What is a Catholic Voter to Do?

It is ironic that in the 2012 election there are two Catholic Vice Presidential candidates and no good options for Catholic voters. The Washington Post writes:

While Catholics don’t vote as a bloc, they comprise about one-quarter of the electorate and the candidate who wins Catholic voters usually wins the White House. Obama won the total Catholic vote in 2008, 54 percent to 45 percent, but lost white Catholics, 52 percent to 47 percent.

So far this year, neither Obama nor Romney has established a consistent lead among Catholic voters. 

That is not surprising, given that neither platform is morally or intellectually satisfying. An article in Mother Jones gets at part of the issue:

When the US Conference of Catholic Bishops declared war on the Obama administration on religious freedom grounds, the GOP was right there with them. Republicans cited the bishops' complaints as they blasted the administration's contraception mandate in health care reform, and gave the bishops a prominent platform on the Hill to air their grievances...

In September, the bishops lost a $19 million contract to provide services to trafficking victims after refusing to make accommodations so that their clients could have access to a full range of reproductive health services...The lost contract was just one more piece of evidence the bishops invoked to prove that the Obama administration discriminates against religious groups and follows an "ABC—anybody but Catholics" policy, and House Republicans were happy to parrot that charge as well...

But even as GOPers have been piggybacking on the [US Conference of Catholic Bishops'] USCCB's skirmish with the White House, they seem to have forgotten that the Catholic organization is hardly a Republican proxy. Even though they may align with Republicans on contraception, abortion, and gay rights, the bishops have traditionally been much more in sync with the Democrats. The bishops supported the nuclear freeze movement during the Reagan era, have consistently opposed the death penalty, and backed comprehensive immigration reform.

Despite some GOP claims that the Pope himself has said that the national debt is a moral hazard, the party leaders seem to have missed the part where the church has said that debt is bad because it hurts the poor. USCCB has been a leading advocate for debt relief in Third World countries because the bishops believe debt has to be relieved in a way to help the poor, not simply to placate bankers and rich people.

So Republicans seemed a little taken aback, when [the USCCB] took aim at the GOP for backing draconian cuts to government programs for the poor. The source of the controversy dates back to a an interview House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) gave to the Christian Broadcasting Network earlier this month, in which he suggested that his Catholic faith had inspired him to draft a budget that takes an axe to social welfare programs...

In response to these comments, as well the broader Ryan budget, the bishops have sent a series of letters to House GOP leaders criticizing the plan for the dire impact it would have on the poor and disadvantaged. Contrary to Ryan's insistence that the budget is in keeping with Catholic tenets, the bishops insist that many of the budget choices are actually immoral.

Now that the bishops are taking on the House leadership, top GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), have suddenly decided that the USCCB doesn't really represent the church or all its bishops, and thus, they are free to ignore it. "These are not all the Catholic bishops, and we just respectfully disagree," Ryan told Fox News last week. The argument didn't fly so well with the USCCB, which shot back in The Hill that the group does, in fact, represent all the bishops.

Last year I wrote a post on Papal Economic Teachings. It is interesting to see what Pope Pius wrote during the Great Depression, critiquing communism, unrestrained capitalism, class conflict, and inequalities. The current Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, also has applicable writing for the current electorate, such as:

Economic activity cannot solve all social problems through the simple application of commercial logic. This needs to be directed towards the pursuit of the common good, for which the political community in particular must also take responsibility. Therefore, it must be borne in mind that grave imbalances are produced when economic action, conceived merely as an engine for wealth creation, is detached from political action, conceived as a means for pursuing justice through redistribution.

The Catholic economic teachings and social teachings are based on the same principles: here is a good link to the major themes of Catholic social teachings. They are inextricably bound together, and together form a coherent vision: At the most fundamental level, "the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching." It is an unfortunate coordination problem, that even though Catholics are one quarter of the electorate, no party gives us a good option.

An Oversight in Krugman's End This Depression Now

I started reading Paul Krugman's new book, End This Depression Now!, and felt compelled to point out one problematic remark from the first chapter. In chapter 1 he writes, 

"Clearly what we're interested in is involuntary unemployment. People who aren't working because they have chosen not to work, or at least not to work in the market economy- retirees who are glad to be retired, those who have decided to be full-time housewives or househusbands- don't count. Neither do the disabled, whose inability to work is unfortunate, but not driven by economic issues."

