[guest commentary by Paladin]
Remember my mixed reaction when Ted Kennedy died? The obvious "addition by subtraction" was counterbalanced by the somber reality that Ted Kennedy's soul was, by all rational reckoning, in serious peril.
And now... we have Senator-elect Scott Brown.
Please don't get me wrong. It's not morally wrong for pro-lifers to cheer his victory over the mind-numbingly pro-abortion Martha Coakley! By all means: cheer, whoop, give victory fist pumps, and--above all--breathe a sigh of (somewhat guarded) relief that the current "death bill" may have met its final match in Congress! Do so with a clean conscience!
Just don't let's get muddled about what actually happened.
Senator-elect Brown has a great many things going for him (above and beyond looks and charisma--not terribly relevant, in the moral sphere): he supports the sane idea of subsidiarity (h/t: Brian Burch, of Catholic Vote Action), he's against federal funding of abortions, and he's in favour of conscience protection for health care workers. He also has some serious shortcomings--not the least of which is his support of Roe v. Wade. The act of getting him elected was certainly a clear and unambiguous case where the principle of double effect applied; by getting him in, we took out a far greater threat to the unborn (and others)... especially given the insanity... er... liberality of Massachusetts, regarding the personhood of the unborn, at present. But let's not confuse that for an unambiguous victory for life.
What are our options, at this point? Pray for Senator-elect Brown, certainly--especially for his conversion on these critical moral issues. Deluge him with letters (perhaps while congratulating him on his victory) asking that he take steps to explore the issue of life with those who are pro-life, and who can answer his questions on the subject (e.g. Fr. Frank Pavone, etc.). Make our voices heard unambiguously in support of all human life, from conception to natural death... especially when our pro-choice neighbours hear us cheering about his election; try never to leave anyone with the impression that this was anything but the probable avoidance of a much greater evil (i.e. the current death bill being argued in Congress).
:) Mind you... it's nice to have something to celebrate, after over a year of being under almost relentless siege by the President of Death and his servants/allies! Celebrate away--rejoicing with the good and with the truth is a hallmark of perfect love, after all (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:6)...! Just don't let our eyes drop from the ball, at this critical point.
[UPDATE]
At the risk of driving some of the pro-death blogosphere trolls into overdrive, I offer this prayer in thanksgiving to God for the aversion of far worse evils than we might have seen, had Scott Brown not gotten elected:
Non nobis, non nobis, Domine
Sed nomini tuo da gloriam.
Not to us, not to us, o Lord,
But to your name give glory.
(H/T: the irreproducible Patrick Archbold, of Creative Minority Report)
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10 comments:
My guess is that some day, present terminology used to describe our gifted leadership will be re-examined in cold sober light of reality, that using such hate-filled expressions accomplished nothing of worth, and was merely used in the end to bide time in what was hoped to be hoped a final honorable thrust to the spleen fueled by blind sputtering rage. That is my guess for the future, though I am sure I will be too busy in the future to look back on this statement to reassess 'its' value.
God bless America, land that I love.
Um... so that's a "no" vote? A "yes" vote? It's a "what the heck are you talking about, anyway?" vote from me, methinks...
Are you sure you posted to the right blog?
Haha..this is wonderful...a Catholic supporter applauding the election of "centerfold Scott Brown" (or have you not seen the cosmopolitan spread??) Either you believe in your values or you don't. The fact that you applaud a man who peddles smut is telling. Did you notice his comments about his daughter after he won?? He practically "whored" her out to all single horny men in the country. Even she admits she got thousands of requests on facebook for her...umm...companionship. Yeah, yeah...go ahead and resort to calling me a troll..I realize that is your typical response.
Jake
Jake,
“Centerfold Scott Brown.” When was that photograph taken? He posed for a Cosmo picture once and he is now a peddler of smut? That’s your best shot? He cracked a joke about his daughters and he is now “whoring” them? Do you actually have an issue, or are you just another flame throwing, cheap shot artist?
He posed for cosmo??? Uh, no, not quite, he submitted the pic, they used it. And he isn't afraid to use his daughters for political gain, trust me, I live in Mass. and I saw the ads. It's cool by me, I am all for looking at attractive young girls push their father's agenda. And you probably are unaware of Gail Huff's steamy video from the 80s (she is the wife of Scott Brown in case you didn't know). "The girl with the curious hand"....google it, it is quite entertaining!!! Again, I am quite happy with the women in this man's life!!! I just find it amusing to see Catholic Bloggers such as Paladin defend him because he is not quite as pro-choice as Teddy Kennedy. The hypocrisy. Maybe you and your boys would have enjoyed some of the political ads run by Scott Brown...although his girls are a bit older.
:) Jake! One of my favourite trolls! No better with logic (or critical reading/comprehension) than last time, but very consistent in tone and manners!
It's almost refreshing to know that some things stay the same, no matter what...
Jake, just so you don't go away completely disappointed:
No one with any sincerity and/or critical reading skills could possibly interpret my original article as "applauding Scott Brown's election" for its own sake. Did you miss the repeated references to "relief at avoiding a greater evil, while lamenting the evil that we have"?
If you dislike being called a troll, then perhaps you could change your behaviour to exclude mindless, knee-jerk flaming and crass, equally-mindless mockery of anything that a Christian (or non-hedonist, non-atheist) says? You obviously used this thread as the flimsiest of excuses to flame and mock, again... which is exactly the behaviour of a troll, yes? Behave yourself, young man, and perhaps we'll start treating you as a non-troll. Your choice, of course.
The way I look at it, if you really mean what you say (or write, in the case of commenting on blogs), you will leave your name and a way that you can be reached. It irks me.
As for the Brown win, it's more of a statement on the Obama Administration and agenda than it is on abortion rights. I don't think that too many pro-life candidates would win any major office in Massachusetts--just my guess as I'm a Hoosier.
I found your blog via Arby.
Ironically, the WORD VERIFICATION word for this comment is "mated."
Ironically, the WORD VERIFICATION word for this comment is "mated."
Hmmmm... :)
BTW: welcome, and greetings to Arby, for me!
A couple of weeks before the election, I sent money to Scott Brown. I joined thousands of other who provided millions per day for now Senator Brown.
I don't care that he posed for a Cosmo centerfold when he was younger to help pay for his education. I'm sad that his daughters were subjected to that during the campaign (I can hear the Ewwwwwwwwww DAD!!! all the way to NY :))
He's not as anti abortion as I'd like, but I've decided not to make the perfect the enemy of the good. He was good enough for me to help unseat Harry Reid over the next few years.
But he's most of the package, and right now, that's enough for me.
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