Mark Shea Punts the Ball

In a recent post - Banned and Enjoying It - I noted that Mark Shea would never vote for Donald Trump, and I assumed that, because of his having made it clear that he will not vote for a candidate who asks him to support grave and intrinsic evil, he could never vote for Hillary Clinton either. I was wrong in my assumption.

Shea will not be voting for Clinton because, in his words, "I will not, myself, be voting for her since I don’t live in a swing state. But I have no problem at all defending somebody who lives in a swing state who does vote for her and would, in fact, urge people to do so (bearing in mind that some cannot, in conscience, do so)".

Shea lives in the state of Washington, which hasn't given it's Electoral College votes for a Republican since the days of Ronald Reagan. Living in a "non-swing state", Shea knows his individual vote will have no affect on the outcome of the election. He can vote "third party" all he wants, and his vote will be pretty much meaningless. He can play the "I didn't vote for Hillary" game all he wants and bask in the glow of his superiority.

I find it troubling that he would consider voting for Clinton if he lived in a swing state, like Ohio or Florida, and that he actually urges voters there to vote for her. He goes on, "The only thing I would argue is that support for Trump simply cannot be squared with the Catholic faith".

Obviously, Clinton's views can't be squared with the Catholic faith either, but Shea maintains that because Pope Benedict XVI says it is morally permissible to vote to lessen evil, a Catholic can vote for Hillary Clinton because her evil is less than Trump's evil.

I'm not quite so sure that either one is less evil than the other. I could never vote for either candidate. Choosing between Trump or Clinton is like choosing whether you prefer mustard or mayo on your fecal sandwich.

Shea says to abstain from voting is the final act of nihilist irresponsibility. Well, if that's true, what do you call voting for a third party candidate who has absolutely zero chance of being elected?