So you think Santa Claus stole the election?

Soon after Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney in the 2012 US Presidential race, I began to hear things like "You can't beat Santa Claus", referring of course to President Obama as the proverbial "Santa". We don't have to spend a lot of time on this, let's just cut to the chase. This statement insinuates that it was those "without" who, hoping to be given what they do not have, were the deciding factor in the election.

But as I looked at the map of "red" states and "blue" states, something really struck me. Man, it sure doesn't look like the poor were the ones going for Obama.

 

Lisa at Catholic Bandita has done some extensive research on this, and has a very interesting post. Even in the big swing state of Ohio which did go Obama, 74% of the counties living in poverty went Romney.

The other thing that really bugs me is how so many people began saying that the Republican Party should revisit its position on faith and morals. As I have posted over and over, this just goes to show that it's about winning elections and not true conviction. And, yes that speaks to both sides for the most part.

Anyway, the point of my post is stop blaming the poor for the results of this election.

Can I Just Stay Home on Election Day?

Disclaimer: Not an endorsement of the website noted

Back in August, I entered several posts about the need to prayerfully weigh the choices we have in electing public officials and the need to enter the voting booth with a properly formed conscience. I also entered several posts indicating that we have some particularly poor choices this year for those of us who believe that it is important for our elected officials to promote Christian morals and principles.

While I stand firmly behind all that I have written, as we draw closer to the presidential election, I feel compelled to make a few things clear, and I'll tell you why.

When I entered those posts, I had three very close friends contact me offline, or rather, in the "real world". Each of them had different concerns, but I was actually very happy to think that my friends were challenged by what I wrote.

Well, can't I just avoid evil by not voting?

Two of the questions hinged on the actual choice of candidates, and I will lightly touch on that a bit later in this post. But the other question was about whether we should just stay home, not vote, and avoid voting for any less-than-desirable choices. Those of you who know me well, know that I try to avoid giving absolute advice unless I am absolute in my understanding and conviction.

Quick disclaimer: Opinion and absolute voice are far from the same.

So here, you go, and I say this with love: No, you cannot avoid evil by staying home.

"Responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation." -- Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship (USCCB)

Ugggg!!! So what now?

Well, you will still need to do your own homework. Whether you are Catholic or not, I believe that the resources provided by the Catholic bishops are quite good and should aid in responsible discerning.

Here is a link to the full version of the bishops' Forming Consciences For Faithful Citizenship.

Here is a link to their flyer The Challenge of Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.

So what's a donkey to do?

Even though I did not intend to ever publicly state how I am going to vote, I will do so if for no other reason than to avoid confusion. We had enough of that in 2008. However, as I said earlier, I will only lightly touch on this. I've done my homework and discernment, you should too.

I am going to cast my vote for Romney. Although I do not believe that he is a Christian in the sense of what I believe to be a Christian, I do believe that he espouses to the values and morality that are much more in line with Christianity than does President Obama. Romney is the only viable choice of candidates with a legitimate chance of defeating Obama.
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The Real "Fair and Balanced": Obama Supports the Death of Babies Born Alive

I've been trying to present an honest approach here about what we face in the "choices" presented to us in this presidential election and what that means to us, and how we have allowed ourselves to get to this point.

Make no mistake, these are ridiculous choices with the candidates spewing lie after lie about each other and what they themselves stand for.

Also do not be mistaken that I could support in any way a person who even comes close to embracing the pro-death policies that Barack Obama does.  He is the most anti-life, anti-marriage, anti-religion, anti-free-speech, pro-despotism president this country has ever seen.

This man has not only supported the killing of unborn babies (which is what abortion really is as we have allowed the practice to sound "sanitary"), but he has supported the practice of allowing babies that have been born alive to die.  You may have seen another "sanitary" word being thrown out there, "infanticide". Obama has supported this at least three times.

This is pure evil.