Florida Catholic | Editorial

Florida readies for election year

Published: 01.18.08

Politics is never easy. But it’s our privilege and our duty to participate and participate well. Vote Jan. 29.”

If democracy weren’t so important to us, we’d all be sick of it by now, wouldn’t we? The 2008 election campaign has been going on since the 2004 inauguration — at least it seems that way. We’ve been hearing about the presidential race for more than a year now and we still have more than 10 months to go until the general election.

The presidential primary is complicated this year for our state. Politicos and voters here were tired of having the primary after the races were pretty much decided. In trying to have more of an impact this time around, the primary was moved forward, to before “Super Tuesday.” But the national political parties frowned upon this move, saying that Florida had moved the primary too far forward, without permission. Therefore, the national parties punished Florida like a naughty child: The Democrats took away all the state’s delegates to the national convention and forced all the candidates to pledge not to campaign here; the Republicans cut our state delegation in half (Wyoming, Michigan and South Carolina were similarly chastised).

So, while Iowa and New Hampshire, which are hardly representative of the country in general, continue to set the stage for the national campaigns out of “tradition,” Florida, with its great diversity of cultures, ethnicity and geography (from the Panhandle to the Keys) gets relegated to the trash bin. That ain’t right.

Still it is hoped — and projected — that many voters will turn out for the Jan. 29 election day. One reason is that, delegates or not, the message sent by the choices made in Florida should be heard loud and clear throughout the rest of the country, and that may influence later primaries.

Another compelling reason to get out and vote that day is the referendum on property tax also on the ballot that day.

As Catholics, we have a moral duty and obligation to participate in the political process. It won’t always be easy to know which candidate to choose, or which side to support on a proposition or referendum. We must weigh many factors. As related to the Florida Catholic’s statehouse correspondent, Jacquelyn Horkan, in “What’s a Catholic voter to do?,” Catholics must form their consciences in order to bring faith and reason into the polling place.

That’s not always easy. Mike McCarron, executive director of the Florida Catholic Conference, notes that voters often have to choose between the lesser of two evils. He is right. The country is so intrinsically divided “Red State/Blue State” and the parties’ basic stands are so far apart, that we will rarely find a candidate who matches all the stands we hope for as people whose consciences are formed by faith. Some candidates will oppose abortion; others will favor it. Some will oppose the death penalty; others support it. They will have different positions on assistance for the poor and the elderly, on immigration policy, on war and international aid. We have to balance, and in some ways, select the best candidate we can while minimizing the damage they could do.

Sean D. Foreman, assistant professor for political science at Barry University, tells our correspondent: “Just like politics in general, you have to settle for a suboptimum outcome, the one that’s going to do the least damage. People need to prioritize.”

Floridians this month face another tough choice on the property tax question.

Who wouldn’t want to save some money on property taxes — if indeed the cost savings will be there? But the question also must be asked about the impact this tax rollback may have on the poor, many of whom rent, and therefore will not see the advantage of the decrease. Also the detriment to civic services if local municipalities and counties must cut back services, which often go to the poor and elderly, as a result of the tax cut must be examined.

Politics is never easy. But it’s our privilege and our duty to participate and participate well. Vote Jan. 29.

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