My thoughts at the end of a long campaign

I knew John McCain's run for the White House was a long shot. But I'm awfully disappointed nonetheless.

As a political scientist, as a university student, as a Catholic, and I believe, just as a rational human being, I detest the deceit that Barack Obama represents.

I believe that the leader of any civilized nation, and especially one who claims to be the leader of the free world, must be committed to defending every human being, whether they are able to articulate their views or not; whether they have the ability to make their fellow human beings aware of the injustices done against them or not.

In the 1860s, despite the very real danger of tearing a great country apart and destroying it, President Lincoln, a Republican, decided to stand up for what was good and right - and stood for the emancipation of the African American slaves of the US.
A century after that, in the 1960s, racism was rampant; African Americans were treated as second class citizens. But courageous Democrats, led by Presidents JFK and LBJ, despite opposition from bigoted lawmakers and leaders, despite the danger of losing the support of their traditional bases, stood up for what was right - and championed racial equality. America today is reaping the benefits of these.

Today, a horror worse than slavery and racism is taking place in the US. 1.6 million unborn babies are killed in their mothers womb every year.
The victims of this holocaust cannot cry out in protest. The media, human rights groups do not see the crime being committed. And so we are silent.

But a grievous injustice is being committed nonetheless. An unborn baby is a human being. Logically it's impossible to deny this.
The leaders of the US have sworn to preserve the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
The Democrats call themselves pro-choice (what a sick euphemism that is)
But to them, the only people who's life matters are those who can vote. The only choice that they consider are those that can boost them to office.

Barack Obama goes further. He's an extremist even among Democrats. He's rabidly pro-abortion, denying medical attention even for infants who, are born alive despite an attempted abortion. The child is to be left to die.
He has vowed that one of his first acts as President would be to sign the (again, euphemistically-named) Freedom of Choice Act which would force states to make abortion available. That is so un-American. The convention is that federal government intervenes as little as possible, and issues are left to the state to decide.
He actually wants no discussion on the issue - he says the culture war is "so 90s". He seems to want to stamp out dissent and debate. And this is the man who is going to lead what is considered the greatest democracy in the world.

Culturally and ideologically, the Democrats' positions on many issues seem so appealing. I would love to support them. I'm against the death penalty. Many of their ideas on poverty are so in line with the Church's teaching on social justice (and in fact, Democrat Senator Chris Dodd mentioned that many of the Democratic principles could be traced to Pope Leo XIII's social encyclicals, especially Rerum Novarum). No wonder they appeal to Catholics: social justice and the common good are very much part of our world-view. This was the party that allowed a Catholic to run for the Presidency. This is the party that has done the historic thing of successfully putting forward an African-American into the White House, less that 50 years after the evil days of segregation.
And yet, they support the murder of defenceless children: infanticide. This wipes out all the potential good that they might espouse. Because it is such a horror, such an injustice.

It's a huge disappointment that Obama has won. It's a blow to the pro-life movement. But we'll keep on championing for the little ones.

Perhaps some greater good will come from this. A LOT is expected from Obama. Perhaps he will fail to deliver his promises so spectacularly that this huge dissatisfaction with the Republicans (for which we can credit George Bush, the neo-cons and the Iraq War) will be a short one. I hope people will realise that empty rhetoric and charisma are no substitutes for love, compassion and decency.

At least these elections have made the bishops of the United States bolder in exercising their teaching authority. Great leaders like Archbishop Chaput have let their voice be heard. More Catholics than before know that abortion is evil and, I hope, this has strengthened the pro-life movement.

I certainly became a more adamant defender of life because I got to read arguments and explanations that proved how illogical and inhumane the pro-abortion camp was.

These elections have given me the chance to explain to a few people why I supported John McCain, a candidate who is considered unpopular my almost everyone I know.

It also forced me not to be afraid of people's opinions. At first I kept my support for McCain rather silent, to avoid confrontation, and because I didn't think I could substantiate my stance. But that didn't seem sensible. I wrote about my support for McCain on my Facebook status, hoping people would question me. And they did. And some were Catholic. I had the wonderful experience of discussing the issue with them. One conversation heightened my respect for a friend immensely because of his willingness to reason and to refine his stances. He claims to not like politics - but his views on politics are so much sharper than many who think they know a lot. Another Catholic went from thinking that abortion is a human right and that it was necessary to prevent over-population and climate change (a stance i was shocked to hear) to an acceptance that Obama's pro-abortion stance was a blotch on his credentials. I thank God for these experiences. It certainly wasn't any eloquence on my part, I was just sharing what I had read from the dear bishops of the US Church.

With Obama in power, we continue to have the opportunity now to say why abortion is such an atrocity, even from a non-religious point of view. And we must!

Remember, the Almighty God has those little ones in His arms. Obama might be able to sanction the destruction of their little bodies, but their souls are with God. And that's eventually a great comfort.

The Church in America might be in for a hard time. Am sure the Democrats are very annoyed with the bishops. But persecution always strengthens the Holy Catholic Church.

Faithful American Catholics and their bishops might be face to face with the gates of hell. But know that the gates of hell shall never prevail against Christ's Church.