Abortion Politics, or Why I Hate This Election Year

This looks bad for both Clinton and Trump to be honest.

With March for Life going on in several locations across the United States in memorial of 43 years of legal killing of children, the unpleasant topic of abortion should be addressed. It's also an election year in the US and these two issues intersect in ways that cannot be ignored. On the right the choice Americans will likely have is Donald Trump, who said he was pro-choice before doing a complete 180 and declaring himself pro-lifeduring the 2012 primary cycle. Call me cynical but I fully believe that he declared himself pro-life to score points with evangelical protestants. It didn't work for him in 2012 but it seems to have made a difference for him in 2016.

On the Left the Democrats are likely to choose Hilary Clinton despite the weird meme being promoted that Bernie Sanders has anything but a remote chance of getting thenomination . Clinton proudly touts her feminism and has made the idiotic error of being public seen with confirmed pedophile Lena Dunham in order to tout her feminist credentials. Little needs to be said about Clinton's stance on the continuation of the policy that has allowed nearly 59,000,000 babies to be killed by their mothers and hired killers with medical credentials. Clinton would promote the status quo on this issue and on many others not relevant to the discussion at hand.

The choice will likely be between a potential liar in Trump and the status quo in Clinton. How does one proceed? I'm a registered non-affiliated voter in my state, at least for the time being. There are plenty of Catholic voices out there telling me I have a moral duty to vote Republican, which is on its face as absurd as the concept of a pro-choice Catholic. Do I trust a potential liar, vote for the status quo (taking Trump's other issues into context) or vote for a third party candidate?

Let's take the issue a step further. At the national level the GOP has little to no credibility on the abortion issue due to their having controlling Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House from 2001-2007 and took no major initiative on abortion. Recently Speaker Ryan took defunding Planned Parenthood off the table as a weapon as a potential government shutdown loomed. At the state level the Republicans have done more to save lives but the national election is the subject at hand. I'd mention the Democratic party but why bother?

Finally, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in their document 'Forming Consciences for FaithfulCitizenship' advises Catholic voters that abortion is a critical issue but that it isn't the only issue that we should vote on. Fair enough. Other issues loom large for me, including the environment, government spying, maintaining a liberated internet, government spending and debt, rational care for the poor, ISIS, energy, the list goes on and on. And, despite my own feelings to the contrary, every good political quiz I take puts me on the center-Left despite my own pro-life and 'hawkish' attitudes of late. I don'tidentify with the Left, as anyone who reads my other blog will attest. I most identify as a moderate and will likely cast a vote for a candidate who makes me sick to my stomach in the fall. Given who I expect to win the parties respective nominations I'd say contracting voting-induced-stomach-flu is likely.