Unofficial Reverand Alex

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I'm looking through the third parties for someone to vote for, and I'm wondering which one would most closely align with the beautiful world of Catholic social teaching. Pro-life is a must, and upholding the Constitution is a necessary step to ensuring some form of guidance on the government today. Normally, the constitution hardly even seems to be mentioned, and it's often apart to defend certain positions if it is.

From my limited research, the Constitution Party seems to be a good choice, though I start this thread for sake of finding people who may know of something better. There are a few issues I disagree with on this, and a few more that I'm just plain uninformed on (Lord willing, I'll be able to tell the difference). What I'm attaching is the party platform for the Constitution Party; I appreciate how much they go into detail on the thoughts of the Founding Fathers who wrote this, to support a more intelligent & less subjective manner of interpretation.

https://www.constitutionparty.com/assets/2016-2020_National_Platform.pdf

I appreciate that people sometimes share Catholic guides to voting, but they rarely include any practical information. I know a lot of issues that I should vote on, but rarely do they include how the ideas work with the Constitution, or what candidates & parties most closely align with these values. Please restrict your responses to specific candidates or parties, as I have enough of the abstract knowledge already.

Thank you for your time, and may we remember how God was still present in the kingdoms of the Old Testament; regardless of the leader's quality or lack thereof, we can still pray, worship, love, and be with our undefeatable God! :pray: I just want to make a good decision with my vote, I doubt that either Trump or Biden actually are good decisions, and I would appreciate help in being informed. Thank you!
 

Unofficial Reverand Alex

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thecolorsblend

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I’m partial to this group:
Home - American Solidarity Party

Wish they’d pick up some steam. :(
That's rly not how it works tho. America is a two party system, like it or not. So, the objective of any small party should be to sway one of the two big parties their direction.

For example, the Libertarian Party is a joke. Bad comedy. But libertarianism has become quite influential in the GOP over the last forty'ish years.

And in relation to that, the ideals of the American Solidarity Party could be pretty compatible with the libertarian wing of the Republican Party. It could enable them to form a congressional caucus who must be appeased when it comes to deal-making and the like.

Of all the third parties going right now, American Solidarity Party is probably the only one I genuinely respect. They should aim for high profile candidates who can eventually cross over to the Republican Party. Because the way things are shaping up with the GOP right now, the liberals moving over to vote for Trump threaten to water down a lot of core platforms among the religious right. An influx of ASP candidates and voters could help ameliorate that at the proper time.

Fiscal left; social right. That's basically what I believe in anyway.
 
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Dansiph

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Yeah I know. Two parties have us in a stranglehold.
It's the same way here in the UK too for the most part. Without getting into speculation it is weird how in most places there's two main options.
 
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Unofficial Reverand Alex

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That's rly not how it works tho. America is a two party system, like it or not. So, the objective of any small party should be to sway one of the two big parties their direction.

For example, the Libertarian Party is a joke. Bad comedy. But libertarianism has become quite influential in the GOP over the last forty'ish years.

And in relation to that, the ideals of the American Solidarity Party could be pretty compatible with the libertarian wing of the Republican Party. It could enable them to form a congressional caucus who must be appeased when it comes to deal-making and the like.

Of all the third parties going right now, American Solidarity Party is probably the only one I genuinely respect. They should aim for high profile candidates who can eventually cross over to the Republican Party. Because the way things are shaping up with the GOP right now, the liberals moving over to vote for Trump threaten to water down a lot of core platforms among the religious right. An influx of ASP candidates and voters could help ameliorate that at the proper time.

Fiscal left; social right. That's basically what I believe in anyway.
From what I've heard from political discussions, there are two different ways to define a wasted vote, and I believe they both carry equal weight.
  • Voting for somebody who you know won't win
  • Voting for somebody who you don't want to win
I side with the second option; if I vote against my conscience, supporting somebody I really don't support to fuel political parties that I don't want to fuel, this is a wasted vote. When I vote a write-in candidate, I know full well they aren't going to win; in that sense, I wasted my vote.

Yet I also understand, however slow the process may be, I still push for change by voting against my given options. My uncle is a political science major, and through his brother (my dad), I've learned how the major parties look to the third parties when making their decisions. Libertarians and Green Party candidates are the most popular among people who don't vote for the major parties; winning their votes may be influential in tight elections. The Republicans lean libertarian, with candidates like Rand & Ron Paul; the Green New Deal on the Democrat side is a very blatant appeal to those who would support a "Green" party. Wherever the third parties gain power, the major parties will want to take it. This can only happen by accommodating voters like me who refuse to take an option they don't like.

Idealistic? Kinda. But my personal sense of honor is also a factor when I make these decisions; even if my one vote is a drop in the ocean of influence, I still know that I did my part in supporting someone good. Perhaps the Republicans or Democrats will bring forth a candidate with good character, Catholic values, and a dedication to the Constitution; I will vote for them if they do! Until then, I will do everything I can with the power vested in me by the United States voting laws to show them that they can't win everyone just by being the lesser of two evils. If my vote doesn't matter, voting third-party means nothing; if my vote does matter, voting third-party shows that I will not accept the main choices until the reform their conduct and policies. Make sense? I'm not asking you to agree per se, but I think showing the thought process behind my third-party convictions may be useful in these discussions.

