We have a dear friend, Patrick Baker, who is running for the state house here in Michigan. He's a rock solid Catholic and pro-life to the core, as well as a former homeschooler. He's also a Democrat. While conservative on issues such as abortion, stem-cell research, and marriage, he is clearly a liberal when it comes to everything else.
My political leanings could be described as Libertarian. Apart from Patrick's stand on social issues, I am strongly opposed to most of his political positions.
Here's the complication. We live in the city, just a couple of miles from downtown. A Republican has not been elected in our district since the 1960's. Not even close. And trust me, no Libertarian has ever been elected. Whoever wins the Democratic primary in August wins the election in November.
So, what would you do? Help your friend as much as possible through November? Help him through the primary and then throw your energies elsewhere after August? Or would you say, "I'm sorry but I can't help you at all."
I'll let you know what Rob and I decided in a few days.
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We eliminate abortion, and the other social ills, and God will richly bless this nation. Go with the social issues.
What should you do? Presuming the question was not largely rhetorical....
Why NOT support your friend through the primary?
The alternative, as you have set it out, is another Democrat, who would NOT be pro-life. Once you help him through the primary, that appears to be sufficient to help him to the seat. Your energies are then available for whatever other good causes appeal.
May God bless and guide you.
Here's what we decided, some months ago actually. We're helping Patrick as much as we can through the primary. We hosted a tea at our house for members of our parish (largely dem -- we're the token conservatives). Signed a letter to every household in our parish. The kids have stuffed envelopes, we're getting the yard signs up, and got the bumper stickers in place. It'll be a breath of fresh air if we can get a pro-life dem in the state house. There is only one other at this time, and he's being term limited out in 2 years(but will run for the state senate). But Patrick has a hard primary race to run. He's up against two big names, who btw are very anti-life and anti-marriage. However, he has a good grass roots effort going and he could very well pull it off.
Republican or Democrat is pretty much irrelevant. I pity those who see a lot of difference between them. Their moral compass must be small indeed.
The two most important issues are: restoring the constitution (it follows, "Roe" is gone), shrinking the government (it follows the family and church grow back).
On these two issues, BOTH established parties are on the wrong side, in slightly different ways.
My advice? It's OK to help Democrats and Republicans in self-defense or when common ground emerges, but don't FOOL yourselves:
1. the lesser evil is still evil
2. NEITHER party will fix what's broken. It's too late-- ONLY a new party can solve things now.
Have you considered leaving the ballot blank?
--the sloan ranger
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