The problem is the last sentence. In fact, for people with disabilities, unemployment may be even more sensitive to economic issues than for others. People with disabilities may be the first to be fired when the economy makes a turn for the worse and the last to be hired when things begin to improve. The employment gap between men and women with and without work- related disabilities has increased over the past 20 years, reaching its largest ever recorded in 2009. Many people with disabilities are willing and able to work with sufficient accommodation. Often a small and relatively inexpensive change is all it takes. Since Krugman supports government spending and investment projects to End This Depression, why not target some of it towards workplace inclusion? Entrepreneurship and virtual or otherwise nontraditional work situations may also be viable--and productive-- options. These issues are all topics of a report of the National Council on Disability called "The Power of Digital Inclusion: Technology's Impact on Employment and Opportunities for People with Disabilities." I worked on the report while at the Center for Advanced Communication Policy at Georgia Tech.

Long-term unemployment, Krugman writes, is "deeply demoralizing for workers," and "the blow to dignity and self-respect can be devastating." Krugman's book is poignantly dedicated "to the unemployed, who deserve better." What an unfortunate carelessness to exclude the disabled even in the first few pages! 

One translation of an often cited Bible verse is "He who does not work, shall not eat" (II Thessalonians 3:10). Another translation of what Paul wrote to the early Christians is "He who is not willing to work, should not eat." Nowadays there is a distinction, but back then the translations would be equivalent. Involuntary unemployment was not a common part of the human experience. In pre-industrial society, farmers farmed and fishermen fished and servants served. But it was not the case that the "labor market" "failed to clear," leaving people involuntarily unemployed.

In fact, the rare biblical cases of involuntary unemployment mostly involve people with disabilities-- blind, deaf, lame, or lepers. They do not work, but Paul and the apostles do not argue that they shouldn't eat. Rather they spread Jesus' message of charity and compassion. This is the Christian attitude toward involuntary unemployment, not an attitude of "let them starve." Jesus' interactions with the lepers teach that they have human dignity, in an era when it was widely believed that disability was a punishment for sin.

When medicine, technology, and social understanding evolved enough to make it possible for people with disabilities to work, Christian teaching promoted this. Krugman cites Ben Bernanke and some happiness studies as his source that work lends dignity to human life, but this message was spelled out emphatically in 1981 in Pope John Paul II's "Laborem Exercens" ("On Human Work"). Laborem Exercens includes a section on disability.

Recently, national communities and international organizations have turned their attention to another question connected with work, one full of implications: the question of disabled people. They too are fully human subjects with corresponding innate, sacred and inviolable rights, and, in spite of the limitations and sufferings affecting their bodies and faculties, they point up more clearly the dignity and greatness of man. Since disabled people are subjects with all their rights, they should be helped to participate in the life of society in all its aspects and at all the levels accessible to their capacities. The disabled person is one of us and participates fully in the same humanity that we possess. It would be radically unworthy of man, and a denial of our common humanity, to admit to the life of the community, and thus admit to work, only those who are fully functional. To do so would be to practise a serious form of discrimination, that of the strong and healthy against the weak and sick...  The various bodies involved in the world of labour, both the direct and the indirect employer, should therefore by means of effective and appropriate measures foster the right of disabled people to professional training and work, so that they can be given a productive activity suited to them. Many practical problems arise at this point, as well as legal and economic ones; but the community, that is to say, the public authorities, associations and intermediate groups, business enterprises and the disabled themselves should pool their ideas and resources so as to attain this goal that must not be shirked: that disabled people may be offered work according to their capabilities, for this is demanded by their dignity as persons and as subjects of work. Each community will be able to set up suitable structures for finding or creating jobs for such people both in the usual public or private enterprises, by offering them ordinary or suitably adapted jobs... Careful attention must be devoted to the physical and psychological working conditions of disabled people-as for all workers-to their just remuneration, to the possibility of their promotion, and to the elimination of various obstacles...

This was in 1981! (And the rest of the document is equally far ahead of its time). Over 20 years ago, the Church proclaimed that unemployment of the disabled is involuntary unemployment and contrary to human dignity. Now Paul Krugman, who may or may not have a larger readership than the Pope, is finally proclaiming that involuntary unemployment is contrary to human dignity, but has to add the unfortunate aside: the disabled don't count.

