The Catholic vote just got a lot more important
By Tom Quiner
Catholics will decide this election.
Quiner’s Diner has made the case that “the Catholic vote could tip the election” in a previous post.
The selection of Congressman Paul Ryan was the equivalent of injecting orthodox Catholics with high potency steroids. In Paul Ryan, we have a man who embraces his Church’s non-negotiable positions on Life and Marriage. Even more, he embraces his Church’s positions on key social justice issues. He simply approaches them differently than liberals want.
Paul Ryan doesn’t want to get rid of our social safety net as his detractors claim. He wants to save it. Mr. Ryan says what Democrats refuse to acknowledge, that the emperor has no clothes. Our current fiscal path is unsustainable.
Our entitlement programs are going to break the bank on their present course.
Interest payments are consuming bigger and bigger chunks of our budget.
We can’t tax ourselves out of this mess. There just aren’t enough rich guys. We need spending restraint.
Paul Ryan courageously offered a serious plan to repair the safety net and well-being of America’s neediest citizens.
He does it by paying homage to Pope John Paul II’s warning that an uncontrolled Welfare State:
“leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending.”
The Paul Ryan budget very much honors the spirit of the Catholic Catechism that …
“a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co- ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good.”
In other words, the Church warns that excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal freedom and initiative. Sound familiar? Ever hear of the HHS Mandate?
Paul Ryan would block grant funds to the state level where the folks nearest the needy can develop the tailored programs to best serve their clients. As a member of the Iowa Commission of Community Action agencies, I can attest to the good work being done by these grass root agencies who are on the front line of moving the dependent to independence.
To so many Catholics, Paul Ryan represents both the brains and the heart of the Republican Party.
I talked to a devout Catholic last week about her thoughts about the Romney candidacy. Frankly, she wasn’t excited. Because of his inconsistent record, she wasn’t sure she could count on him when the going got tough on Life, Marriage, and religious freedom issues.
The selection of Paul Ryan encourages, elates, and enthuses the Catholic faithful.
The Catholic vote just got a lot more important.
[Are you Catholic? Do you like Paul Ryan? Then put this post on your Facebook page. Spread the good news.]
Being a fiscal conservative, for the first time this election cycle, I think there is hope for Republicans, as long as people don’t allow themselves to get side tracked and can remember it needs to be all about the economy right now. I don’t like being owned by the Chinese.
BTW: Sarah Palin was the sterotypical cheerleader. Paul Ryan is more the up and coming quarterback. No comparison in my eyes who made the right choice.
Good comparison. I look at him as more of the offensive coordinator. He’s put the game plan together. Now let’s work the plan.
Well said, Bob Vance. Last night a good friend and devout Catholic and I were discussing how disconcerting it is that so many people are so uninformed and led by the media down this path and how terrified we are for our grandchildren and those who follow. The liberals of the 60’s and 70’s stayed on course. The Churchillian maximum of “if you are a Conservative in your 20’s you don’t have a heart; if you are a Liberal after 40, you don’t have a brain” — has not taken root. Thanks to class warfare and a fawning media, the “perfect storm” of Obama is upon us. But there is Hope. We Catholics need to wake up those in the pews. We need to instruct them on the true teaching of social justice. Today is a new day.
Totally agree. Thanks for writing. Come again.
Paul Ryan rocks.