Liberal vs. Conservative

I can’t tell you how many times I get asked if I am a liberal or a conservative. This is usually by someone who doesn’t know me well or just has always thought of me in one light and sees something they didn’t expect. This question annoys me and I usually ask the grand inquisitor (in a less than inviting tone) if he/she is asking me if I am a liberal or conservative in light of my political leanings or in light of my ecclesiology. A few seconds pass before the vacant look on my interrogator’s face turns into indignation and I get a scolding, “well you have to be either liberal or conservative just tell me which you are.” At this point the teachable moment is too much for me to resist, I have now created a platform from which to get my point across and the interrogator is now in the uncomfortable situation of having to think for him/her self. I find 99% of the time this person is trying to figure out which of the two major political parties I line up with and so the following would help them but usually they just want the short answer.

So am I liberal or Conservative? I can’t answer that except to say I’m Catholic. I hold certain beliefs that inform my conscience and guide my decision making in and out of the voting booth. I find too often in American life we feel the need to lump ourselves in with a political party, we adapt our understanding of Catholicism to fit within a party platform instead of forming our own conscience and allowing that to dictate which lever we pull on the first Tuesday of November.

Sure we start out idealistic an open minded we go with the Republican Party because they are unabashedly pro-life, except the death penalty but other than that they are unabashedly pro-life. We can work on some of their faults later; right now it is just important that we have someone in government who wants to end abortion. Forget that they don’t have a plan to actually do that, they want to do it and the death penalty well I personally oppose the death penalty and I will make sure I always remember that. The right to life is paramount and we know that so we jump on board the pro-life party. We are good Christians so we forgive some of the blaring errors in the party’s platform and chalk it up to something we will get to later, once abortion is ended.

Or we have the other side of the coin. We go with the Democratic Party because they really prioritize the poor, they seek justice and end to war, fair wages and advocate immigrants rights. Yeah they don’t condemn abortion and they as a party have a stance that does not support the fundamental right to life but once we get rid of poverty and everyone is treated with dignity abortion will cure itself. We can forgive the mistakes of our party, because really we are dealing with one thing at a time and we will get to abortion, stem-cell research and all the other life issues. Hey at least we disagree with the death penalty, well kind of.

This is a gross over simplification of the issue and I know that but it brings to light a deeper issue I struggle with. Which political party is right for a Catholic? Which political party actually represents what the Church believes? How can we ask Catholic’s vote in November and how can we be active citizens when our fundamental beliefs have us in opposition or agreement with everyone at least part of the time? I can’t answer that, I just hope everyone takes the time to struggle with those questions and doesn’t do the easy thing, doesn’t vote a straight ticket because that is what we always do.

I know there is more to the issue and I hope I can find the time and the energy to outline my ideal political platform. It should take about 5 or 6 posts but at least that way if I ever run for office my platform is already out and at least nominally disseminated.