though he was the ceo of the healthcare co.  To put someone on the ticket just to win, but who is not representative of the people maligns the party.  I quit the republican party and am now an independent, as “independent thinker and voter!”

Marcy & Sophie, your info is wrong.  I live in FL.
There has never been any proof of any wrong doing on the part of the Republican candidate for Governor, Mr. Scott.
We live in a Country that says “innocent until proven guilty”.
The media and Republican machine tried to do a job on the winner of the primary, and it did not work.
The FL Conference of Catholic Bishops recommended Mr. Scott.  You should be able to find this on the internet.
It is always good to be an independent thinker - Never just vote the Party (like they did in the old days).

Should pro-lifers ignore social issues in this upcoming election? Of course not. How we deal with basic social issues determines the character of a nation. What kind of person justifies infant holocaust? Are we to trust that person with anything else? People must stop sitting out the primary races in elections at all levels of government. This is when good conservatives present themselves and when media works to smear their good names or they deny them equal exposure so people can’t judge for themselves. Get out there and support them based on their solid principles and not their coffers! Conservatives cannot compete with the unending flow of money that is readily available for liberal candidates. It costs nothing for us to vote, we just have to invest our energy in getting the information from the best conservative sources (not all of them are as principled as we should be) and not relying on the mainstream media. Another thing: Catholics and other believing Christians cannot remain in the Democratic Party once they read and understand their party platforms which include the wrong side on every social issue. That leaves us with vetting the Republican candidates, who can be anywhere on the spectrum, using false identifiers such as moderate, progressive, traditional,fiscal conservative, etc. Since labels fail to define adequately, the litmus test has been and will continue to be one’s stance on social issues. The foundational issue is always life. Also, in a free nation, parental authority naturally trumps state rule over our children’s education, faith and matters of health. Anyone who is weak in these areas does not get my vote even if they are the only Republican out there. It is better we suffer under a Democrat than a liberal Republican. Let them be known for who they are. Republicans need to earn a name for themselves as conservatives and nothing else. “Lesser of two evils” elections are wearying the people of this nation. We end up in this situation because media pressures us into selecting the ‘viable’ candidate; the ‘winner’. Last I checked, Washington and my corrupt state capital were full of ‘winners’. No more business as usual for me. Let America continue its freefall until those from our churches who have betrayed us all by supporting the causes of the Left while feigning Christian beliefs realize what damage their unfaithfulness has wrought. That may be what it will take to turn this country around. People don’t usually change until they suffer hardship. May we all prefer a better path than that and insist on true conservative moral values first in domestic social issues,then in matters of economics and foreign affairs. May God grant us wisdom to face these challenges before us.

Kathleen M,
- George Soros, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, etc. will not like your post.
They all fund pro-abortion (baby killer) agencies and organizations.
Soros even funds “FAKE” Catholic organizations to get uneducated Catholic votes for Candidates who are willing sell their souls.
All those who read the CCC and the Bible will not be fooled by evil.
And yes, as with most Democrats, there are RINOs (Republican in name only) who vote for death, debt and oppression of individual rights along with most Dems.
Those who do not respect human life at all stages CAN NOT be trusted.

In the past, using eg the “seamless garment” argument or saying “Catholics are not single issue voters”, many in positions of influence in the Church have convinced many Catholics that they could vote for a pro-abotion Democrat [ie any Democrat]. Now-with what the Obortion Admn has done, it clear that Catholic tax dollars will also fund institutionalized racism.

Once and for all the liberal efforts in the Catholic Church and in many liberal dioscesan newspapers need to exposed for what they are - and they will not be heard to say “Catholics are not two issue voters”.

spread the word below-make pastors and bishops confront this racism issue:

from the THE ROCKPORT TEXAS PILOT NEWSPAPER
Letters to the Editor: September 15
Published:
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 4:09 PM CDT
Dear Editor:

Abortion and now racism: Catholics of conscience cannot vote for any Democrat.

No Catholic with a well-formed conscience can vote for a Democrat. As the implications of the health control legislation unfold, it is clear there is no such thing as a pro-life Democrat. In their 2008 voter guide, Faithful Citizenship, the Catholic Bishops made it clear abortion and racism are intrinsically evil and no Catholic can vote for a politician who promotes such evils. Such a vote constitutes formal cooperation in intrinsic evil.

The present “Obortion Administration” is not only vigorously promoting abortion, and will require Catholic taxpayer dollars to pay for elective abortions, but will also use tax dollars to pay for abortions done by Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has a racist abortion program which is directed against African-American babies and Mexican-American babies. Due to this tax dollar$/Planned-Parenthood/genocide connection, voting for a Democrat will now also promote the intrinsic evil of racism. The “seamless garment” argument - used in the past to convince the faithful they could in good conscience vote for a Democrat cannot mask the racism of exterminating future minority voters at Planned Parenthood abortion businesses strategically located in minority communities to target minority children.
Blacks make up 12% of the population, but they undergo 35% of the abortions in America. The rate of others for births-to-abortions is 5:1. For blacks it is almost 1:1. Catholic tax dollars are today being used to export the “Obortion Agenda” worldwide, e.g., in promoting the pro-abortion constitution in Kenya.

Planned Parenthood, using Catholic tax dollars, is now effecting the racist goals of its founder Margaret Sanger who said: “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population ... if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members. Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated,” and “there is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped.”

The faithful need to know: a vote for a Democrat will promote racism and abortion; therefore a Catholic of conscience cannot vote for a Democrat.
Guy McClung

Hello,

I’m sorry to inform you that I did not vote for any democrat or republican.
Instead My vote went to none to negative for all position on my ballot.
The reason for this was that I have no idea what anyone was going to do for their net term.
Reform, As long as the negative campaign continue, I will vote the same in the furtue.

One day our leaders will start acting like adults.

I think it is important for Christians to begin to vote the way that God would likely desire them to vote! We are in the mess that we are in today because Christians and conxervatives alike continue to vote for the “lesser of two evils.” The result is that we have slowly moved in the direction of ungodliness and liberalism!

Pastor Richards does a fabulous job discussing the way Christians should decide on whom to vote for. “Biblical Discernment on Voting” was a great help to me!

http://www.sermon.net/faith_baptist

God bless!