Must a Catholic Vote?

Thomas Peters' blog, The American Papist, links to this CNS article where Most Reverend John McCormack, the Bishop of Manchester, NH explains voting is a moral obligation. Further:

"When candidates support or tolerate policies that include intrinsically evil acts, a Catholic must carefully assess the situation and decide which candidate will produce the least harm to innocent human life, if elected," he added.

I find this a difficult assertion to swallow and fail to see how exercising one's conscience to not materially cooperate with any evil by means of voting, would violate the moral precepts of the Church.

Should Ron Paul, our favored candidate for the Republican Party, not win the nomination, would it be a violation of the moral law should a Catholic chose not to vote for one of the other candidates which could be completely unacceptable? Let's say the ballot consists of Clinton, Giulliani, and the Libertarian candidate. Let's also say that all these candidates remain pro-abortion, pro-unjust war, and pro-death penalty [I know the last category is not necessarily intrinsically evil]. Does this mean that a failure to show up at the ballot box will constitute a sin? I would think that an intentional violation of a moral precept of the Church is a sin. Does such an ommission from voting generally constitute a venial or mortal sin? Does this mean Catholics must vote for and therefore materially cooperate with candidates that formally cooperate with intrinsically evil acts?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think we are ever required by the Church and under Her moral theology to ever materially cooperate with evil. Politicians who explicitly endorse the pro-abortion cause or advance unjust aggressive wars, engage in formal cooperation with such evil acts. Voting for one of these candidates can be a formal cooperation with evil if the voter endorses the candidates' own cooperation or a material cooperation if the voter does not endorse the candidates' views but can find a sufficient justification. So while it can be justified it does not follow that material cooperation with evil is ever required.

Any readers care to give clarification? Should Ron Paul not win the RNC nomination or go on as a 3rd party candidate, I don't see a reason to vote. Are Catholics required to materially cooperate with evil by voting for one of the pro-aborts or pro-unjust warmongers?

Sabrin's "Open Letter to Pro-Lifers"

Prof. Murray Sabrin explains Ron Paul's influence on his own conversion to respect the natural right to life for the unborn:

"...I knew Rep. Ron Paul, who I have known since 1982, was a pro-life libertarian Republican. I called him to get his input on the abortion issue. He told me he wrote a book on abortion making a libertarian case for the pro-life position. I asked him to send me a copy. I read his beautifully written 100-page Challenge to Liberty in one reading and from then on I became a pro-life libertarian.

I never ever thought I could ever be convinced that a pro-life position was consistent with liberty and limited government. But in Challenge to Liberty, subtitled Coming to Grip with the Abortion Issue, Ron Paul demonstrated that logic is an indispensable tool to change peoples’ minds, especially when it comes to hot button issues like abortion."

Sabrin is also considering the possibility of running for the New Jersey representative to the U.S. Senate for 2008 as a Ron Paul Republican, a decision he'll likely make in January.

"Wrapped in the Flag Carrying the Cross"

After a condescendingly rude opening by this Fox and Friends interview, Ron Paul throws them off by quoting the Sinclair Lewis prediction that "[w]hen fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." Of course the Fox interviewers couldn't handle such Harrison Bergeron type thinking and had to promptly move to commercial.

For Ron Paul's view on an excellent example of religion in the public life, particularly Catholicism, go here.

The Tea Party Begins

It is almost 9 am EST and Ron Paul has already raised over 1.3 million since midnight.

This is an extremely important day for Ron Paul and for Americans because this is a protest against the inflation tax. Tomorrow the MSM will be talking about Ron Paul and the inflation tax. This is great for the campaign but even better for America. Wake America up!

Send a message to the elite banksters, government officials and corrupt big business that that don't own us and we're not going to take it any more!

Donate as much as you can TODAY!

Go Ron Paul!

The Ringing Endorsement from Daily Kos

You see Ron Paul is NUTS because:

Ron Paul has authored legislation saying that life begins at conception, to prevent federal money from being spent on family planning (that would include contraception), and has tried to amend the Constitution to "guarantee the right to life."

God Bless Ron Paul.

"Turn Out the Catholics for Ron Paul"

HT: Nick Bradley, LewRockwell.com

Secular Original Sin & Secular Baptism

I have always lamented that in the modern totalist states, like the United States, our children receive their Social Security identification numbers and cards before their Baptisms. Now Butler Shaffer brings to our attention calls from some Austrailian medical journal to impose a $5,000 tax on every baby born to couples with greater than two children plus the addition of an $800 a year carbon tax:

"All of this is designed to compensate for the 'profligate consumption of resources' caused by humanity. This is but the most recent example of the environmentalists' version of 'original sin': we humans don't really belong on this planet; we are trespassers upon the lands and waterways rightfully belonging to other species; and, unless we manage to destroy ourselves through political means, we should at least compensate our victims (who?) in the interim."

A Ron Paul administration would naturally oppose any federal efforts to regulate the population and strike down any calls to tax human beings for their mere existence which supposedly imposes some kind of carbon footprint on the planet. Further, a Paul administration would seek to give people the ability to opt out of the world's most diabolical ponzi scheme.

Catholic Outreach for Ron Paul

Dan Scanlon sends along this nice idea he has engaged in spreading the word about Ron Paul to other Catholics:

"I'm a member of the Greater New York Meetup and a few weeks ago I was at early morning mass when I got inspired with an idea to spread the good news about Ron Paul to my fellow Catholics. So I hurried home and got some flyers printed, checked parishes on line for mass schedules, took a cab over to a Republican nieghborhood and handed out flyers after mass as the faithful departed. The response was very positive and I only wish I had had six hands.
This is something important that anyone can do alone or preferably with another person to cover the other side of the street. No signs, no slogans, or crtical mass of members required; just a friendly "Good Morning, Catholics for Ron Paul" and a flyer. Here is a link to Parishes Online so anyone anywhere can cover any parish in the country. All you have to do is find a parish schedule, be there as the folks LEAVE (this is important in terms of tact as well as effect) and you're in business! Big bang for the buck as far as time investment (15-20 minutes) if not the two sided color flyers which cost a dollar a pop. This could be a national effort and we should be buying copies in bulk.

"Below is a link to the files section of the Greater NY Meetup for a copy of the flyer that another member had made up. "

Pax et bonum,
Dan Scanlon