Catholic Vote: Not. Trump.

As Iowans prepare to cast the first votes in the 2016 nomination process, we owe you our thoughts. While we are not officially endorsing a candidate at this time, we believe it is important to share some critical thoughts on the race, or at least on one candidate in particular.

As Catholics, we are called to participate in the democratic process. The Church does not endorse candidates for public office. That job rests with us, the laity. No candidate is perfect, and no simple checklist is sufficient. Prudence is a necessity. Some candidates ought to be disqualified from receiving the support of a Catholic voter. Others must be weighed in light of the moral principles given to us by our Church.

We have asked for your feedback on multiple occasions. Thousands of CV members have written. We've read them all. In addition we follow the daily news, analysis, polling, and have crafted our strategy for 2016.

We have sifted through the most popular arguments in defense of Trump and listed them below along with our own take. Here they are:

While we share much of the frustration over the failure of the GOP to make significant progress, we are reminded of Republicans' once oft-quoted criticism of President Bill Clinton: character matters.

Donald J. Trump left his first wife and married his mistress, only to leave her a few years later for another mistress. Reportedly he left his second wife by leaking the news to a NY newspaper and left the headline on the bed for his wife to find. In his book, The Art of the Deal, Trump bragged about having sex with many women, including some who were married. He has appeared on the cover of Playboy Magazine with a model wearing only his tuxedo jacket. He has mocked the disability of a NY Times reporter. He belittled John McCain for being a prisoner of war. His casino in Atlantic City was the first in the country to open up a strip club. His Twitter account is a running barrage of insults, lies, and personal attacks on anyone who disagrees with him. And did we mention he famously cheats at golf? Now who does that remind you of?

Now ask yourself: does this man have the character becoming of the President of the United States?

Trump is a salesmen, and salesmen don't buy, they sell. So he wonâ€™t be "bought." Instead he will sell out everyone and anyone when it benefits him, as he has his entire career. He was a liberal democrat, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-universal health care, pro-government bailouts, and a financial backer and friend of Hillary Clinton until he decided to run as a Republican last summer. He is the definition of an opportunist with no guiding principles.

Trump markets himself as an effective leader who will get things done simply by making "smart deals." He refuses to explain precisely how he intends to deliver results, and more often than not, promises to use force or work around or outside the law. Such a leader mirrors what we currently see in the White House. It would be incredibly harmful to our system of government, which is limited by our Constitution -- even if we like the policy outcome. We must be a nation of laws. For Trump, it is all about power. For a Christian, the presidency should be about service.

If you believe the headlines, you would assume everything Donald Trump touches turns to gold. Not so. Trump has only demonstrated an ability to make deals that benefit him personally. Four times he bailed on his own casinos to shield himself from their impending bankruptcies. And then there is Trump Magazine, Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks/Steakhouse, Trump Vodka, and most famously Trump University, to name only a few -- all bankrupt or closed, and massive failures. "Losers" as Trump is fond of saying.

He has constantly cozied up to big government to trample the little guy, either by abusing private property rights, or selling out small contractors and vendors, many of whom lost their life savings. Just ask elderly widow Vera Coking, whom Trump attempted to displace via eminent domain laws to make way for a limousine parking lot for his New Jersey casino -- the same casino he put into bankruptcy. Vera stood tall against the politically-connected billionaire Trump for years in court, enduring his practice of belittling personal attacks. She eventually won and called Trump a "maggot, a cockroach, and a crumb."

Trump has pledged to build a massive wall on our southern border and to make Mexico pay for it. Meanwhile he has promised to deport 11 million+ illegals, without explaining how, then plans to allow them all back in legally according to criteria he has yet to fully explain.

We agree illegal immigration is a problem that must be solved. Trump's solution is delusional, strikes us as xenophobic -- and truthfully, will never happen. If anything, Trump's demagoguery on immigration showcases the emptiness of many of his promises. As President Obama has learned, American presidents don't dictate laws. The Senate and House would have to pass any change of this magnitude, and such a solution has little to no chance of being approved. Border security and immigration enforcement are realistic fixes. Rounding up 11 million+ people and sending them back to Mexico is not practical or realistic, let alone humane. Those who rightfully want to solve the problem of illegal immigration deserve more than crowd pleasing platitudes. And it's certainly worth noting that Donald Trump criticized Mitt Romney for being too harsh on immigration back in 2012. This is just another issue where Donald Trump had a very recent and rather convenient conversion.

Several other presidential candidates have outlined more realistic policies to deal with problem. And that's what real leaders do. They outline solutions and build consensus. Hyperbole and demagoguery are tools of salesmen (see above) out for your money or your vote. Trump's lack of detail reminds us of another famous politician who proclaimed: "we have to pass the bill before you can see whatâ€™s in it."

This defense of Trump is somewhat rich, given the irony that Trump himself has boasted of playing the game, paying off politicians and enriching himself from the very system he now purports to reform. Case in point: in the past week a growing number of so-called "establishment Republicans" have warmed to supporting Trump, people like Bob Dole and Trent Lott -- including establishment Republicans in Iowa like Gov. Terry Branstad. Why? Because they believe, rightly in our view, that Trump doesn't have any principles at the end of the day. He's someone who will wheel and deal -- and you and I will be stuck with the bill.

Electing Donald Trump would send the pro-life movement back to the 1990s, when the Republican Party wanted to run away from defending the unborn. In fact, Trump recommended his own sister, Maryanne Trump Berry, for the Supreme Court. She's the federal judge who overturned New Jersey's ban on grisly partial-birth abortions. The next President may choose as many as three or more new justices. Trump's suggestion of his pro-abortion sister as an example ought to worry anyone who cares about the Court. And let's not forget he once said Oprah would make a great Vice President. Enough said.

Trump's political conversions have all happened at very convenient times. As recently as 2000, Trump was firmly "pro-choice," even refusing to oppose partial birth abortion! He was in favor of gay civil unions. He is open, even now, to subsidizing abortion giant Planned Parenthood with our tax dollars. He considers gay marriage a settled issue and has offered no plan to protect religious freedom. He is pro-universal health care, supported the stimulus package and government bailouts, supported gun control and a host of radical positions. Trump is like many Democrats we know. He is a political opportunist.

Trump is right about something -- it is time for a change. We do need to shake things up and make America great again. And his awakening of working class voters who are often sidelined by terrible policy and poor leadership is a lesson every Republican must take seriously or they will lose in November.

But the power to change does not require a fear mongering business mogul, appealing to our worst fears instead of our best hopes.

With other good candidates in the race, we encourage our members to look beyond Trump.

This is an historic opportunity to win back the White House with someone we can be proud to have as President.

No disagreement on your first two responses - as I concur; and no, in the first case, I did not mean an act of “killing.”

I also thank you for responding about taxes ... and specifically for bringing up Caesar, which I did expect would be your reply ... Here’s your answer, from none other than Miss Ann Barnhardt - a traditional Catholic, having incredible insight. Apologize for the length, but I am wont that all should understand her points:

***Begin transcript***

And now, ladies and gentlemen, is the hour in which the full and hideous scope of the horror that dares call itself “modern, Western Christianity” is revealed. After announcing my Federal tax strike, I have been overrun with sickening, nauseating email after email telling me that for me to enjoin a tax strike is “immoral,” “unchristian,” “contrary to scripture,” “pointless,” “a waste” and all the rest. To everyone who has sent such an email, and you know who you are, there are not words to express the depth of my disgust. I am ashamed - yes ASHAMED - of every single one of you. Your cowardice, your failure to grasp even the most rudimentary concepts of Christianity, starting first and foremost with the First Commandment, but most especially the shallowness of your discernment, is repellant to behold. Super-fun Rockband church and Pastor Jason, and the Marxist-homosexualist infiltrated Novus Ordo Catholic parishes with Father Liza-Judy and their bee-ess six-minute sermons about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING have cleared the battlefield for satan in a war of attrition that would make William Tecumseh Sherman blush with shame.

And let’s not forget that other tool of satan which has sent every other clergyman pecker-down in the dirt to lick the hooves of the federal government, wet with the liquid manure of political correctness and the running blood of the unborn, in utter submission: the 501(c) exemption.

Here’s your catechetics and civics lesson for the week.

“Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s” is NOT a release from the First Commandment.

I had one guy email me and tell me that Jesus will not hold any of us responsible for any of the abortions in this country because we JUST HAVE to pay taxes and we have absolutely no choice in the matter. Bullsh*t. First, what the hell do you think is happening right now? Boys and girls, you are going to be held to account for sitting by and subsidizing the holocaust of the preborn. This country is being brought down as punishment for the genocide that every one of us is partially responsible for.

Secondly, apparently you all have been brainwashed into believing that the I.R. fricking-S is the most powerful entity in the universe, and that being condemned by the IRS is the worst and most permanent fate in the universe and in the realm of humanity. In other words, YOU IDIOTS WORSHIP THE I.R.S. ABOVE GOD. YOU FEAR THE I.R.S., BUT DO NOT FEAR GOD, HIS JUDGEMENT OR HIS WRATH IN THE SLIGHTEST. And you call yourselves Christian? Really?

Now let’s think logically. The words, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s; and render unto the Lord that which is the Lord’s” have as a direct corollary the asking of a question. What is that question? Come on. Think. You can do this.

The question is, what rightfully belongs to Caesar and what rightfully belongs to God? The God part is easy. EVERYTHING belongs to God. Uh-oh. Now we have a mathematical conundrum, don’t we? If we believe in God, and we believe in the First Commandment, then “Caesar” is truly OWED nothing. We can CONSENT to pay taxes in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity and freedom, but only if those four specific ends are served by our taxes.

Let’s go through each of the four:

TRUTH:

Barack Obama is a usurper. He is constitutionally ineligible to hold the office of the presidency, and he knows this, the entire Congress knows this, the entire upper-echelon of the military knows this, the entire intelligence community knows this, and the SCOTUS knows this. Barack Obama is an enemy of the United States, who is in a state of open, declared war upon it, its constitution and its people. This is the absence of truth. We are being “led” by a human lie, backed by an entire government of oath-breaking liars. Therefore, the government is illegitimate and has forfeited its licitness.

JUSTICE:

The Rule of Law is effectively dead. From the presence of Obama himself in the White House, to the lawless Department of Justice, to Fast & Furious, to Solyndra, to the unconstitutional “czars” and “executive orders,” to the Federal Reserve, this is a society ruled by a government of men, not laws. When government is ruled by men and not laws, the determining criterion of how government relates to people becomes brute force of arms and violent coercion, and not transcendent truth. We are utterly deprived of justice by the government itself, and thus the federal government has forfeited its legitimacy. (Note: Remember that when this was originally written, the full knowledge and scope of the financial market lawlessness was not yet known, much less any of the crimes that have occurred or been exposed since November of ARSH 2011. MF Global had happened only six days earlier.)

SOLIDARITY:

The government is inciting both race-centered, age-centered and class-based antagonism and violence. In declaring pre-born children non-human, a genocide has been legally sanctioned that has cost 50 million lives AND COUNTING. ObamaCare is poised to exterminate the elderly by determining that their lives are not worth living. The government is consciously and expressly trying to break down solidarity amongst citizens along race and class lines, including the literal dissolving of the territorial borders of the nation, and in that action it forfeits its legitimacy.

FREEDOM:

From ObamaCare, to the TSA, to the forced acceptance of sexual perversions, to forced “political correctness,” to the overt support of Sharia law and muslim sedition, to the destruction of the Free Exercise and Equal Protection clauses, this government is working consciously and overtly against fundamental human freedom, and has thus forfeited its legitimacy.

1-2-3-4. I don’t owe Caesar a damn thing, and it is now to the point where the continued subsidizing of this utterly lawless and illegitimate government puts me in violaton of the

First Commandment (I AM the LORD thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before me.) by forcing me to break Godâ€™s Law - the Natural Law - in order to follow the laws of the state; the

Second Commandment (Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD thy God in vain.) by punishing and imprisoning my fellow citizens (See Lakin, LTC Terry) who attempt to uphold their sworn oaths, and by forcing me to subsidize a government that is, to the man, populated by oathbreakers; the

Fourth Commandment (Honor thy father and thy mother.) by actively and consciously destroying the family, discouraging right-ordered marriage through the welfare state, legislating perverted “false marriage” paradigms, facilitating the murder of children by their parents, and pitting society against their parents by encouraging or even mandating euthanasia via ObamaCare; the

Fifth Commandment (Thou shalt not murder.) through the “legally sanctioned” and now MANDATED taxpayer subsidizing of the holocaust of preborn children via abortion as well as the premeditated murder of thousands of Mexican civilians via Operation Fast & Furious; the

Sixth Commandment (Thou shalt not commit adultery.) through the forced “legalization” of sodomite faux-marriage and the discouragement of chastity and marriage itself via the HHS contraceptive and sterilization mandate as well as welfare state; the

Seventh Commandment (Thou shalt not steal.) via the government sanctioned, legalized and protected conï¬scation of private property, the illegal nullification of contracts by the federal government, and the stirring-up by the government of envy and the sense of entitlement to the property of others; the

Eighth Commandment (Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.) by forcing me to subsidize and give my tacit approval to the lie of Barack Obama’s presidency and the fundamental dishonesty of the Eric Holder Department of Justice, in addition to the mathematical lies regarding the state of the banking sectors and the mathematical impossibilities of the government run entitlement ponzi schemes; and the

Tenth Commandment (Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.) by forcing me to subsidize a government that is built on a premise of and is attempting to fully convert to a system based wholly upon coveting the property of one’s neighbor and the forced redistribution of private property.

We’re batting .800. Enough is enough. You CANNOT subsidize this government and still claim that God is “first” in your life. It is mathematically, metaphysically and morally impossible. You must choose your allegiances NOW. You must NOW choose who or what it is that you truly worship. Do you worship God or do you worship your wealth? Here’s a simple litmus test for you: are you or are you not willing to give up all of your wealth in bearing witness to God in His Truth? If the answer is no, then stop calling yourself a Christian, because you very simply are not.

If you don’t like people speaking the truth to you like this, I’m sure Pastor Jason or Father Liza-Judy will be very happy to lie to you and dry your tears with the rockband playing proudly behind.

If you don’t want to take my word for it, that is fine. Here is paragraph 2242 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which specifically cites the Tribute episode as the ratification of civil disobedience:

The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community.

“Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

“We must obey God rather than men.” - CCC 2242

Now to the question of imprisonment and even execution. Again, I can not understand how Christendom has become so monstrously illiterate. “Oh Ann, you can’t do any good in prison, and leave the pointless martyrdom to the muslims.”

HOW. DARE. YOU. How DARE you piss all over the true Christian Martyrs. How DARE you call their deaths “pointless” and how DARE you equivocate the deaths of these saints to the murderous suicides of pagan musloids. Why don’t you turn off your precious TV for a few minutes and actually READ something? Like the biographies of the saints, for example? Or even just the Bible. Do you not realize that St. Paul wrote a goodly portion of the Epistles from prison? Do you not realize that St. John the Beloved spent most of his life either in prison or in remote exile? Do you not realize that eleven of the twelve original apostles were EXECUTED along with St. Paul? Only John died naturally in old age. Why don’t you tell me about the massive wastes their lives were. If they had only lain low and watered down the Gospel, they could have lived long lives and accomplished so much more. Is that right? Isn’t that your argument? Well, why don’t you just make that argument for Our Lord while you’re at it? There are plenty of leftist pseudo-theologians running around saying exactly that. Jesus was a fool to have only led a three year ministry. If He had just been more politically savvy, He could have lived for decades - and then think how much He could have taught the world! The Incarnation really was a waste in terms of earthly accomplishment. Right? RIGHT?

St. John the Baptist: Beheaded

St. Stephen: Stoned

St. James the Great: Beheaded

St. Philip: Crucified

St. Matthew: Impaled on a halberd

St. James the Less: Clubbed to death after crucifixion and stoning

St. Matthias: Beheaded after stoning

St. Andrew: Crucified

St. Mark: Beheaded after being dragged

St. Peter: Crucified upside down

St. Paul: Beheaded

St. Jude: Crucified

St. Bartholomew: Flayed alive and then crucified

St. Thomas: Impaled with a spear

St. Luke: Hanged

St. Simon: Crucified

St. Antipas: Roasted alive

And that is just a few of the more “famous” Christians of the first century, whose deaths history recorded. Please understand that being a Christian carried a non-trivial risk of death for the first several centuries. Thank God that those men and women weren’t the milquetoast, fair-weather, pants-pissing cowards that so many of you are today. Thank God that they had real courage and real fortitude and didn’t immediately water-down the Gospel into some filthy, narcissistic heresy just so they could stay in the good graces of the governments. Thank God that they actually understood their faith, and didn’t regard Jesus as a mere “philosophical construct” or “imaginary friend” and actually acknowledged that He is True God and True Man.

Whether you care to admit this or not, people are responsible for their government. And We The People of the United States of America have perhaps the most personal responsibility for our government than any other nation in history. Why? First, because were are a representative republic founded upon a foundation of Christian law and philosophy. This was one of better set-ups in all of human history, and it also therefore bestowed the most responsibility upon its people for the government itself, up to the very top. When your constitution literally opens with the words, “WE THE PEOPLE,” it is simply beyond the pale to try to argue that “the people” bear no responsibility for the government.

The other reason we are the most culpable nation in history for our government is because we are an armed nation. The people of North Korea, because they were disarmed decades ago, bear less responsibility for their government than we do - but they are still responsible. If the people of North Korea, disarmed and half starved to death, are responsible for their government, how much more are We The People, armed and fed, responsible for the absolute abomination that is our Federal government? This concept of citizen culpability for governance is why it was morally licit to firebomb Dresden, Tokyo and finally drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The civilians of Japan permitted, allowed and cooperated with their government in its wars of aggression during WWII. The same goes for the German people. They could have and should have put down their respective governments - but they didn’t and so they paid for it.

The exact same dynamic applies to us. We have let this happen. We have sat by, complacent, impotent and self-absorbed, coveting our personal wealth and possessions above EVERYTHING. And now that there is no denying or escaping what our duty is to God and neighbor, we can only concoct fictions about the eternal omnipotence of the Internal Revenue Service in order to convince ourselves that we aren’t to blame, and that we have no duty except to ourselves. Because you fools refuse to act to correct your lawless government via the most effective, simple and utterly non-violent method, namely a tax strike, you are guaranteeing hot war, bloodshed and catastrophic suffering.

The fact is that every single Christian clergyman should have called for a national tax strike on Sunday, January 28, ARSH 1973. Why? Because that was the Sunday after SCOTUS legalized the murder of preborn children. Because of that first moral failure, here we now sit, and it is no one’s fault but our own.

Most of you out there apparently have the capacity for delusion that allows you to convince yourself that you will not be made to answer for any of this, but I do not, and for that I can only say, Thanks be to God.

I fear God, and God alone, and thus I will render unto Him EVERYTHING, up to and including my wealth, assets, freedom and life, if that is what is required to remain in compliance with His commandments. The early Christians went to their deaths rather than offer a pinch of incense on the altar of Caesar. Incense is merely symbolic and burns away. Money subsidizes, finances and enables activities that break God’s law - the Natural Law. Therefore I will not file, and I will not pay income taxes unless and until the Federal Government of the United States is reformed under the Constitution of 1787 as amended, and the Rule of Law is reasserted, necessarily and non-negotiably including the arrest and trial of Barack Obama, and the re-criminalizing of abortion in all cases, or until a new, legitimate government replaces it.

***End Transcript***

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