This is the sixth in my series of interactions with the essays collected in Electing Not to Vote: Christian Reflections on Reasons for Not Voting. Todd David Whitmore provides an essay entitled “When the Lesser Evil is Not Good Enough: The Catholic Case for Not Voting.”
Whitmore opens by describing the general Catholic teaching on the subject. Voting is a duty (not only a right) which grows out of our responsibility as Christians to work for the common good in our societies. Therefore Vatican II and the meeting of the American Catholic bishops in 2003 affirm that Catholics, as a rule, should vote as a part of their responsible citizenship. Whitmore finds this duty problematic, however, and he wonders:
What is a "faithful citizen" to do if all the viable candidates in a particular election are not simply wrong on this or that policy but are so egregiously in error from a moral as well as political standpoint that one cannot in good conscience vote for any of them? (64)
I am intrigued by his inclusion of the term "viable" here. There is nothing about a candidate which intrinsically makes him or her viable (except perhaps ballot access). I believe that a good showing by "third party" candidates would have a positive effect on the electoral process in the US. The lack of consideration of third-party candidates is a weakness both in this essay and in the collection altogether.
Whitmore's basic thesis is that sometimes the common good (i.e. the Christian's civic duty) is better served by choosing not to vote for principled reasons. From here he goes on the describe why he could not conscionably vote in 2004 because of problems with both President Bush and Senator Kerry. Read more »
