Vote The Common Good: the Other "Catholics for Obama"
Out of nowhere last week, I got a visit from a comment poster self-identified as "SisterSharon" from VoteTheCommonGood.com. The comment looked just like this posting on the Blogspot blog she created, and it was peppered on three Obama and abortion related posts here as well as on a few other spots around the Net. SisterSharon's been back to visit this comment thread a couple times.
This video is the centerpiece of the presentation on their web site, and as of now it's got 2,500 views. Compare that to 1.2 million views of RosaryFilms Catholic Vote 2008 I embedded here. The soundtrack is John Lennon's Imagine. The chanters managed to musically moan and sigh through the inconvenient lyrics that go "imagine there's no heaven, no religion too."
"Uhh-hhh! Uhhh-hhhh! Imagine all the people..."
What is The Common Good, and how do we vote for it, you ask? Why, the Common Good is liberal things, of course! Their whole platform is here, and the broadstrokes are to give amnesty to the illegals, get more people in unions, cut and run in Iraq, and end capital punishment. They're also against racism, classism, and sexism. Trade agreements "have to serve the common good," which by definition means we need to sign treaties to trade liberal things.
Fair enough. While I wouldn't agree with these people that there's a religious imperative to vote for liberal things, there's nothing there to stop you from voting for them either. The Church is pro-choice in that regard, with one glaring exception. The Big A, dripping, in brilliant crimson. These guys are totally "Catholic" on abortion, right?
Um, not completely. Their platform statement on abortion, start to finish, reads:
Hasn't it occurred to these people to abolish abortions? You know, "abolish", as in "Abolish capital punishment," which I seem to recall reading just recently. Just under the abortion statement in their very platform, actually.
It wasn't phrased as such either because their hearts really aren't in the Right to Life cause with gusto (being liberals and all), or because such a statement would be incompatible with electing their favorite candidate ever, Obama, and they're not gonna let a little thing like the Freedom of Choice Act stand in the way of electing Obama (being liberals and all) because of all the other Common Good he'll usher in with the tide.
On the tangential issue of health insurance, SisterSharon sent me an article here ("as a point of reference", she says). It's from the National Catholic Reporter (also known as the National Reporter to us orthodoxish Catholics), whose premise is that Obama's health insurance policy is in line with the teaching of the American Bishops. Actually, it compares Obama's and McCain's proposals. Guess which one is described with the words "common good" in the article?
I don't see this as a black/white issue between these two candidates; it's not as if McCain's policy is to "let 'em die and rot," and that we don't have Medicaid already. But let's just say Obama's health insurance is what the bishops want, and McCain's health insurance policy is unacceptable to them.
That still doesn't outweigh the fact that Obama is for keeping abortion legal at every stage and against every restriction on it. 1.1 million dead babies each year, and keeping 'em comin'. Who says the Big A outweighs the other Common Good issues at election time?
The Pope does, that's who! When keeping or ending abortion is at stake, everything else takes the back seat, which is what I've been saying all along.
Pope takes bishop. Checkmate.
This video is the centerpiece of the presentation on their web site, and as of now it's got 2,500 views. Compare that to 1.2 million views of RosaryFilms Catholic Vote 2008 I embedded here. The soundtrack is John Lennon's Imagine. The chanters managed to musically moan and sigh through the inconvenient lyrics that go "imagine there's no heaven, no religion too."
"Uhh-hhh! Uhhh-hhhh! Imagine all the people..."
What is The Common Good, and how do we vote for it, you ask? Why, the Common Good is liberal things, of course! Their whole platform is here, and the broadstrokes are to give amnesty to the illegals, get more people in unions, cut and run in Iraq, and end capital punishment. They're also against racism, classism, and sexism. Trade agreements "have to serve the common good," which by definition means we need to sign treaties to trade liberal things.
Fair enough. While I wouldn't agree with these people that there's a religious imperative to vote for liberal things, there's nothing there to stop you from voting for them either. The Church is pro-choice in that regard, with one glaring exception. The Big A, dripping, in brilliant crimson. These guys are totally "Catholic" on abortion, right?
Um, not completely. Their platform statement on abortion, start to finish, reads:
Promote policies that prevent and reduce abortions by supporting women and families. Ensure robust alternatives to abortion, including adoption.
Hasn't it occurred to these people to abolish abortions? You know, "abolish", as in "Abolish capital punishment," which I seem to recall reading just recently. Just under the abortion statement in their very platform, actually.
It wasn't phrased as such either because their hearts really aren't in the Right to Life cause with gusto (being liberals and all), or because such a statement would be incompatible with electing their favorite candidate ever, Obama, and they're not gonna let a little thing like the Freedom of Choice Act stand in the way of electing Obama (being liberals and all) because of all the other Common Good he'll usher in with the tide.
On the tangential issue of health insurance, SisterSharon sent me an article here ("as a point of reference", she says). It's from the National Catholic Reporter (also known as the National Reporter to us orthodoxish Catholics), whose premise is that Obama's health insurance policy is in line with the teaching of the American Bishops. Actually, it compares Obama's and McCain's proposals. Guess which one is described with the words "common good" in the article?
I don't see this as a black/white issue between these two candidates; it's not as if McCain's policy is to "let 'em die and rot," and that we don't have Medicaid already. But let's just say Obama's health insurance is what the bishops want, and McCain's health insurance policy is unacceptable to them.
That still doesn't outweigh the fact that Obama is for keeping abortion legal at every stage and against every restriction on it. 1.1 million dead babies each year, and keeping 'em comin'. Who says the Big A outweighs the other Common Good issues at election time?
The Pope does, that's who! When keeping or ending abortion is at stake, everything else takes the back seat, which is what I've been saying all along.
Pope takes bishop. Checkmate.
Labels: abortion, Barack Obama, Catholicism, Election 2008
posted by Kevin Gleeson at
12:05 AM
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