Tuesday, 26 February 2008

• Arnobius' Maxim of Voting

  Why is there a call for this counsel? Individual political interest, especially for those of us who work for justice, can easily cloud a correct understanding of the hierarchy of values that is at the foundation of authentic moral and political thought. What is not legitimate, however, is to compile a list of a candidate’s positive positions on lesser human goods (those not involving intrinsic evil) in an effort to justify a vote for a candidate when it is known that that candidate supports and will work to implement or advance an intrinsic evil.
  (From the Diocese of San Diego Voter’s Guide)

   I have been encountering of late a large amount of Catholic Democrats who do precisely this.  They claim “Well, Republicans oppose abortion, but they are bad on issue X.”  The problem is the Church has made it quite clear that the life issues regarding abortion and euthanasia are issues that outweigh others.
  

  The problem is, most of these people refuse to acknowledge the issue as more than an issue.  As if unions and the like are equal to the legalized killing of the unborn.  Because of this, I would like to propose this maxim, inspired by Germain Grisez and the Holy Father:
  

  Arnobius’ Maxim of Voting:

  • IF there is one party that we feel we cannot support because of our individual conscience,
  • AND if the opposing party publicly supports and seeks to implement an intrinsic evil condemned by the Church.
  • THEN we may choose “None of the Above” or “Other” as an option for voting in order to respect both the individual conscience and the teaching of the Church,
  • BUT we cannot support a party that goes against what the teaching of the Church says is intrinsically evil.

  This is really the only way one can honestly answer the challenge of personal conscience and Magisterial authority without contradiction.
  

  There is no room for “Personally opposed but…” or the tu quoque argument that the anti-abortion party is not really pro-life.  If we want to oppose abortion, we must begin by repudiating the party that supports it as a legitimate right when the Church condemns this “value.”

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