Voting Is A Privilege And An Obligation
By REY FLORES
During a recent episode of ChurchMilitant.TV’s “Mic’d Up” webcast with Michael Voris, Catholic blogger Matt Walsh proposed that Catholics consider abstaining altogether from voting, given the poor choices of potential general election presidential candidates.
On the show Walsh stated: “So the only answer there if you’re faced with a situation like that (Clinton vs. Trump) is, as Catholics, we can never affirm evil or affirm tyranny, even if it is the lesser than the other option in our view, which oftentimes it isn’t really, so the only answer is to abstain.”
Meanwhile, in Part Three under “The Duties of Citizens” of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we are instructed in no uncertain terms that it is our moral obligation to participate in our society’s political process by voting:
N. 2240: “Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country.
“‘Pay to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due’ (Romans 13:7).”
So while Walsh finds himself conflicted, as are many of us U.S. voting Catholics, we are to remain obedient and “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s”.
For anyone who has a public forum with followers who count on the writer, blogger, or pundit to help them form their opinions on matters of abortion, marriage, politics, or life in general, it is at the very least careless, and at worst irresponsible, to make such statements or recommendations.
If Walsh wants to forgo his privilege as an American to vote, he has every right to do so, but no one should follow his lead.
I agree with Walsh that deciding between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump isn’t exactly the ideal selection for devout practicing Catholics, but as moral theologian Fr. Heribert Jone, OFM Cap., once wrote:
“Voting is a civic duty which would seem to bind at least under venial sin whenever a good candidate has an unworthy opponent. It might even be a mortal sin if one’s refusal to vote would result in the election of an unworthy candidate.”
So I hate to break it to those Catholics who think they can make up their own version of Catholicism — but you can’t. If you fail to exercise your right as an American to vote, not only is it a sin of omission, but also by your deliberate lack of participation you are complicit in helping the worse candidate win an elected office.
It is understandable that we all feel quite frustrated with the current state of politics, but aside from the moral duties to participate in the election process, one’s refusal to vote is also a slap in the face to all Americans who once could not vote because of the color of their skin, their gender, and ironically enough because of their faith and religious beliefs.
In the Colonial Williamsburg website History.org, we learn: “African Americans and Native Americans were excluded (from voting), and at different times and places, the Protestant majority denied the vote to Catholics and Jews. In some places, propertied women, free blacks, and Native Americans could vote, but those exceptions were just that. They were not signs of a popular belief in universal suffrage.”
It would be fantastic if we had a few Traditional Latin Mass Catholics or more orthodox Catholics running for office, but that isn’t the case in most election campaigns.
Even when we’ve had so-called Catholics in office, they turn out to be pro-abortion, pro-homosexual dissenters like Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, and the late Ted Kennedy.
My point is that if we are seeking spiritual and moral leadership from our politicians, then we are in bigger trouble and in deeper confusion than we think. If we were to solely support and vote for any given candidate based on his or her moral and spiritual character, we’d have hardly anyone to vote for.
So if it does end up being Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump in the general election, who will Matt Walsh vote for, if he votes at all? Who will you vote for?
Who will I vote for? I can at least tell you who I definitely will not be voting for, but you can probably guess who she is.
If we really do want to “make America great again” as Trump likes to say, perhaps we should look in the mirror and inside ourselves more closely to see what our own moral and spiritual characters are, as voters and otherwise.
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(Rey Flores is a Catholic writer and speaker. Contact Rey at reyfloresusa@gmail.com.)
