Catholics and American Politics

I just wanted to echo the themes of Mark's post, particularly point (4). I really don't think Catholics have a home in the American political scene as it is currently organized. I guess I'd place myself with Mark as a "seamless garment" Catholic as well. Inasmuch as we are devoted here to relfections on Catholic social teaching, it's important to remember that the social teaching exhorts Catholics to a lived faith in the broadest sense.

Abortion raises fundamental life issues, but do we throw our support to the Republican party based on that alone? There is very little that can be done about abortion in the political realm right now, which doesn't mean we should give up, but I have serious questions about the disinterest I perceive in many Catholics regarding fundamental questions of justice that they can do something about, but choose not to address. The overall politcal project of the Republican party is extremely hostile to a Catholic worldview. I refer back to Mark's earlier post regarding corporate law, in which he highlights the fundamental differences in the underlying assumptions about the role of economic life in Catholic thought versus the aggressive free-market liberalism that drives Republican economic policy.

More damning for the Republicans from the Catholic perspective is the destructive nature of this economic project on things that ought to be of fundamental concern to us. How can families thrive in a culture dominated by the aggressive pursuit of wealth? How can we expect young people to be open to children in a consumer culture driven by materialism and in which success is measured by how much money you make? How can people of limited means live in dignity when Congress cuts taxes for the wealthy and then suggests that Social Security should be cut to remedy the huge budget defecit these tax breaks have caused? Why are Republicans so hostile to the power of the state when it used to support the weak, but see no problem when the state props up insolvent industries and coroporations, or when public money is directed to the business of favored campaign contributors?

I do not say all this to absolve the Democrats (see my earliest posts), but the Republicans are not the solution. Perhaps we need to be thinking about new methods of political engagement for Catholics, methods that challenge the injustices that permeate the current arrangements. Catholics need to draw attention to a range of issues that threaten the dignity of the human person, and historically, Catholicism has been able to thrive in civil socities that were hostile to its core values. Catholic universities ought to be platform for a more radical confrontation of a society that has lost its way. This may mean that Catholics will not be prominent in the ranks of the current parties, but political action is not the only venue for social change. One way to spur the creation of new parties is to refuse to participate in the current ones. This might even stimulate some political reform in this country, which is long overdue.

Vince