Christian Democracy

Oh God, who has declared theyself the
protector of those who hope in thee,
and with out whom there is in us men
neither strength nor earthly holiness

make us in faith experience more
the loving effects of thy mercy
Let us not cling to the perishable
goods of our natural happiness.

It seems the mods have closed the thread on Back Fence, saying it should go in Politics 2009, while the Politics 2009 rules require a link to a news article, which it does not have - I have a PM out to the Mod asking where it should go, so, in the meantime, I guess the discussion will have to be here.

Re: the name of a hypothetical CD Third Party - I would probably lean toward the name of the Bavarian party, the "Christian Social Union," to avoid any confusion with the Democrats.

@AugustAmbrose:

With the health care debate in America, it's not necessarily true that someone is lying. I live in the State of Iowa. Up until a few months ago, if you had asked people here to define marriage, everything definition they would have given you would have been based on the assumption of one-man, one-woman. There were people who were trying to get the legislature to change that assumption. Instead of letting the people of Iowa decide if they wanted to change their assumptions, though, the courts simply said that these assumptions are no longer true, and we will permit same-sex marriage ceremonies.

The problem is that no matter what the existing bill says, there is nothing in the bill that says the definitions will not change, and that certain events will not occur. It may not be the intent that committees will ration health care and revoke any care (except suicide) from a person; there is nothing in the bill, however, that will prevent some court in the future from deciding that is what the law means.

I believe a Christian Democrat Union party (if you say "Christian Democrat" people will think you're an offshoot of the Democrats) will need to base its platform on saying what we mean and meaning what we say.

@feargalmac:
I sometimes look at Irish news on-line, and you are right - I don't know why Fine Gael calls themselves Christian Democratic when they support divorce, same-sex unions, and seem to form government in coalition with left-leaning parties whenever they get in, and let said parties drive the social agenda.

@AugustAmbrose:
You've made an excellent argument as to why we need an organized group dedicated to Catholic Social Teaching. On health care, the Republicans want to keep with the status quo, which, if you're not old and don't qualify for medicaid, but don't have one of the dwindling number of jobs with health benefits, you're pretty much left to die in the street, whereas the Democrats' plans seem to envy foreign systems, where quality of care suffers. Plus their refusal to exclude abortion from coverage explicitely is very troubling as well.

Basically, we have what Chesterton called "Hudge and Grudge," big government and big business, neither of which are looking out for us. How to fix this is an open question.

Robert Stanfield, a prominent Canadian conservative, once said:
"Big government will not disappear. That is obvious. But there must be a realization that the purpose of any government, large or small, must be to serve the people, not to serve itself. " The problem is, it always seems to serve itself. So, as I put in the poll on the thread I posted in CAF on the subject, what's the best way to address this problem? I'm currently leaning toward the idea of organizing in the major parties, plus a single non-partisan group, with the hopes of a thrid party some time in the future, but I'm interested in hearing more.

Great discussion so far!

hi,
The political field has changed. The lobbyist in America seem to control the politicians regardless of the party affilation.Big business in America seems to be guided by profit motivation, The economic difference between the rich and the poor seems to have grown larger. The one thing going on right now is the claims and counter claims of the Health Care package in America. Some one has to be lying, Even those who think we know the issues are now having our doubts.
We seem to have lost our christian part of the discussion, maybe the democracy part too. Do the insurance companies have a responsibility, the drug industry a responsibility to help their fellow man. If we are our brothers keeper, can we reason together? This thing could cause some people not to vote in the next election?/!

I know that while a study of existing CD parties might be tempting, there are political parties that though they claim to be Christian Democrats their Christianity comes with a small "c". For example, here in Ireland, while the Fine Gael party ally themselves with the Christian Democrats in the EU, they are much more liberal in their social policies than the label CD would have you believe. So much so, I couldn't envisage voting for them as things stand.

Hey!

I figured I'd pop on in to this group and join in on the discussion. My views are indeed along the lines of Christian democracy. It can be frustrating for people with beliefs similar to ours because you never really feel at "home" in any political party, or at least I know I don't.

Have any of you ever done the "Political Compass" test? Where did you end up?

@August Ambrose:
Interesting comments. Actually, "Christian Democracy" is just the name political scientists have attached to the political ideology which follows Catholic Social Teaching. As a great simplification, it is socially conservative, but more moderate when it comes to economic issues and social programs. It is only called "Christian" because of its roots in the Social Encyclicals, and "Democracy" because it operates within elected political structures.

In the history of the U.S., the 19th Century Populists (William Jennings Bryan) and early 20th Century Progressives (Teddy Roosevelt) would be some good examples of some success in CD as a political movement. Within the two parties today, the "Pro-life Democrats" (there actually are a few) like Stupak and Murtha, would be on the left-wing of CD, whereas Republicans more friendly toward social programs, like Henry Hyde, would represent the right-wing of CD.

This should be interesting, the Roman Catholic Church isn't Democratic and America isn't a Christian Country too.

Each religions have more rules than the American courts. America is made up of many different religions, Hindi, Buddiest, Muslim, and christian too.
The statement of ''separation of church and state'' means that the church protects the state and the state protects the church, we support not interfere. Martin Luther King jr had a good idea of non-violent protest, like Mahata Gaundi of India who won freedom for the largest nation Democratic government in the world with out one shot being fired.
The one thing for us is the way and the truth and the life of Jesus. What would Jesus do?
What is truth? Am I really my brothers keeper, how do I love them? Can we legislate good will, love of our neighbor?
The average politician has every social group in his district. How can he possibly support all of their needs.Does he pick and chose, give and take, pamper some; ignore the rest?
Is this why there are so many voters that don't vote. they don't like this one thing about the candidate?