1. He's a faithful Catholic.
I know, I know. That’s
religious-ist or biased or narrow-minded or something... I can hear it
now. But, let’s think more carefully, is
it being biased or religious-ist or some other such thing to vote for someone
because they live their lives in a way that is in sync with how you live
yours? No. That's ridiculous. Religion is a particularly good reason to
vote for someone. Religious labels are a
short-hand for saying, "I believe the same as this group of people"
or, in terms of Catholicism “I adhere to this set of principles." It’s a quick way to say – this is who I am,
what I stand for, and what I believe. And,
why else would you vote for someone other than that they have your worldview,
i.e. they believe what you do about what is best for the world.
2. He’s a faithful
Catholic AND this is visible in his personal life.
Again, I know, I can hear you saying it already…”I don’t
care,” you say, “whether or not he’s good in his personal life, I want to know
if he’ll be a good president.” But, as
faithful Catholics, there are two reasons for us NOT to fall in line with this
illogical, yet prevalent, stance of the secular world. First off, we all know, implicitly, that if
we can’t trust someone with small things, we can’t trust them with big
things. That is why personal attacks and
attempts at character assassination are often so effective. We all want to pretend that the personal is
separate from the professional. But it’s
not...and we all know it or negative campaigning wouldn’t be used so much. If we can betray those who love us and take
care of us, we can betray the electorate.
If we can lie to those we have vowed to love and protect, we can lie to
the general public.
The second reason follows from the first. Catholicism pushes its faithful to challenge
themselves to grow and improve. The
confessional holds one accountable, the weekly encounter with the face of our
Lord discourages complacency in those who burn for him, our scriptures ask us
to “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” For those of you who
haven’t noticed, it’s REALLY hard to be virtuous in the small things. The hardest time not to steal is when it’s
just a little change miscounted at the check-out counter. The hardest time not to lie is when it’s the
tiniest of white lies, “I didn’t say that behind your back” when you did. But those who are pushing themselves to grow,
surrounding themselves with material and people who inspire improvement, and allowing
themselves to be held accountable to our Lord in the confessional and at
communion (at a minimum) are people who are much more likely to be trustworthy,
honest, diligent, and caring. It’s like
anything, even with the head-start of natural talent, the more you practice,
the better you get. We want someone who’s
been working hard at virtue in the smallest things, only they will have the
backbone to stand straight when the storms come. And they will come.
Is Rick Santorum perfect?
Certainly not. And he has not yet
taken the brunt of attacks waged at the other candidates so there may be more
things to find out. However, it is clear
from the attacks that have been made that so far they have very little as of
yet. Either way, it’s less of a gamble
to bet on someone who shows virtue throughout his life professionally and
personally, then on someone who has not.
We all know that implicitly as well, as much as we might argue against
it. That is precisely why it’s such a
story when the seemingly ‘clean’ candidate/celebrity/public figure falls and
fails. We’ve learned to expect their
fall in our cynicism, but not in our hearts.
3 - ? Still to come.
I will split this post up or it will be too long. These reasons will also focus on his “electability’
(or supposed lack thereof), his exceptional record, his history of standing up
against the establishment, and the way in which Catholic teaching undergirds his
unusually sophisticated and coherent political philosophy.
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