Is the Democrat Party Dominance Destructive To Catholic Social Justice?

American Catholic had a sensible post on how the Pro-life movement needs to be more bi partisan and open. See Pro-Life Outside The Mainstream.

I agree with this though I don't think the situation is quite as dire in all places. I have advocated the Pro-life movement needs to take a more NRA approach to these matters which I think , while suffering some immediate short term setbacks will result in concrete political gains in the long run.

Still why is the pro-life movement often just singled out?

Let us imagine this thought experiment . A Democrat President has produced vast comprehensive legislation to try to come to terms with the scourge of abortion. It is controversial on all sides. However there is a problem. It has many provisions conservative republican leaning voters that view abortion as a high priority really like.

A certain Republican Senator (who is running for President) from Arizona along with other Republican leadership is in a state of horror.

Passing this bill might give the Democrat party (and its main Senate Advocate a Dem Senator From Illinois who is working the bill and is also running for President) an opening to people that are pro-life. It would also present a significant victory to the current President which might undermine Republican prospects elsewhere.

What to do? This is quite a pickle. How do you defeat the bill while still being viewed as pro-life .

Well a brilliant solution is hatched. The devious Republican Senator will, in a procedural move few will understand, will vote for what is called a poison pill amendment. The Poison pill is framed as being even more Pro-life. Because this legislation is just hanging by a thread the Poison pill has the effect of making shaky Senators back down. They really can't explain the whole political logic of the poison pill the opposition is doing in some 30 second tv ad. LOSE LOSE. This is why poison pills are so effective.

Thus the legislation is killed and making sure it will not advance. True the abortions will continue but the party will be saved by not having pro-lifers vote democrat. They then at some future date PERHAPS the Republicans will take on the issue and thus keep their signature issue. The millions of aborted children are just "collateral damage" for the greater good of Republican rule.

NOW one can just imagine the outrage in Catholic pro-life and Catholic Social Justice circles. It would be justifiable.

However this same chain of events occurred in 2007. Except the" bad guy" was the Senator from Illinois and the good guy was the Senator from Arizona and the President was Bush and the issue was immigration reform. A high priority for the Catholic Bishops.

Hardly a peep was heard!!

Why is this? I suggest while people are looking at the pro-life movement they are ignoring the huge domination of the Catholic Social Justice lobby by die in the wool democrats. Looking at their resumes from the Bishops office onward they seem to have deep democrat connections. Oh the other party and line of thought gets a bone thrown to it(Robert George etc) but in reality their engagement of Catholic Social justice is ignored or very suspect.

Thus we have a problem. So while I think it is correct to make sure the pro-life movement does wander not off into other issues we have a much deeper problem on a more fundamental level.

As Prof Garnett explained during the 2008 election:

It seems to be a premise of many of these "for whom should Catholics vote?" discussions that "on every issue that matters, other than abortion, the election of Sen. Obama will actually yield meaningful policy actions that are edifyingly in concert with the Church's social teaching, while the election of Sen. McCain will actually yield meaningful policy actions that are distressingly in conflict with the Church's social teaching." But, this premise is false. It is false because it ignores, or at least downplays, the political, social, cultural and economic realities that will almost certainly prevent dramatic changes with respect to most matters, and so it overestimates the "good" stuff about an Obama administration that, it is proposed, outweighs the "bad" stuff. It is also false because Sen. McCain's views (or, more precisely, the policies likely to be pursued by his administration) on a number of matters -- not just abortion -- are, in terms of consonance with the Church's social teaching, preferable to Sen. Obama's. Or, so a faithful, reasonable, informed, non-duped, non-Republican-hack, Commonweal-and-First Things-reading Catholic could conclude. It's a sad thought, but . . . I'm not sure that productive conversations -- even among friends -- are possible so long as this false premise is assumed.

There are reasons why this conversation get short circuited at the start.

I am not for banishing Democrats and their thoughts from Catholic Social Justice land. However there must be a real attempt at more balance. What is good for the Pro-life movement is good for everyone else.

Related Mark Krikorian is Right On Obama and Immigraton Reform