Until then...may we stop for a moment to pray again for global politics? Everyone knows we need some help from above!
 
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JSRG

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I'm looking through the third parties for someone to vote for, and I'm wondering which one would most closely align with the beautiful world of Catholic social teaching.
If we're talking political parties, then it's the American Solidarity Party, full stop.

If we're talking candidates, it depends on what you mean by "the most Catholic." Biden is the only presidential candidate I know of who identifies as Catholic. But if we're judging them by their political positions rather than their personal faith, then I expect the answer would be Brian Carroll of the aforementioned American Solidarity Party (he's an evangelical--I'm not sure of his specific denomination).
 
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JSRG

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It's the same way here in the UK too for the most part. Without getting into speculation it is weird how in most places there's two main options.
It's not all that weird. First past the post, or plurality voting, is a common form of election around the world, and it heavily favors a two-party system. If you are unaware, plurality voting is this: Everyone votes for one candidate and whichever candidate gets the most votes wins. Of course, even plurality voting doesn't guarantee a 2-party system, as one can point to some countries that use it but aren't 2-party systems, but it strongly favors it.

Countries that don't rely entirely on plurality voting tend to have more parties that are viable.
 
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thecolorsblend

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From what I've heard from political discussions, there are two different ways to define a wasted vote, and I believe they both carry equal weight.
Voting for somebody who you know won't win
Voting for somebody who you don't want to win
I side with the second option; if I vote against my conscience, supporting somebody I really don't support to fuel political parties that I don't want to fuel, this is a wasted vote. When I vote a write-in candidate, I know full well they aren't going to win; in that sense, I wasted my vote.

Yet I also understand, however slow the process may be, I still push for change by voting against my given options. My uncle is a political science major, and through his brother (my dad), I've learned how the major parties look to the third parties when making their decisions. Libertarians and Green Party candidates are the most popular among people who don't vote for the major parties; winning their votes may be influential in tight elections. The Republicans lean libertarian, with candidates like Rand & Ron Paul; the Green New Deal on the Democrat side is a very blatant appeal to those who would support a "Green" party. Wherever the third parties gain power, the major parties will want to take it. This can only happen by accommodating voters like me who refuse to take an option they don't like.

Idealistic? Kinda. But my personal sense of honor is also a factor when I make these decisions; even if my one vote is a drop in the ocean of influence, I still know that I did my part in supporting someone good. Perhaps the Republicans or Democrats will bring forth a candidate with good character, Catholic values, and a dedication to the Constitution; I will vote for them if they do! Until then, I will do everything I can with the power vested in me by the United States voting laws to show them that they can't win everyone just by being the lesser of two evils. If my vote doesn't matter, voting third-party means nothing; if my vote does matter, voting third-party shows that I will not accept the main choices until the reform their conduct and policies. Make sense? I'm not asking you to agree per se, but I think showing the thought process behind my third-party convictions may be useful in these discussions.

Until then...may we stop for a moment to pray again for global politics? Everyone knows we need some help from above!
The way I look at it is that it makes no sense to vote for a candidate I don't believe in just because "he can win".

As you may remember, 2016 was looking like it would be a "showdown" between Hillary and Jeb. For that reason, I was planning not to vote. But then Trump came down that escalator and things took a turn.

But if not for Trump, I don't think I'd bother voting at all anymore. Or if I were to vote, it would probably be for the ASP.
 
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chevyontheriver

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I'm looking through the third parties for someone to vote for, and I'm wondering which one would most closely align with the beautiful world of Catholic social teaching. Pro-life is a must, and upholding the Constitution is a necessary step to ensuring some form of guidance on the government today. Normally, the constitution hardly even seems to be mentioned, and it's often apart to defend certain positions if it is.

From my limited research, the Constitution Party seems to be a good choice, though I start this thread for sake of finding people who may know of something better. There are a few issues I disagree with on this, and a few more that I'm just plain uninformed on (Lord willing, I'll be able to tell the difference). What I'm attaching is the party platform for the Constitution Party; I appreciate how much they go into detail on the thoughts of the Founding Fathers who wrote this, to support a more intelligent & less subjective manner of interpretation.

https://www.constitutionparty.com/assets/2016-2020_National_Platform.pdf

I appreciate that people sometimes share Catholic guides to voting, but they rarely include any practical information. I know a lot of issues that I should vote on, but rarely do they include how the ideas work with the Constitution, or what candidates & parties most closely align with these values. Please restrict your responses to specific candidates or parties, as I have enough of the abstract knowledge already.

Thank you for your time, and may we remember how God was still present in the kingdoms of the Old Testament; regardless of the leader's quality or lack thereof, we can still pray, worship, love, and be with our undefeatable God! :pray: I just want to make a good decision with my vote, I doubt that either Trump or Biden actually are good decisions, and I would appreciate help in being informed. Thank you!
I'm doing a fast from politics for a while to regain my sanity and composure so I'm not going in to this in any detail.

The party you are looking for is the American Solidarity Party.

Joe Biden is a Catholic, the only Catholic presidential candidate. The American Solidarity Candidate, Brian Carroll, is not Catholic but probably the most Catholic acting candidate. Do check him and the ASP out. There is some sanity there.

OK, with that, I'm outta here.
 
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