Aquinas, Prudence, and the Necessity to Vote

On October 31, Professor John O'Callaghan continued this thoughtful reflections on the election at the Ethics and Culture Forum. He concludes his reflections with these thoughts:

"So one's own political prudence must judge in such a situation which candidate is promoting the proportionately lesser evil; voting for such a candidate is an effort to limit the damage to the common good. Particular judgments here may be very difficult, but it is antecedently improbable that there will be some kind of perfect equality in the harm done to the common good by the respective candidates. Here I would recommend the excellent discussion posted earlier on this blog (10/19/04) by Brad Lewis on "Proportionate Reasons." In particular, in my previous post I argued that given the fundamental role of innocent human life in the constitution of the common good, in our own day it is difficult to see that there is any proportionate evil that one may judge to be greater than policies that legitimate and promote the taking of human life in abortion and euthanasia, or as David and Brad have pointed out in earlier posts, the deliberate production and subsequent destruction of a human life solely to farm its parts out for the benefit of others. All the other goods that must be protected in the common good find their point and purpose in the flourishing of innocent human life. They are empty "values" subject to social whim, prejudice, and cunning when divorced from the fundamental good of human life itself. No doubt there will be many who with good will may disagree with me in that judgment. When I listen to the brighter angels of my nature, and avoid irascibility, the thought that one or other of us will be wrong does not inflame me. But, regardless, none of us can fail to act to limit the greater evil we judge to be pressing in upon us. If Aquinas' discussion is relevant to our day, prudence demands better of us.

"What do I want if I love someone else? I want him to be happy. In charity, Thomas says, we love others 'as companions in the sharing of beatitude.'"(Josef Pieper, Happiness and Contemplation) On All Saints and the eve of All Souls, pray for our country, and those who would lead it, and "pray for me, as I will for thee, that we may all meet merrily in heaven.""

John O'Callaghan
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