Why I Am Not A Republican

[Norseman82]

[quote name='Sammy Blaze' date='Jun 25 2004, 07:13 PM']

I'm voting for JPII in '04

[/quote]
Even if he won, he couldn't take office unless the Constitution were amended, since he is not a natural-born US citizen.

[theculturewarrior]

Hey...Raph...

I'm not a democrat either, but I think we've got better reasons than stated above. God bless.

[Mary's Knight, La]

ok i'm not wanting to turn this into a big debate but I have to question about the sympathizing with the american worker part being a cause of not being a republican.

Workers are also consumers.

raising minimum wage basically equates (in effects) to a tax on businesses except that rather than going to the government the money is distributed among the people.

while this does give the worker/consumer more buying power for a time, Economics 101 says that when you tax businesses they raise their prices increasing the costs of those items which consumers deem are necessary.

For non-necessary items the higher costs mean decreased sales which will force businesses to cut costs in other ways (number of workers) in order to protect their profits.

the fact is businesses only exist because consumers pay all their costs and then some (the whole reason for businesses is profit), It is impossible to make a business pay out more than it takes in. The only way raising minum would benefit the worker/consumer in the long run is if the government were the one paying the amount of the raise.

if you want to help the american worker help the business to help workers you have to allow them to either lower their prices which raises the buying power of the worker/consumer or help them pay the worker more in a way that they won't turn around and charge the consumer.

otherwise the business pays the workers more and turns around and charges them more as consumers. then you repeat and the business pays workers more again and charges them more again as consumers, it's a death spiral

[curtins]

amen to raphael!!!!!

[Anna]

Before registering with a political party, one should read its platform, not just believe that it stands for what you think it might stand for!
The [url="http://http://www.democrats.org/about/2000platform.html"][b]Democrat Party Platform[/b][/url] should be reviewed, as well as the [url="http://www.rnc.org/About/PartyPlatform/Default.aspx"][b]Republican Party Platform[/b][/url].
You might be surprised to learn what principles the parties really stand for.

I am neither Democrat nor Republican.

In New York State, we have a Right to Life political party. I'm a member, and former acting county chairman. It is a single-issue party, 100% anti-abortion, anti-euthanasia. Respect for the Sanctity of innocent Human Life is the cornerstone of American civilization (or lack thereof).
Sorry, but its website ~
[url="http://www.nysrighttolifeparty.org"]http://www.nysrighttolifeparty.org[/url] ~ is under construction.

Pax Christi. <><

Edited June 26, 2004 by Anna

[IcePrincessKRS]

Your link for the Dem. party platform doesn't work, Mama. :ph34r: One too many http://'s.

Here is the link:

[url="http://www.democrats.org/about/2000platform.html"]http://www.democrats.org/about/2000platform.html[/url]

[IcePrincessKRS]

Wow. This one did me in right there. No democratic party for moi. :ph34r:

[quote]CHOICE

The Democratic Party stands behind the right of every woman to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of ability to pay. We believe it is a fundamental constitutional liberty that individual Americans - not government - can best take responsibility for making the most difficult and intensely personal decisions regarding reproduction. This year's Supreme Court rulings show to us all that eliminating a woman's right to choose is only one justice away. That's why the stakes in this election are as high as ever.[/quote]

[IcePrincessKRS]

Just in case you're interested, this is the corresponding quote from the Republican party platform.

[quote]The Supreme Court’s recent decision, prohibiting states from banning partial-birth abortions —  a procedure denounced by a committee of the American Medical Association and rightly branded as four-fifths infanticide — shocks the conscience of the nation.  As a country, we must keep our pledge to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence.  That is why we say the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.  We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.  Our purpose is to have legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortions.  We oppose using public revenues for abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it.  We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.[/quote]

[ilovechrist]

if i had to choose between the 2

pick the lesser of 2 evils--and that is being a Republican. if Kerry wins this year, we shall find that the anti-life supporters shall increase tenfold to attempt to destroy the hope of saving the unborn.

but that's just me.

[Aloysius]

besides, even if you happen to be against the Iraq war on the same line of thinking of the Pope, even the Pope is now supporting the U.S.'s attempts to transfer sovereignty and all that. Kerry couldn't even do anything to fix the Iraqui situation anyway. In a choice between Kerry and Bush I don't understand how Iraq is even an issue anymore, it's not like Kerry's gonna come in and make Iraq all better.

[IcePrincessKRS]

lol Good point Al.

[BeenaBobba]

I'm really Centrist in my political stances, although I tend to lean slightly to the Left (when it comes to economics, that is). I'm neither a Republican nor a Democrat. If the DP wasn't pro-"choice," pro-gay "marriage," pro-cloning, pro-embryonic stem cell research, and pro-euthanasia, I'd consider proudly calling myself a Democrat. I wonder if I could call myself a pro-life, anti-gay "marriage" Democrat. Or, maybe I'm just a Republicrat. LOL.

God bless,

Jennifer

[IcePrincessKRS]

Hmmmm...... Republicrat.... kinda has a nice ring to it.

