Letters: Go to the polls to vote this election
Go to the polls and vote
Get to the polls and vote! I feel everyone who is physically able to do so should go to the polls and vote and not use the mail-in option. I’m not convinced the mail-in option is a controlled, safe voting option that eliminates occurrences of fraud, duplicate votes, delivery and accurate counting. What safeguards are in place to eliminate someone from mailing in a vote and also voting in person?
I admit I am not well versed in the process of mail-in voting, but this election is too important to take chances. People stand in line with masks and social distancing at the grocery store, Walmart, to get concert tickets, go to bars and restaurants — sometimes for hours. They camp out in tents overnight for football games, concert tickets and Black Friday sales.
Why can’t you wear your mask, social distance, stand in line and vote safely? And vote Republican and keep America great!
Catholics have a moral obligation when voting
For Catholics, responsible citizenship, including voting, is important. However, a critical issue hasn’t been explained well to Catholic voters: a political candidate’s position on just one issue disqualifies that candidate from receiving votes from faithful Catholics.
A “disqualifying issue” pertains to actions of intrinsic moral evil: actions which can never at any time or under any circumstances be promoted, committed, or enabled. A disqualifying issue is so grave that it is non-negotiable, rendering a candidate unacceptable for public office at the national, state, and local level.
For example, candidates supporting abortion are immediately disqualified as persons a Catholic may vote for. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops states that Catholics must always oppose policies that violate human life or weaken its protection. Human life is sacred; attacks on innocent life are never morally acceptable.
Therefore, the intrinsic evil of abortion must be vigorously opposed. A political candidate who supports abortion disqualifies him/herself as a person Catholics may vote for. Neither of the presidential candidates is perfectly aligned with Catholic teaching on every issue. What if, for example, neither candidate is completely pro-life? Then Catholics must attempt to limit the evil aspects of abortion, by determining which candidate would cause the less damage. It follows from St. John Paul’s encyclical “The Gospel of Life” if neither candidate is completely pro-life, then the vote must be cast for the candidate who will most likely limit the evil of abortion.
Clearly, that candidate is Donald Trump.
Differences between soldiers and protesters
Last month, my friend Ralph was laid to rest in Arkansas. I came to know Ralph when I assumed the duties of organizing the annual reunion of my grandfather’s WWII infantry company. I believe Ralph was the last living member of that group.
In 1944, these men that I knew as family men, gentlemen, really, in the classic sense, battled and defeated actual fascists as they marched across Europe. Contrast for a moment the heroic sacrifice of those ordinary men with the anarchists we see in the streets of our cities today. Other than age it is difficult to see similarities.
The young men of 1944 left their homes and farms, traveled to a foreign land and fought well trained, and equipped Nazis in Europe and Imperialists in the Pacific. On the other hand, these boys and girls of 2020 left their parents basement or dorm rooms to throw bricks and fireworks at police instructed by politicians to not fight back. The soldiers of 1944 gave the gift of liberty to millions across Europe. The rioters of 2020 demand free college, health care and that we defund the police.
One other thing the two groups have in common, in 1944 the Democrat party and media supported our troops, just as it appears they support those burning and looting our cities.