Okay, there has been A LOT of hype lately about the American Catholic Church "telling" its members how to vote. Jason and I are divided on this issue. We are at an absolute impasse on whether any organized religion should tell its members how to vote. My argument is that a religion, being the moral compass, should make it clear to its members its stance on certain issues. People need to know what the moral teachings of their church are.
I consider myself a conservative Democrat (is there such a thing?) I believe in helping those less fortunate than myself. I believe in providing access to health care, birth control, family planning education to the masses- not just teaching abstinence. This is a departure from the conservative Catholic view. I am very much into Women's Health, which is why I chose this field to work in during my nursing career.
But, then there is Roe vs. Wade, and I am VERY torn about this. I don't think there are any easy answers. But my Christian faith is telling me to respect life. As a mother, I've had to fight to keep each one of my babies. Some fights were more successful than others. As a nurse, I've taken care of women terrified of having an unplanned pregnancy. I've also taken care of a few who've had so many abortions, they've needed the opening of their womb sewn shut in order to preserve the current pregnancy. It's always struck me as odd that these women cried over keeping their "baby", when they did not view their previous (aborted) pregnancies as "babies."
Does one vote for the candidate that will improve the economy and thus decrease the "economic necessity" of abortions? Or does one vote for the candidate that will appoint Supreme Court Justices who may ban/severely restrict abortions outright?
I really would like your input. You can leave anonymous comments if you wish. I am terribly confused. (I sooo wish McCain had picked a stronger VP than Palin. It would make my decision a little easier. Just a little bit.)
What is YOUR conscience telling you?
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Your Opinion Welcomed
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4 comments:
Oh, Karen, you're a brave girl!
I have to agree with both of you on the religion telling people how to vote bit. I think that religions can emphasize the teachings and core beliefs to their people (to possibly help along some voters) but not to out and out say 'Vote For Pedro.'
As we discussed over at Smartini,it just comes down to what issue(s) are MOST important to a voter. For some, it's the economy, but getting foreign affairs straightened out would be nice... For others it's abortion, come what may with the stock market.
As for me, my big issue is not the economy or health care, so I'll be the one in red. ;)
So, I thought I'd give my opinion, even though I know that can be a touchy subject! Personally, I wouldn't vote based on one issue. So, my advice would be to really look at all the issues that are important to you and use the candidates stances on all of them to help make your decision, especially b/c you are undecided just based on the one issue. For example, they have VERY different healthcare plans and one of them scares me! I have seen with my patients how horribly someone is treated (including kids with state health insurance) if they don't have health insurance. It is awful and I know personally I really believe that everyone deserves to have decent healthcare. I had a patient once basically left to die when he was internally bleeding b/c the free clinic wasn't open for another week. I have also seen kids discharged from the hospital when it was clearly unsafe b/c their parents don't have insurance and all they have is the state plan that doesn't pay out well. They also differ a lot on education. I know McCain wants to use public money and give it to private schools, and I know some people agree with that, but I personally don't when our public schools are having to cut funding for many of their programs. I also think the way they deal with the economy, Iraq war, the environment, etc. differ greatly so my advice would be to look at all of them and maybe that will help.
I know 8 years ago I was very pro-life, but torn b/c that was the only reason why I would be voting for Bush. My brother was in a class where they went around educating people on the issues, without being biased, and gave you each candidates stance. He did this thing where he asked a bunch of questions about what you believed on different issued and then later explained where it fit in with each candidate and that really helped me make my decision b/c I knew I couldn't vote for someone when I strongly disagreed with so many things and that abortion was just a piece of the bigger picture. Saying that, I know that many people do vote solely based on the candidates stance on abortion, and while I don't completely understand that, everyone has to do what they feel comfortable with. Anyway, that is just my opinion and I wasn't sure if I should give my advice, but you asked so I figured it was ok!! Good luck...I know it can be a hard decision.
Katy, I know what you mean... the RNC sounds more "Pro-Birth" than "Pro-Life" since it seems like once the baby is born, the funding stops. That is HORRIBLE about patients being left to die. I never had to experience this since I worked only in military medicine.
Thanks for your input!
Karen,
I have really been thinking about this. I really think, since you are asking for opinions, that I have to say that you must vote for the pro-lifer. If Obama gets into office he could change things for a very long time that could effect our children and their children.
I'll send you an article I got from someone that I found very interesting.
Love ya!
Heather
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