Papal Economic Teachings

A papal encyclical is written by the Pope to address some issue of priority. Encyclicals offer critique and counsel, pointing out problems and suggesting solutions. They tend to be quite scholarly in tone and extensively researched and thought out. The Industrial Revolution prompted the first of many economics-related encyclicals. Here are some of the main ones in chronological order:

Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labor) 1891, Pope Leo XIII – Addresses the plight of workers in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, touching on socialism, unbridled capitalism, a living wage, workers’ rights, support for unions, and a rejection of class struggle.

Quadragesimo Anno (On the Reconstruction of the Social Order) 1931, Pope Pius XI – Written during Great Depression, offers an update on the state of labor and industrialization, and strong critiques of communism, unrestrained capitalism, class conflict, and inequalities. Pope Pius denounces the concentration of wealth and economic power.

Mater et Magistra (Christianity and Social Progress) 1961, Pope John XXIII – Notes power of science and technology to improve the human condition, but also to limit human freedoms. Calls on governments to safeguard human rights and expresses concerns for the growing gap between rich and poor nations, for the plight of farmers and rural areas, and for the arms race.

Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) 1963, Pope John XXIII – In response to the Cold War, the encyclical outlines necessary conditions for lasting world peace, looking at respect for human rights and disarmament.

Populorum Progressio (On the Development of Peoples) 1967, Pope Paul VI – Examines the economy on a global level, and addresses the rights of workers to decent work, just wages, and to form and join unions. Pope Paul VI calls development the new name for peace, criticizes unjust economic structures that lead to inequality, and supports new international and social relationships.

Laborem Exercens (On Human Work) 1981, Pope John Paul II – Emphasizes the dignity of work and the rights of workers, and the priority of labor over capital. Also addresses disabled workers, emigration, materialism, and the spirituality of work.

Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (On Social Concern) 1987, Pope John Paul II – Critiques East‐West blocs and other “structures of sin” that compromise the progress of poor nations, and calls for solidarity between rich and poor nations.

Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) 1991, Pope John Paul II – Focuses on the moral dimensions of economic life, the advantages and limitations of the market, the role of business, and the responsibilities and limitations of government.

Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) 2005, Pope Benedict XVI – Pope Benedict locates love of the poor at the center of Catholic life.

Caritas In Veritate (Charity in Truth) 2009, Pope Benedict XVI – Deals with the ethics of contemporary economics; poverty and development; global solidarity; charity, justice and the common good; rights and duties; and care for creation. Here are some excerpts:

“On the part of rich countries there is excessive zeal for protecting knowledge through an unduly rigid assertion of the right to intellectual property, especially in the field of health care. At the same time, in some poor countries, cultural models and social norms of behaviour persist which hinder the process of development.” (22)

“The mobility of labour, associated with a climate of deregulation, is an important phenomenon with certain positive aspects, because it can stimulate wealth production and cultural exchange. Nevertheless, uncertainty over working conditions caused by mobility and deregulation, when it becomes endemic, tends to create new forms of psychological instability, giving rise to difficulty in forging coherent life-plans, including that of marriage. This leads to situations of human decline, to say nothing of the waste of social resources. In comparison with the casualties of industrial society in the past, unemployment today provokes new forms of economic marginalization, and the current crisis can only make this situation worse. Being out of work or dependent on public or private assistance for a prolonged period undermines the freedom and creativity of the person and his family and social relationships, causing great psychological and spiritual suffering. I would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world's economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity …. (25)

“Economic activity cannot solve all social problems through the simple application of commercial logic. This needs to be directed towards the pursuit of the common good, for which the political community in particular must also take responsibility. Therefore, it must be borne in mind that grave imbalances are produced when economic action, conceived merely as an engine for wealth creation, is detached from political action, conceived as a means for pursuing justice through redistribution” (36).

Drawing from these and other teachings, the U.S. Catholic Bishops have put together a ten-part Framework for Economic Life as "principles for reflection, criteria for judgement and directions for action." The ten principles are all pretty short and not very Catholic-specific. The first, for example, is "The economy exists for the person, not the person for the economy." The third is "A fundamental moral measure of any economy is how the poor and vulnerable are faring." I imagine that most people would accept at least some of the statements, and that they could have wide interpretations. I'll reflect and maybe blog on them in the coming weeks.