Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: Cognitive Disconnect on the left and right. Mark Shea and Moral Delusion. Father Longnecker weighs in.

I posted this item recently asserting that Mark Shea, who publishes as a Catholic commentator, doesn't seem to be on solid ground as a Catholic writer in his burn the boats and vote for Clinton, on moral grounds, argument for swing state voters:

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: Cognitive Disconnect on the left and right. Mark Shea and Moral Delusion.:  

 
 AGH photo, Jefferson Memorial.
I'm going to make my recent analysis on political discourse a bit sharper.  In doing so, I&#39...

Well, now I find that I'm not the only one who found his logic shaky, or at least logic of that type shaky.   Without naming Shea, and perhaps without even being aware of his argument specifically, Catholic writer and Priest Father Dwight Longnecker, in two separate entries, examines both Trump and Clinton, and finds the logic of both Shea, and yours truly, wanting.

The first article addressed Clinton, and asked:
The question is very simple.
Can a faithful Catholic vote for Hillary Clinton?
Father Longnecker runs through the logic and arguments and at the end comes to this conclusion, based on the Democratic platform on terminating the lives of the unborn at the mother's option, and noting in addition that Clinton's support of that is a "litmus test" for her, and her support additionally goes far beyond what even most Americans who support her position to a lesser extreme suport:
Can a faithful Catholic vote Democrat in the coming election?
The answer is no.
There's more to it than that, and his logic is well set out.

He's also, however, addressed Trump, starting off:
After writing an opinion piece about Catholics voting for Hillary Clinton, someone asked me to write a similar article about Donald Trump.
Can a Catholic vote for Donald Trump?
He goes on, after looking at Trump's moral character, to conclude the following:
So the question remains, can a Catholic vote for Donald Trump?
Because of his serious character faults, his lack of experience, his ignorance on the issues and his bullying personality I would answer “No.”
However, it is my own opinion that a Catholic just might, holding his nose and with great reservations, vote for the Republican Party platform and hope for the best.
But I realize others would say (with good reason) they are going to hold their nose and vote Democrat and hope for the best.
The dismal news is that whatever happens (barring some extraordinary intervention) we are in for at least four years of a v. unpopular and dangerous President of the US.
I don't think his second conclusion wipes out his first, but for modern American voters who are members of the Apostolic churches, this election is a grim one, if they take their Faith seriously.  Maybe that's true for a lot of American voters in general this go around.

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