[Aloysius]

i don't have all those problems, i'm just a republican

well, except when i'm a monarchist ! but in my monarchy everything's simplified to the point where all these crazy complications that cause pointless dissagreements are dissolved.

:king:

[BeenaBobba]

Hi Al,

You never did say if I could be a princess of Athanasia!

God bless,

Jen

[Aloysius]

why Beena, i hardly know you :tiphat:

i'd have to get to know you better

pAx

[theculturewarrior]

Thank you all for your informed responses.

You may be surprised at how conservative I am, when looking at the first post. But my point is that Catholicism is a higher calling, and the GOP or DP, these are temporal institutions. We have a responsibility to think critically about all the issues.

In the last election, I voted straight party republican. I will never do that again. It turns out one of the senators for Texas, and since she's a public figure, I don't mind telling you who she is, is pro "therapeutic" cloning. Even with quotes it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. (Kay Bailey Hutchison. :angry: )

While I sympathize with the american worker, I also sympathize with american business, and Catholic teaching is that both have rights and responsibilities. Every man has the right to eat the fruit of his labors. Surprisingly, some presidents who are considered pro-labor are indeed pro-business, and have done more to eliminate the aforesaid right than any. Both parties have their unholy alliances.

For example, (and please correct me if I'm wrong, my knowledge is a little shaky in this area), under FDR, agro-businesses profitted wildly at the expense of share-croppers.

IIRC everybody has a right to work, by Catholic teaching. I often wonder if child labor laws have actually contributed to a decline of the family. I just keep thinking that if children could contribute to the household expenses, artificial birth control would never have had the complete thrall it seems to have on the lukewarm Catholic. Of course, I know this is political heresy, so please feel free to break out your clubs.

[jrndveritatis]

[quote]I am not a republican because said party betrays the interests of Christians, and especially Catholics, by promoting an agenda that is incompatible with Christian teaching, in its execution, and in its fundamental tenets. I am not a republican because I disagree with preemptive war, because I believe the death penalty is abused, and because the party has a history of compromising on pro-life issues.

I am not a republican because I sympathize with the american worker in a way with which the big business interests of the GOP are at odds.

I am not a republican because I have a higher calling. I am a Catholic. [/quote]

I think that rather than being a Republican or Democrat, one should first of all be a Catholic, voting in line with defined Church teaching, and second of all choose a conservative or a liberal political stance.

Because of this it is impossible for a Catholic who is actually Catholic to vote for 99.5% of all Democrats, who are pro-abortion, because the Church has defined abortion to be a grave moral evil, compatible with murder. Voting for John Kerry is furthering his pro-abortion agenda.

The same thing cannot be said of voting Republican. True, most Republicans support the death penalty, but the death penalty is not a grave moral evil, it is simply an overused right of the state, which should only be used in rare circumstances.

Now, voting liberal endorses placing the bulk of initiative in the state, and voting conservative endorses placing the initiative with the people. The Church does not say what the authorities of government should be. Therefore it is not necessarily sinful to support higher taxes or even govenment programs.

However, it does say that the family is the fundamental unit of human society and teaches the principle of subsidiarity, which says that problems should be solved if possible at the most immediate level.

I believe that conservative political thinking is much more in line with Catholic thinking. By giving more powers to the state, the role of the family is destroyed, and problems are relegated to being dealt with by a beauracracy rather than at the most immediate level.

The American worker benefited more, in the long run it is true, from the policies of Ronald Reagan than from the policies of Lyndon Johnson.

So even if you choose the liberal side, which I believe is incoherent when compared with Church teaching, you cannot vote pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage, which is supported by the vast majority of the Democratic party.

I don't think it is a coincidence that liberal economic policy is endorsed by the same who endorse murdering unborn babies. Both of these policies are products of the anti-Catholic "Enlightenment", which stressed individualism and moving responsibility from the person to the state.


I am a conservative because I support the defense of Catholic morality and religious freedom. I am also conservative because I am proud of being American and of the freedom and responsibility which America has always stood for. Has America made mistakes? Yes, just look at abortion and slavery. But is there any other nation which has recognized its mistakes, corrected them, and defended the freedom of man which comes from his being created in the image and likeness of God?

[Mary's Knight, La]

I can't agree with the child labor thing, it'd be impossible for parents to educate their children if the children were at work, and i can guarantee if children could work businesses would raise their prices to reflec that...

I think children/teens having jobs is a wonderful thing teaching the value of a buck and all that but it must be regulated so that they realize their first responsibility is growing up (including education, moral formation, etc...)

[theculturewarrior]

If children worked the long 14 hr days that brought about the child labor laws, then they wouldn't be able to get an education. But a homeschooled child can keep up with a public school kid with less than three hours of schooling a day.

America is not an industrial based economy anymore, so there's no need for children to work in dark, dangerous factories. In a sevices based economy, they could wait tables, manage a cash register, cook, or do any number of services that would not only be educational, but profitable for the family.

I'm not saying children should have to work, but it would take a little bit of the burden off of someone who is living Humanae Vitae.

Often, children want to work but cannot. Some children come from broken homes (let's call them adolescents instead), where they are abused. When they run away, they find themselves in a situation in which they cannot legally support themselves. Many therefore engage in crime, and some prostitution.