Why faithful Catholics ought to vote for Rick Santorum (Part II)

continued from my earlier post Why Faithful Catholics ought to vote for Rick Santorum (Part I)

 3.  Because he is electable - but we must vote on principle not popularity.

Let me make one thing clear first.  We, as Catholics, don't make decisions based purely on what's practical but, rather, based on what's also right.  In case you are listening to people saying Santorum is unelectable, or saying it yourself, shame on you!  We have a great God, with whom all things are possible, and we have a moral imperative to do our best to vote for the best candidate.  Guessing, and that's all it can ever be (no-one really knows who is and is not electable) that others won't like your candidate and then abandoning him or her is just as shameful as abandoning yourself, your principles, and your truth because you want to be liked.  We all do it.  It's hard not to.  But, let's not go around saying proudly that we make our decisions based on what we think others will like.  We are Catholics!  Let's at least try to make our decisions based on principle and show a little character. Let's not forget, also, we have a great God.  Anyone He wills to be president could be so in a snap...many surprising things have happened before (everyone was surprised when Hilary imploded during the democratic primaries).

Now that we've dealt with making decisions based on the faulty notion that someone must be 'electable,' let's address whether it might be right to vote for Santorum based on his record.  Is it right to vote for someone who has consistently stood for life and traditional marriage both in his personal and his professional life?  Yes.  Is it right to vote for the person who has demonstrated considerable integrity in difficult situations (everyone says this about Rick thus far)?  Yes.  Is it right to be the person with a consistently decent, direct, and honest response to something as vile, destructive, and useless as Santorum's "Google problem" (if you don't know what I mean, just google Santorum...the person who did this to Santorum publicly 'takes a stand' against bullying...if that's not bullying in the worst way, I don't know what is).  Is it right to vote for someone brave enough to speak out boldly against gay marriage even though he has been, for years, branded a 'bigot,' 'someone who hates gays' and worse?  Yes.  Is it right to vote for someone who was in the lead in enacting some amazing and real reforms such as welfare reform?  Umm...yes. 

So far, I have only heard a couple arguments against Santorum by conservatives based on his record.  That's amazing.  And they are small.  One is that he revoted-in pro-choice Arlen Specter when he had the chance to vote-in pro-life Pat Toomey.  He now admits his fault (something awesome in itself).  But his argument is that he wanted to keep Specter since Specter had promised to vote in two conservative justices, which he did do.  Obviously those judges have already and will continue to make a huge difference in our culture in a positive way.  Nonetheless, the critique of Santorum's vote here is correct.  He chose the utilitarian rather than the principled choice in this instance.  In fact, he did what I am arguing above not to do.  He voted practically rather than for the candidate he thought would be best.  And what happened?  Two good justices were elected to the supreme court.  BUT, and this is a big but, this choice allowed Obamacare to pass through the senate...an unintended consequence with huge ramifications.  He admits his wrong...we can't predict the future - there's always something we can't see.  However, the fact that he voted the wrong way once in a two decade long political career is pretty good...especially since he has the integrity to admit his fault.  It's a good example of what not to do.  When we vote based on a utilitarian assessment of how we think the future will go, rather than based on principle, there are almost always consequences to our action that we did not intend.

And, just for one second, even though this should not be a deal-breaker one way or the other, let's remember that there is reason to believe that Santorum is highly electable.  He won three out of four races in highly democratic areas, two times against a democratic incumbent.  Or something like that - don't quote me on it - my memory's failing me.

Vote for the best candidate and then trust God with the rest.  We are Catholics, after all.  We know that with God all things are possible.  Let's work with him, not against him.  It's fun to stand with David against Goliath, especially when we know he holds the higher ground.

Part 3 to come