Now I know why priests shouldn’t talk politics! In my last blog, I expressed frustration with the Republican National Convention. Some of you took that to mean that I’m endorsing the Democratic Party. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, and if I offended any in the Republican Party. One blog reader rightly pointed out that my criticisms were based on very little evidence, so I read over the Republican platform. The platform itself is pretty clear on some important issues; for example, it courageously defines pornography as a “public health crisis.”
My complaint is with the Convention itself: I didn’t hear anyone speaking with conviction on the fundamental social issues: Respect for human life, legal recognition for authentic marriage, and protections for conscience convictions. The Democrats forcefully articulate that abortion should be legal, marriage (and sexual identify itself) should redefined, and individual consciences should be subject to state control. Are the Republicans opposing these fundamental errors as forcefully as the Democrats are promoting them? Is anyone at the Convention saying flat-out that abortion should not be legal, marriage is between one man and one woman, and conscience rights should be safe from government coercion? Rather, all I heard at the convention was vague talk about the economy and “prosperity.” The economic questions, in fact, are secondary to issues directly related to the human person, such as who is a human person and do unborn human persons have rights? That’s why Thomas Jefferson put “the right to life” first in the Declaration. Who in the Republican leadership is putting the Right to Life first in these speeches? Who is bold and clear enough to bring the discussion back to the Natural Law, the foundation of all social prosperity?
Some of you expressed hurt—and a few outrage—over what you perceived to be my endorsement of the Democratic platform. Do you really think I am endorsing the secularist agenda, according to which only the government will decide what is true and what is false? In effect, a vote for the Democratic platform is a vote to further restrict citizens’ conscience rights, to force physicians to kill the unborn and disabled, to further weaken marriage and family, and probably to put your priests in jail (already in 2014 a Texas mayor demanded pastors turn over their sermons for her review). I am quite aware that the relativistic “pro-choice” tenets of the Democratic party are incompatible with a free and rational society. But who in the Republican party is opposing these errors at their root? They talk about the economy; they talk about security and prosperity. But they are not bold enough to talk about current violations of basic human rights, principally through legal abortion and euthanasia.
Even Governor Pence, whom I respect, spent a lot of time vainly criticizing the Democrats while vaguely promising “prosperity.” “On issue by issue,” he said, “[we] will take our case to the voters, pointing out the failures of the Obama-Clinton agenda and showing a better way. We will win the hearts and minds of the American people with an agenda for a stronger and more prosperous America." The only “better way” to a “stronger and more prosperous America” is to restore fundamental human rights—to life, to marriage, to conscience, to safe bathrooms! The Republicans will not win this election by arguing about the economy and "prosperity" with the Democrats--it hasn't worked in the last two elections. They must return the national discussion to the fundamentals: in Jefferson's words again, to the "laws of Nature and of Nature's God." Nothing less will suffice at this moment in our nation's history.
My complaint is with the Convention itself: I didn’t hear anyone speaking with conviction on the fundamental social issues: Respect for human life, legal recognition for authentic marriage, and protections for conscience convictions. The Democrats forcefully articulate that abortion should be legal, marriage (and sexual identify itself) should redefined, and individual consciences should be subject to state control. Are the Republicans opposing these fundamental errors as forcefully as the Democrats are promoting them? Is anyone at the Convention saying flat-out that abortion should not be legal, marriage is between one man and one woman, and conscience rights should be safe from government coercion? Rather, all I heard at the convention was vague talk about the economy and “prosperity.” The economic questions, in fact, are secondary to issues directly related to the human person, such as who is a human person and do unborn human persons have rights? That’s why Thomas Jefferson put “the right to life” first in the Declaration. Who in the Republican leadership is putting the Right to Life first in these speeches? Who is bold and clear enough to bring the discussion back to the Natural Law, the foundation of all social prosperity?
Some of you expressed hurt—and a few outrage—over what you perceived to be my endorsement of the Democratic platform. Do you really think I am endorsing the secularist agenda, according to which only the government will decide what is true and what is false? In effect, a vote for the Democratic platform is a vote to further restrict citizens’ conscience rights, to force physicians to kill the unborn and disabled, to further weaken marriage and family, and probably to put your priests in jail (already in 2014 a Texas mayor demanded pastors turn over their sermons for her review). I am quite aware that the relativistic “pro-choice” tenets of the Democratic party are incompatible with a free and rational society. But who in the Republican party is opposing these errors at their root? They talk about the economy; they talk about security and prosperity. But they are not bold enough to talk about current violations of basic human rights, principally through legal abortion and euthanasia.
Even Governor Pence, whom I respect, spent a lot of time vainly criticizing the Democrats while vaguely promising “prosperity.” “On issue by issue,” he said, “[we] will take our case to the voters, pointing out the failures of the Obama-Clinton agenda and showing a better way. We will win the hearts and minds of the American people with an agenda for a stronger and more prosperous America." The only “better way” to a “stronger and more prosperous America” is to restore fundamental human rights—to life, to marriage, to conscience, to safe bathrooms! The Republicans will not win this election by arguing about the economy and "prosperity" with the Democrats--it hasn't worked in the last two elections. They must return the national discussion to the fundamentals: in Jefferson's words again, to the "laws of Nature and of Nature's God." Nothing less will suffice at this moment in our nation's history.
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