Election 2024

 I though writing would help me process some thoughts I've had since the election last week:

Discerning how to vote includes trying to predict what kind of public officials candidates would be. We only have two things on which to base what we think they will do in the future: What did they do in the past and what do they say they will do?

I remember Kamala Harris as the Attorney General of California. Recall David Daleiden, an investigative reporter, broke the story that many top level doctors at Planned Parenthood were harvesting and selling body parts of babies they killed in utero. Even with unedited evidence of this evil, Kamala Harris prosecuted Daleiden, the reporter, with the full extent of her power and let Planned Parenthood continue the evil they do.

Next, when Harris was a senator, I remember during a confirmation hearing, the man up for confirmation happened to be a Catholic and a member of the Knights of Columbus. Harris grilled him and insinuated that K of C is some sort of radical extremist group that is a threat to our country. "Catholics need not apply," was the message of the day.

Harris said as president, she would sign a bill codifying Roe. Thanks be to God, Roe was overturned in Dobbs a few years ago after being responsible for some 60 million deaths. Moreover, Harris said she would not accept the idea of religious exemptions or any compromise as tax dollars would pay for this "basic human right to abortion." And in order to bring it about, she would push to do away with the filibuster, thus getting it passed with only 51 votes.

I did not like the tone of the Trump campaign on abortion. It seemed dismissive to the truth of the killing that is happening every day in large numbers. I was disappointed that he and the Republicans never pointed out that abortion is the violent killing of an innocent child in order to end a pregnancy.

I also do not like that Trump is on this IVF kick. To avoid getting into the weeds here, I would refer readers to Donum Vitae, the 1987 document from the Vatican. Small humans are killed in the process and things are done that circumvent and compromise the relationship between husband and wife. Trump said he would like insurance companies to pay for it. In an interview, Raymond Arroyo asked Trump about a religious exemption, and he said he would be open to the discussion.

What made Trump the "lesser of two evils," as Pope Francis called them, is knowledge of his record as president January 2017 - January 2021. In that time he appointed three pro-life justices to the Supreme Court, spoke in person at the March for Life, and signed into law life-saving legislation. I live in hope that now elected he would continue to be a friend of life.