For whom the question matters in the first place

Michael Moreland and I would suggest that our friend Amy's response (here) is question-begging. She assumes there is some cohort of "politically homeless" Catholics who would like to enact the principles of CST into politics but don't have an easy home in either of the major political parties.  We don't disagree as such, but the point of our post is that that number, from all available evidence, is breathtakingly small. Furthermore, Amy's comments might have the causal chain backwards--rather than Catholics receding into the background of American politics on account of their homelessness, we would suggest that think it's more plausible to say that the disregard of Catholic thought -- in all of its richness -- by both parties (folks will disagree about which side falls shorter) reflects the small number of Catholics for whom the question matters in the first place.  That it apparently matters so little to so many is a fact to be reckoned with.