A new Political Party

I am intrigued.

Normally I do not pay much attention to the Catholics currently ranting and raving about politics.  I have watched those who hate the current candidate for their party point fingers at those who disagree with them, declaring their opposition to be crazy, uneducated or downright sinful Catholics.  I have read posts on FB that make me smile because they are so condescending towards people who may disagree with the poster that they skirt the boundary of decency. 

Watching one FB rant and its subsequent replies (including my own, asking for the poster to please cite a reference for some of his quotes so I could read the whole article) I was amused to have someone point me in the direction of an interesting attempt at the establishment of a third political party.

The American Solidarity Party defines itself as " the only active Christian Democratic party in the United States" and from what I have read so far they are telling the truth.  If there is another group banding together to make a run at gaining political power in this country that embodies the youth, the ideals and the declarations of this group I don't know where it is or what it's called.

The ASP (and yes, I immediately looked at the logo to see if it was a big ol' snake.  It isn't - phew!) states that it stands for the sanctity of human life, the necessity of social justice, responsibility for the environment, and hopes for the possibility of a peaceful world.

Good GOD you can't get much better than that!

At this stage of my life, I do not see where voting my conscience will gain either Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton my endorsement.  Unlike the sparkly eyed 18 year old who first stepped into a voting booth, I am now a gimlet eyed, cranky ex-rock and roller filling out an absentee ballot at my kitchen table and writing in the name of my cousin for president.  I cannot stand either candidate, cannot trust either party and wish everyone would stop screaming at each other about walls and guns.  I am tired of being insulted by Mrs. Clinton and her minions and I am tired of the antics of Mr. Trump.  Both are an embarrassment to the American people and the fact that this is the best we have to offer should be a wake up call for the lot of us.

Instead it has caused otherwise loving and kind Catholics to degenerate into tribal factions of screaming harpies.   We are rude to each other.  We are cruel to each other.  We claim rich athletes are incapable of holding an opinion about oppression because they ARE rich athletes and we refer to people who call female candidates by a crude slang term reserved for women's genitalia as good citizens exercising their 'right to freedom of speech'. 

Every day we reveal ourselves to be ignorant and cruel when it comes to our inability to have a civil discussion about politics or religion.  Yet let anyone utter even the smallest condemnation of behavior by someone deemed untouchable by today's society and the backlash will be swift and unforgiving.  I was told I should move to Russia because I suggested we need to establish boundaries and basics for good interaction - in other words, stop using foul language when discussing a candidate.  I was told that I did not have a right to establish boundaries or hold to standards, that to do so infringed upon a person's right to freedom of speech.  I responded by suggesting that standards and boundaries are set all the time to restrict our freedom of speech and these standards and boundaries might be tested but they are there. The lady exploded on me.  She offered to purchase my ticket to Russia.

This morning I read a post where a convert to Catholicism (and a fairly new one at that) declared that a priest holding an opposing political view had obviously looked at the 'state of his own soul and discovered his 'sin'.  Why?  The priest  had stopped posting anything on his site that supported the 'other' Candidate.

Shame on us.

I have sent in an 'interest' request to the American Solidarity Party.  They do not have a snowball's chance in hell to succeed.  However, it has dawned on me lately that it doesn't matter if they win or lose.  You see, I am a Catholic.  I know that my side wins in the end.

But until then, by golly, it just might be interesting.