Civil discourse

It's presidential campaign time again and the negative, demeaning, and character assassination ads are on the networks and on Facebook and other social media. We live in a very fortunate time. With the help of technology we can learn the TRUTH about any candidate if we are willing to spend some time reading and studying. It doesn't take much effort to "Google" Mitt Romney or Barack Obama and find out what their positions are on economic stimulus, taxation, entitlement programs and abortion and every other issue. We can examine their past voting records and policy statements and find out all about them in a very objective fashion. But that is not where most of us get our information about candidates. We live in an age of slick marketing and sound bites. Candidates, like advertisers, appeal to our emotions and sense of "good looks" rather than tell about their own position on issues. (To that point, one of my college marketing instructors made the point that Abraham Lincoln could never be elected in today's culture because he was not a "good looking" man.) Many in our electorate actually believe the half-truths and bald faced lies that are told in those campaign ads paid for either by their opponent or by some political action committee.
My Catholic faith teaches that all of the problems facing our society can never be met by any one candidate, political party or election. At the same time we need to participate in the process and bring a personal witness of faith along with us. We are called to know our faith which means knowing what is intrinsically evil and can never be tolerated, and what issues, although serious and moral, may be approached from a variety of reasonable positions by persons of good will. I implore each and every citizen to examine their own hearts and determine through intelligent research which candidates to vote for this fall in national as well as local elections.
A great guide for Catholics and others is published by the Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops and is available in PDF form by clicking here.