In the last presidential election, serious Catholics voted overwhelmingly for the pro-life candidate and cultural catholics were split between the pro-life candidate and the anti-war (pro-abortion) candidate.
When "Kerry Catholics" were challenged with the reality that, "You can't be Catholic and be pro-abortion," the usual erroneous response was, "You can't be pro-life and pro-war!"
When it came down to it, informed Catholics understood that voting for a candidate that supports a public policy that violates the Dignity of the Human Person is itself gravely wrong, no matter how well intentioned. The issue of war is serious, but ultimately it comes down to the prudential judgement of the legitimate state authority. War is a position the State can morally take, Abortion simply isn't.
Catholics are not single issue voters, they are voters who understand what issues are of singular importance!
No other issue is more gravely important than the principle of the inviolable
Dignity of the Human Person - it is this idea which is so unique in human history (arising from the Judeo-Christian Tradition) and so critical for all our human rights, freedoms and duties.
The
idea that human beings are endowed with certain inalienable rights comes from the genius of the Jewish story of creation and the unique anthropology that flows from it that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Contemporary creation stories make man into a slave of god(s), and thus this creates a very different set of assumptions regarding man's Liberty and his relationship with the State (but more on that in the days ahead).
Either God has endowed man with basic rights and liberties which the State must respect, OR the State gives man these rights and liberties and man must respect the State as god.
This is issue is critical, as it is the lynch pin upon which every civil liberty hangs; the whole social fabric will be undone in time if this basic truth is violated.
War is sometimes necessary, but when the State makes laws which violate the Dignity of the Human Person, it is a sign of deep sickness in the body politic which will bring about the collapse of all human liberty in the society.
So this issue is simply non-negotiable. If the United States desires to keep its Liberty, the it has to say NO to:
- Abortion
- Embryonic Stem-Cell Research & Cloning
- All Fertility Treatments which involve the destruction of human embryos, and
- Euthanasia
So where does Ron Paul stand on the issue of the Dignity of the Human Person?
Libertarians believe, along with the Founding Fathers, that every individual has inalienable rights, among which are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Neither the State, nor any other person, can violate those rights without committing an injustice. But, just as important as the power claimed by the State to decide what rights we have, is the power to decide which of us has rights.
Today, we are seeing a piecemeal destruction of individual freedom. And in abortion, the statists have found a most effective method of obliterating freedom: obliterating the individual. Abortion on demand is the ultimate State tyranny; the State simply declares that certain classes of human beings are not persons, and therefore not entitled to the protection of the law. The State protects the "right" of some people to kill others, just as the courts protected the "property rights" of slave masters in their slaves. Moreover, by this method the State achieves a goal common to all totalitarian regimes: it sets us against each other, so that our energies are spent in the struggle between State-created classes, rather than in freeing all individuals from the State. Unlike Nazi Germany, which forcibly sent millions to the gas chambers (as well as forcing abortion and sterilization upon many more), the new regime has enlisted the assistance of millions of people to act as its agents in carrying out a program of mass murder.
. . .
We must promote a consistent vision of liberty because freedom is whole and cannot be alienated, although it can be abridged by the unjust action of the State or those who are powerful enough to obtain their own demands. Our lives, also, are a whole from the beginning at fertilization until death. To deny any part of liberty, or to deny liberty to any particular class of individuals, diminishes the freedom of all. For libertarians to support such an abridgement of the right to live free is unconscionable.
There you have it.
Ron Paul understands that the Dignity of the Human Person is essential to preserving our Liberties and a cornerstone for living in a healthy society.
This is the single most important reason why Catholics should support Ron Paul for President.
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