As much as I dislike blindly forwarded e-mails, especially political ones, I thank Tora for sending me a link to the recent Catholic Church ad. I was disappointed by the text before the link referencing "Dems." It almost made me delete the e-mail without even clicking the link. But I didn't, and what I experienced was both powerful and refreshing. (It can be found on youtube if you haven't seen it.)More than the specific issues that were raised in the ad, I was impressed by the tone of it. This is what I got out of the message:
"We won't tell you which person or party you should choose to represent you in government. However, here are the principle values we think you should base your decision on. We trust your intelligence and morality. Please, vote your values."
I wish more political discussions around this time were about issues and how they relate to our personal values than "what type of person someone must be if they support a different candidate than I do". Isn't life about exercising our agency? Aren't there multiple valid approaches to every problem depending on what order we place our values in?
I believe that two equally moral people may have the same set of core values, and yet depending on the order of importance they place them in, may come up with drastically different opinions on the morality of a particular policy.
In addition to that, I believe two equally intelligent and educated persons can have differing opinions about the best way to address an issue of importance based upon their individual expertise, culture, and life experiences.
For anyone who disagrees with this thinking, I would ask you:
"Why else would the leaders of government, religion, and business alike, consistently surround themselves with counselors and experts of all sorts?"
"Why else would a two-party dominated, democratic republic be the most successful governmental model in the world?"
For anyone who thinks that an incomplete subset of facts (and that is all any of us can hope to have at our disposal) will lead all intelligent, moral, passionate people to the same conclusion, do yourself a favor and read a book on the history and development of science before you further embarass yourself, and alienate your close friends.
When it comes to politics, above all, I call for civility.
Discuss...
~Ammon
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Ammon, I appreciate you bringing this up. I hadn't seen the video before because I actually did delete the forward. I really liked the concept of reminding people of the real importance of voting their values because it will have an impact.
ReplyDeleteI, too, get tired of and disturbed by the bitterness and arguing between parties, candidates, and ideals. As long as you are absolutely sure that you are 100% correct and the opposing side is completely wrong you will be be blinded to real understanding and solutions. If it were true that one political party were 100% right then wouldn't all worthy and active church members vote in a bloc? There would be no way we'd have two temple recommend holding politicians at opposite ends of the political spectrum (i.e. Mitt Romney and Harry Reid). What the neutral position of the church tells me is that neither major political party is 100% right, you have to choose one and try to work within it to achieve worthy goals, as you judge them.
That said, there are some fundamental values that are non-negotiable (like the video asserts) and on those issues the church has taken an official position.