A reader writes:
“I don’t vote. I’m not into forcing myself to choose the lesser evil, I’d rather not choose at all.”
A reading from the gospel according to Matthew:
“For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. “And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Mt 25:14–30)
You cannot and must not support a lesser evil. Nobody gets to say, “Because I oppose murder, I therefore have a 007 to commit rape.”
But you can and must work to lessen evil. Merely because you cannot eliminate all the evils in the world is not an excuse to do nothing. I support the Dems, not because I believe the absurd proposition that they are “God’s party” or that “They alone can fix it” or the blasphemous lie that God has “raised them up for such an hour as this” and all the other idiotic messianic things the Cult forever says about Trump, but because, on the whole, they have a much better likelihood to lessen the massive evils Trump is doing (including, by the way, the evil of abortion, which Obama brought to its lowest level since Roe and which Trump has raised 30%).
Doing nothing has one effect and one only: helping the greatest evil to triumph.
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2 Responses
Over the past decade, I have tended to vote Democrat due to the lesser of two evils principle. Trump has turned the Republican Party into a cult. I cannot abide them. I wish there were more virtuous candidates running for office, but they are few and far between.
Unfortunately, we do not get the best people running for office. Often, I have to hold my nose and vote for someone who is not a good person, but who is slightly less toxic. It’s all very discouraging.
I think it is worth noting that not voting in protest is recognized by the Church as a valid form of political engagement. From the USCCB’s ‘Faithful Citizenship’ document:
36. When all candidates hold a position that promotes an intrinsically evil act, the conscientious voter faces a dilemma. The voter may decide to take the extraordinary step of not voting for any candidate or, after careful deliberation, may decide to vote for the candidate deemed less likely to advance such a morally flawed position and more likely to pursue other authentic human goods.
(end excerpt)
Obviously what you have advocated for is also given as an option in that paragraph, but I think it’s worth noting that what your reader advocated for is considered acceptable as well.