I've always been a bit of a political junkie. I was even once a member of a political party's city committee, and was later asked to run for office. And as a reporter I covered politics. When I worked for the diocesan newspaper I once covered an election in which a deacon was running for a nomination - this was before the Vatican said the ordained cannot run for or hold political office. During a forum, the deacon declared that he believed in a woman's right to choose. I confronted him after the forum and asked how he, a deacon, an official representative of the Church, could publicly take a position in opposition to Church teachings. He said that he personally supported the Church teachings, but in a secular, pluralistic society he could not impose his faith on others. We ran the story, including his comments. According to unofficial reports we received, he was called into the bishop's office. Whatever the case, he did withdraw from the race shortly after the story appeared!
Anyway, in recent times my involvement has been through commentary on social media - sometimes satirical and sarcastic in nature. We did have lawn signs this year, for the first time since 2008, and I actually donated to the campaigns of two candidates.
Our nation has been heading in a disastrous direction, and I had hoped this past week the election would help stop the downward moral slide. One major party has clearly and openly embraced immorality, while the other major party, while being wishy-washy in its own positions, at least paid lip service to opposing some of the immorality.
The wishy-washy party was afraid to clearly articulate its position or the extremism of the other party.
Alas, the voters chose the immoral party. And the two candidates I supported lost.
I viewed this election as a turning point - and I believe our nation chose the wrong direction. I have little hope that we can turn things around now, barring Divine intervention.
As such, I have given up on politics. From now on, I'll only comment on moral issues.
Pax et bonum
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