Vote your conscience as a Catholic

I voted early the other day after waiting in long line that I have not seen in years.  Yesterday, I reheard the Bishop’s message urging Catholics to vote on this radio station.  Both of these events and what seems like an endless campaign brought me to thinking about the reasons we vote the way we do.  Let’s see - do you vote for a candidate because of his stand for unions and not for his stand favoring abortion?  Do you vote for a candidate for her stand for delivering universal healthcare but ignoring her stand on homosexual marriages and for her stand on compelling company’s to provide contraceptive devices and abortions contrary to Catholic beliefs? 

Do you vote for candidates because of their appearance and/or the way they sound?  Boy, if you do, you would have undoubtedly voted against Abraham Lincoln and you might not have like George Washington’s smile with his wooden teeth!

So, what do we stand for, if anything?  When I hear people talking about their own pedestrian issues instead of their Catholic beliefs, I think of the saying WIIFM - what’s in it for me!  So, the question is will people vote because of what’s in it for them and their pet projects while tossing to the side their Christian beliefs?  Regrettably, that is what happened 4 years ago when 54 per cent of the fundamental Christian and Catholic vote went in favor of the candidate who supported public funding for abortions!!!  How could that be?  It was because of their WIIFM.  Will that happen again in this election? 

Neither the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, church leaders nor I can tell you how to vote.  But we all ask you to vote your Catholic and Christian beliefs when you do vote.  Vote for substantive and meaningful reasons based upon your values and beliefs and not just on superficial and self-serving interests.  By now, you most likely believe that you have heard it all if not too much and are tired of it all.  But, please keep foremost in your mind that your vote is meaningful or I would not be writing this blog on this topic.  You might remember the value of the vote when you think of President Burr, Gore, and Nixon instead of Kennedy in 1960.  Each of these people came within a hair’s breadth of being elected President.  So, voting does matter.

Please do vote and vote your Catholic and Christian values and beliefs in this and in all elections!

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer