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Entry: What Would Machiavelli Do? Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/what_would_machiavelli_do1#18933 Post contents: Michael, You say: "To vote is a mortal sin, to refuse to vote is a mortal sin." You pose here a false dilema, a personal interpretation of the opinion of a moral theologian in any case. Not to engage in a kind of catechetical positivism, but we are asked there only to "exercise" our right to vote in fulfilling our civic duties, not specifically to vote, per se. One might easily consider an abstension an exercise in my view, although the ReichsChurch ideologues - you know, those at FirstThings, and many of the EWTN crowd - would have you believe otherwise. I can recall a rather blatant - and offensive - interpretation of this same teaching by Archbishop Chaput in 2004 - in which one was seen as duty bound to vote for the lesser of two evils, all of which served solely to encourage the uncritical election of Republicans. And there was the intolerable Catholic Answers guide, something worthy of the mindset of torture encouraging websiteers, Jimmy Akin and Christopher Blosser. Stay home; you'll be in better company. John Lowell Sent at: 2008 09 07