One Young Catholic on the Election: Why he's voting Bush

Nathan Nelson has spent much of his free time over the last couple of months working for the Democratic Party in Ohio. He is sincere in his politics, and really believes in many of the more liberal political position. Despite campaigning for Kerry in the election, he has decided to vote for President Bush.

Read his Open Letter to the President:

Dear President Bush:

I'm writing to inform you that, against my better judgment, I will be casting my vote for you and for your Republican colleagues on November 2. Before I cast my vote and give my assent to your second term and the policies that will result, I want to clarify why I'm casting my vote for you. I can tell you that while this is representative only of my opinion, there are many like me who would silently agree with the sentiments in this letter.

I'm not voting for you because you're strong on national security. On the contrary, Mr. President, I think you're weak on national security. I think that the war you've decided to wage in Iraq has weakened our military and taken focus away from the real war on terrorism, which is the capture of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda militants. I believe that Osama bin Laden poses a greater threat to our national security than he did even on September 10, 2001, because he has not been aggressively pursued and because our foreign policy has only aided him in his hateful rhetoric. I believe that you and your Administration have only given those in the Arab world more reason to hate us for our interventionist policy. In addition, I believe that it's very likely that another, more serious attack will occur under your watch. So I can say with complete honesty that I'm not voting for you because you're strong on national security.

I'm not voting for you because I support the war in Iraq. If it wasn't abundantly clear in the last paragraph, I am completely opposed to the war in Iraq. I believe that the blood of every innocent life lost in Iraq is ultimately on your hands, and that you will have to account for that blood before my God and your God, my Father and your Father. I believe that the war in Iraq was a pre-emptive, thoughtless and unjust war, and that the entire world has been made less safe because of it. While I agree that the world is better off without Saddam Hussein, I believe that there were other ways to accomplish that goal, and I wish that you had attempted to pursue those other means before sending our troops needlessly to war. The world may be better off without Saddam Hussein, but will it be better off if he is replaced by a terrorist regime led by Iraqi insurgents?

I'm not voting for you because you're strong on domestic issues. On the contrary, I believe that your economic policy is crippling the working poor and the middle class, and I believe that it will only worsen over the next four years. I believe that your plan to privatize social security will ultimately make it very difficult, if not impossible, for the elderly to live in our country. I believe that your lack of a healthcare plan will cause many people, and children, to needlessly suffer because of the greed of the drug companies and hospital chains that you're friendly with. I believe that your tacit support of racist institutions like Bob Jones University represents a serious threat to African Americans and other minorities in America, and I believe that this threat will only become more serious if you're given free reign for another four years. I believe that your domestic policy has been a devastating failure, and I have every confidence that it will continue to be.

I'm not voting for you because I believe you're a person of faith, close to God and guided by His Word. I've read the news articles pointing out that you rarely attend church on Sunday, and I know that you defiantly ignored the guidance of your own United Methodist Church's leadership when they urged you not to engage in a pre-emptive war with Iraq. I believe that the lip service you pay to our God is insincere, and that it only serves as a means for you to rally your evangelical and conservative base. I don't believe you're guided by God anymore than anyone else is, and perhaps less than many, and I believe that He is deeply saddened and angered over many of your words and deeds. I believe St. Peter when he says that God is not a respecter of persons, and I think that He would be more likely to guide the humblest and poorest person in America than He would be to guide you. I believe that if you were truly guided by God, you would have a better understanding of the words: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." I pray that you will come to better understand those words.

I'm not voting for you because I believe that you're the moral candidate, or that you're strong on moral issues or life issues. I know that in 2000 you believed that same-sex marriage should be a decision reserved for the states, and I believe that you have only changed your position to rally your conservative base. I know that you are indeed the first President to grant federal funding to embryonic stem cell research, and I know that your decision was unethical and immoral by any Christian standard. I know that your only true accomplishment in opposing abortion has been the reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits federal funding to overseas abortion. Even this is not your original idea, but a plan that was created by President Ronald Reagan. I know that your other alleged contributions to the pro-life cause -- the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, etc. -- would not have prevented a single abortion, and I know that it was just another way to rally your conservative base. A lot of talk, no action.

I'm certainly not voting for you because I like you. If it hasn't become abundantly clear in this letter, I don't like you. I think you're one of the worst Presidents in American history, and if it were not for one single thing, I would not be voting for you.

So what is this one single issue that compels me to vote for you? It is that my Catholic faith commands my conscience to vote for the lesser of two evils, the President who may -- despite my skepticism -- appoint a justice to the Supreme Court who will overturn Roe v. Wade or at least allow for the limitation of abortion, so that some of the millions of lives lost to abortion will be spared. Mind you, I don't really believe that you're going to do that. My conscience compels me, however, to vote for you because there is some chance that you will appoint a pro-life justice to the Supreme Court, while there is absolutely no chance that Sen. Kerry will do so. You see, then, that my decision is not based on any of your merits -- it's about making the best of two supremely awful choices.

I pray that both the Democratic and Republican parties will offer us candidates of substance in future elections, candidates who I can vote for based on their merits instead of on the unlikely possibility that they will save a few unborn lives. As it stands, America is faced with a decision between two great moral evils, and the reason this election is so close is because Americans can't decide which of you represents the greatest evil. I have struggled with that decision throughout this entire campaign season, and I have come to the conclusion that the evil is so great in our political system that neither of you can fully represent it, but that there is one small, fading glimmer of light in the Republican Party that obliges me to vote for you. I pray that this small spark will light a fire of goodness, but I somehow doubt that possibility.

With great reservation, I will cast my vote for you on Tuesday -- not because you're the Catholic candidate, for most of your policies are far from Catholic teaching, but because you are the lesser of two evils in a system that has become godless and totally corrupt. May God help our country to overcome the dark cloud that has overshadowed our government.

In Christ,
Nathan Nelson

Comments

[flowery]

you go nate! beautiful!!

[Basil Peter]

Hello,
Hope this E note would find u in sound health. I am from the same parish residing near keltron ferry. I could not figure out you. R u relative of Eddie?

I liked your letter to the president. These writings have immense influence of the person writing them. It would be seen from a diferent angle if one from writes it from gulf and that of one from West.

Good luck and good days
Bye
Basil, Pullanatt