What’s in a promise?

Dear Editor,

Sometimes while traveling thought town, I see signs saying, “Promises Made, Promises Kept” and I wonder just what promises were made and kept.

So I researched it and found there were more than 100 promises made but few kept. A sampling:

¯ Better health care — not happening.

¯ Infrastructure improvements — not even close.

¯ Renegotiate the Iran Nuclear deal – no way.

¯ Grow the economy by 4% a year – never happened, not once.

¯ Drain the swamp — How many top Trump aides have been arrested? Six so far?

¯ Bring back manufacturing — nope.

¯ Mexico pays for the wall — ha ha.

¯ Enact term limits — no.

¯ Will not cut Social Security or Medicare — efforts are being made to do just that.

¯ Give federal workers a six-week paid leave — nope.

¯ Enact a ban on lobbying — no.

¯ Shrink the federal debt — that is skyrocketing, not going down

¯ Release his tax returns — ain’t no way

¯ Get tough on crime — by pardoning criminals and wishing a convicted child sex trafficker well?

¯ Not take vacations – haha. Just go golfing every weekend to the tune of more than $150 million so far.

But President Trump did let more than 180,000 people die needlessly because of his poor leadership. He did let Russia put a bounty on our soldiers. He did separate families and put kids in cages. He did raise tariffs, too bad so many farmers are going bankrupt. And he did lie more than 20,000 times.

Were those the part of his promises that you liked?

Arielle Smith,

Warren

A Catholic perspective

Dear Editor,

For Catholics, responsible citizenship, including voting, is important. However, a critical issue hasn’t been explained well to Catholic voters: a political candidate’s position on just one issue disqualifies that candidate from receiving votes from faithful Catholics.

A “disqualifying issue” pertains to actions of intrinsic moral evil: actions that can never at any time or under any circumstances be promoted, committed or enabled. A disqualifying issue is so grave that it is non-negotiable, rendering a candidate unacceptable for public office at the national, state, and local level.

For example, candidates supporting abortion are immediately disqualified as persons a Catholic may vote for. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops states that Catholics must always oppose policies that violate human life or weaken its protection. Human life is sacred; attacks on innocent life are never morally acceptable. Therefore, the intrinsic evil of abortion must be vigorously opposed. A political candidate who supports abortion disqualifies him/herself as a person Catholics may vote for.

Neither of the presidential candidates is perfectly aligned with Catholic teaching on every issue. What if, for example, neither candidate is completely pro-life? Then Catholics must attempt to limit the evil aspects of abortion, by determining which candidate would cause the less damage. It follows from Saint John Paul’s encyclical “The Gospel of Life” if neither candidate is completely pro-life, then the vote must be cast for the candidate who will most likely limit the evil of abortion.

Clearly, that candidate is Donald Trump.

Linda MacMonagle,

Fairview