Interest on this 12 months’s midterm elections is rising, with predictions of a record turnout within the voting period ending on Nov. 8. While a high voter turnout generally is a sign of an engaged citizenry, polls this 12 months have found that U.S. voters are deeply anxious in regards to the country’s future as a democracy, anxious about how their families can deal with a rising cost of living, and frightened of gun violence and crime.
America Media has been covering these and other issues this fall, each in America magazine and in three all-new episodes of our podcast “Voting Catholic.” The editors have put together this guide to a few of an important issues facing voters this fall, with a concentrate on how Catholics could make decisions that respect life and consider the common good.
The massive picture
As a big voting bloc that tends to occupy the middle of U.S. politics, Catholics have an outsized role in determining this 12 months’s election results, and there are a variety of unpredictable aspects this 12 months. Will Hispanic voters proceed their shift toward the Republican Party? Will many Catholics split their tickets between Democratic and Republican candidates? America senior editor Robert David Sullivan asks, “Will Catholics join evangelicals within the culture war? 7 questions to know the 2022 midterms.”
Polls this 12 months have found that U.S. voters are deeply anxious in regards to the country’s future as a democracy, anxious about how their families can deal with a rising cost of living, and frightened of gun violence and crime.
Abortion and pro-life issues
For a long time, abortion was regarded by many Catholics as a serious political issue in national politics—because the U.S. bishops have put it, it was the “pre-eminent issue.” Now that Roe v. Wade has been been overturned and the difficulty of abortion sent back to the states, how should Catholic voters respond? In a recent episode of the “Voting Catholic” podcast, America contributor Jacqui Oesterblad talks to host Sebastian Gomes in regards to the difficulty of writing laws that protect the precise to lifetime of each mother and child, and ethicist Richard Doerflinger talks in regards to the recent political realities around abortion: “We would like laws that protect the lifetime of the unborn to the utmost degree possible. But each of those words are essential, ‘maximum’ and ‘possible.’” Take heed to the podcast episode or read more about it here.
Also read: “Can a pro-life and a pro-choice Catholic find common ground? We gave it a shot.”
Gun violence
Few church leaders know the impact of gun violence greater than Archbishop Garcia-Siller. On a recent episode of the “Voting Catholic” podcast, he recounts the day he was called from a priests’ meeting in San Antonio to minister to the families of the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Tex. Reflecting on the epidemic of gun violence from a Catholic perspective, the archbishop says that guns are considered “sacred” in Texas but asks, “We’re within the twenty first century; do we want to defend ourselves from one another with guns? Why don’t we show to 1 one other, in little ways here and there, that we are able to live as human beings and respect human dignity?” Take heed to the podcast episode or read more about it here.
“We’re within the twenty first century; do we want to defend ourselves from one another with guns? Why don’t we show to 1 one other, in little ways here and there, that we are able to live as human beings and respect human dignity?”
Inflation and the economy
This summer, the annual inflation rate in america hit 9.1 percent, a 40-year high. How did it get so bad, and what could be done about it? On a recent episode of the “Voting Catholic” podcast, host Sebastian Gomes talks with economist Tony Annett about whether the Biden administration’s stimulus package pumped an excessive amount of money into the economy, and whether there’s a technique to control inflation without throwing people out of labor. “We want to evaluate all policies initially for a way they affect the least amongst us,” he says. Take heed to the podcast episode or read more about it here.
Immigration
A majority of Americans—52 percent—said in an August poll that america is experiencing an “invasion” on the southern border, and misperceptions about immigrants and crime have also made border security a serious political issue this 12 months. America senior editor J.D. Long-García recently examined the myths and realities of migration on the U.S.-Mexico border and the probabilities for immigration reform to finally pass Congress. As Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Hope Border Institute, says of the immigration challenge, “It’s not something we don’t have the capability to reply to. It’s an ethical call to solidarity. And as a rustic, we’ll be higher off if we accept individuals with compassion and dignity.” Read “Nearly all of Americans think migrants are ‘invading’ the U.S. Meanwhile, suffering on the border continues.”
Also read, from the editors of America: “Politicians bus migrants. Catholics must welcome them.”
“We want to evaluate all policies initially for a way they affect the least amongst us.”
Climate change and world affairs
Most coverage of the 2022 elections have focused on issues directly affecting Americans, from inflation to voting rights, however the policy decisions of america greatly affect the complete world. America chief correspondent Kevin Clarke recently interviewed Sean Callahan, president of Catholic Relief Services, in regards to the “perfect storm” of crises now playing out across the globe, including drought and climate change, Covid lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, worldwide inflation, and the war in Ukraine. Will america help to deal with these problems, or will we turn inward and focus only on what we are able to see inside our borders? Read “Catholic Relief Services C.E.O. on the alarming signs of our times: hunger, drought and war.”
The state of politics and democracy
In a single recent poll, only 9 percent of respondents said that democracy in america is faring “very” or “extremely” well—an ironic assessment on condition that voter turnout has gone up in recent elections, and one other poll found that 71 percent of voters agreed that U.S. democracy is now “under threat.” But is democracy in America already broken? Civil politics demands a civil discourse, but a distrust of mainstream media—and, in lots of cases, a distrust of one another—could also be pushing us toward extremes. America senior editor Robert David Sullivan asks, “Will the midterm elections start the subsequent Civil War? (Perhaps it’s already began.)”
The leadership of President Biden
Joseph R. Biden Jr. promised to not make headlines as often as Donald J. Trump did, however the president still has the responsibility to talk to the nation once in a while on the challenges facing the country. One recent example was in Philadelphia on Sept. 1, when Mr. Biden spoke a couple of growing political extremism on the precise “that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” America editor in chief Matt Malone, S.J., applauded the attempt but criticized Mr. Biden for lapsing into statements that appealed only to his own supporters: “By attempting to mix a statesmanlike appeal to our higher angels with a partisan appeal to his policies, Mr. Biden did neither fully.” Read “Why Biden’s speech on MAGA Republicans failed,” and skim whether our readers agree with Father Malone’s assessment. (Note: President Biden returned to this theme on Nov. 3, warning that “American democracy is under attack,” but this speech has to date received less attention, coming during a flurry of last-minute campaigning by each parties.)
Do not forget that discernment is your responsibility as a Catholic before deciding the best way to vote.
Easy methods to vote Catholic, in response to your conscience
Catholics must consider the common good. That’s what turns voting right into a “sacred act,” said then-Bishop (now Cardinal) Robert W. McElroy of San Diego on the “Voting Catholic” podcast in 2020. “We want to put aside all the triggers which can be in our society that are supposed to construct up the partisan antagonisms,” Bishop McElroy told “Voting Catholic” host Sebastian Gomes. “They get us all getting into the flawed direction on conscience.” He added, “We let our politics turn out to be viscerally like a game, like sports. We have now teams that we root for. But that isn’t the Catholic approach to discerning voting and of citizenship.” Take heed to the podcast episode or read more about it: “Bishop McElroy: Abortion is a pre-eminent issue for Catholics. But not the just one.”
And do not forget that discernment is your responsibility as a Catholic before deciding the best way to vote. Within the closing days of an election campaign, individuals and groups not authorized by the church often claim to represent the one moral alternative for Catholic voters; read “‘The Catholic Church is all the time politically nonpartisan’: Arizona bishops warn voters of groups claiming to represent the church.” And for guidance on the best way to exercise your personal judgment, read the U.S. bishops’ document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility.”
For more of America’s coverage of U.S. politics, click here.
