The Vineyard and the Mid-Term Election

Sunday’s readings make numerous references to vineyards, comparing the Jewish people to God’s vineyard which has gone bad.  Isaiah and Psalm 80 both make this clear, “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,” (Isaiah 5:7) and, “A vine from Egypt you transplanted,” (Psalm 80:9).  Unfortunately, this vineyard deteriorates.  The chosen people of God, despite all God’s efforts, turn away from Him and end up in ruin.  The gospel parable also makes reference to a vineyard, but in this case, the vineyard is stolen by the very people is has been entrusted to, even to the point of the tenant farmers killing the owner’s son.  What is it with us humans?  Why do we squander what God has given us so generously?

The answer of course, is contained in another parable of Jesus in which He explains that He is the vine and we are the branches.  When we are severed from the source of life and all that is good, we wither and die for one reason or another.  We are all sinners and victims of our own selfishness, and we need to stay connected to the life-source if we are to flourish.  All too often, we take what is good, then want more and more of it for ourselves.  In some instances we take what is good and obsess about it so much that we neglect other, more important parts of our life.  Or worse, we pervert what is good and beautiful, and turn it into something harmful and ugly.  Take food and exercise, both wonderful and good things, unless we obsess about them and over indulge to the point of making them more important than anything else; or pornography, which reduces human sexuality to a commodity for our own selfish satisfaction, even at the expense of the dignity of others.   Another extreme example is religion which can become too scrupulous, or in the case of Islamic extremism, a rationalization for killing innocent people.

Moving down the continuum from healthy appreciation for the good, to obsession or perversion, can be a slow-motion process in which we fail to realize that we have crossed beyond healthy respect and appreciation.  There’s an old adage about a frog in boiling water: If a frog is tossed into a boiling pot, he’ll jump right back out so save himself.  But if put in tepid water on a stove, he’ll sit there contentedly until boiled to death.  All of us need to take a step back once in a while and re-examine our lives and our values, to ensure that we have not gone down the slippery slope from good, to something not-so-good, or even evil, without realizing it.

While perusing a Catholic store last week, I ran across a book about why the author left the Democratic party he grew up with, and loved.  In summary, it was because the party has adopted a culture of death.  People who have been long-time Democrats have apparently adopted the many changes in their party over the past several decades, including their decided pro-abortion, gay marriage agenda.  At their last convention, Democrats voted to remove any reference to God from their official party platform, until an embarrassed chairman called for a quick and questionable voice vote to overturn it. 

In just four weeks, the mid-term elections take place and people will be once again casting votes for federal legislators.  If the Democrats retain a majority in the Senate, they are very likely to approve the President’s next nominee for the Supreme Court because there are rumors that the president has been putting pressure on Justice Ginsberg to resign for this purpose.  As a lame duck president, Mr. Obama will undoubtedly continue to “use his pen and his phone” to make laws without actually passing legislation through Congress, in violation of the constitution.  As evidenced by the administrative laws he and his Cabinet have already written unilaterally, this probably means more violations of the first amendment right of freedom of religion. 

The Catholic Church teaches that participation in the election process is an important civic and moral responsibility.  Furthermore, the Church is clear about the fact that voting for legislators who support what is intrinsically evil (e.g., abortion) is morally wrong.  Catholics who are Democrats must ask themselves this question, rather than just going along with their party, like a frog in gradually boiling water.  Some would argue that there are more issues at stake than just abortion and gay marriage, but the official teaching of the Church is that there is a hierarchy of responsibilities and that respect for the dignity of every human life takes primacy over all other issues.  

The Democratic party has become obsessed with personal freedom, even at the expense of children, both unborn and those who are devastated by divorce.  Children also have a natural right to be raised by both of their biological parents, not by two moms or two dads.  But like the frog in rapidly warming water, Democrats seem to be content with the party line that “marriage equality” trumps the rights of children.  In my view, Democrats are increasingly separating themselves from the moral imperatives of Natural Law, a fact which they refuse to acknowledge, despite evidence of the consequences.  I’ve written about those consequences extensively in the past: declining marriage rates, birthrates below replacement level, injury and risk to children, and the economic aftermath of a shrinking workforce, even as the number of elderly grows.

I’m not contending that Republicans have all the answers, but a good many of them hold conservative, more traditional values, and would work to protect life, marriage, and the family, which is the basic and most essential unit of society (not the individual).  Moreover, conservatives seem to have a better grasp of how the economy works, and it’s not by increasing the welfare rolls, expanding Medicaid, and Medicare disability enrollment, all funded by higher taxes.  The most conservative president in recent history was Ronald Reagan, and his tax cuts created more jobs and the strongest economy we’ve had since the post war boom.   My recommendation for the upcoming election is that we all pray for guidance, and for all voters to examine their values and their consciences before casting their votes.   If we continue down the path of separating ourselves from God and His Natural Law, we will end up like ancient Israel… in ruin.