Tuesday, August 2, 2016

#morethanredandblue: Mr. Pence's Acceptance Speech

First off, we review the speech by Governor Mike Pence (R-IN), the Republican nominee for vice president. Thanks to Romper for the full transcript of Pence's speech; all excerpts are in indented italics as worded in their transcript.
"... the introduction I prefer is just a little bit shorter: I'm a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican — in that order... Should I have the awesome privilege to serve as your vice president, I promise to keep faith with that conviction, to pray daily for a wise and discerning heart, for who is able to govern this great people without it? My fellow Americans, I believe we have come to another rendezvous with destiny and I have faith, faith in the boundless capacities of the American people, and faith that God can still heal our land."
This is the introduction that Mr. Pence assigned to himself in favor of the longer-winded introduction he received at the convention. It will be interesting to see how these identifications play out, as social issues that continue to unfold will surely prompt him to take more specific positions.

He most recently has faced, as governor of Indiana, decisions about what to do with a religious freedom law, which Mr. Pence signed and allows discrimination against LGBTQ people in business as well as refugees and immigration, in which he squared off with the Archbishop of Indianapolis and Catholic Charities as they tried to (and eventually did) resettle a foreign family. These issues and others will continue to force policy responses from the Republican campaign, and Pence’s evangelical ideas, and Catholic roots, may influence the stances he wishes the campaign to take. This may or may not agree with Trump’s more relativistic, power-based positions.
"… Donald Trump will fight for equal opportunity, and he loves educational choice."
Education issues will always plays a role in campaigns, and here, Mr. Pence affirms Mr. Trump’s stance in favor of school choice. Often, this plays out with a vouchers system. Indiana has school vouchers in place, which allow families that meet qualifications to take the publicly allocated funding for their children and apply it toward private education, if they choose. The Catholic Social Teaching perspective here is like with health-care: health-care is a thrival right, and it is our responsibility as a society to work toward universal coverage and care. With education, we are looking at another thrival right that all should have, so it’s a matter of choosing the path – either reforming and strengthening public education (typically a Democratic position), creating more school choice programs (typically a Republican position, as seen here), or a third way. One could also argue that the community social principle of subsidiarity, which encourage action to occur at the most local level, is best satisfied when families retain control over their school decision, control that increases with voucher access; on the other hand, wider buy-in to public education could strengthen it to a more competitive level.
"You know, the party of Lincoln was founded on equality and opportunity. During these difficult days, it will be our party in our agenda opens the doors for every American to succeed and prosper in this land. In so many ways, the Democratic Party has abandoned those they used to protect. Maybe they've become too entrenched in power."
I pulled this quote largely to highlight the points being made by opinion writers about Mr. Trump’s tendency to ignore those who are weak or vulnerable and cater specifically to those who are powerful (see below tweet). The mantle of who truly represents the American people will be pursued and claimed over and over by both sides, but I enter this process with profound skepticism that Mr. Trump can and will do much of anything to opt for the poor and marginalized of America, and needing to see some serious proof of it. This is a mantle often claimed but too rarely acted upon, so let’s stay tuned on how the campaigns can walk the walk on this talking of the talk.
"As this election approaches, every American should know that while we are filling the presidency for the next four years, this election will define the Supreme Court for the next 40. We all had better think very, very carefully about what this means for our Constitution and limited government. Elect Hillary Clinton, and you better get used to being subject to unelected judges, using unaccountable power to take unconstitutional actions. For the sake of the rule of law, for the sake of the sanctity of life, for the sake of our Second Amendment, and for the sake of all our other God-given liberties, we must ensure that the next president appointing justices to the Supreme Court is Donald Trump."
The issue of Supreme Court appointments comes up repeatedly during campaigns, often under the umbrella of Roe v. Wade debates and the continued legality of that decision. Here, Mr. Pence speaks more broadly of Constitutionality, but with Mr. Trump’s spotty history on abortion opposition, I expect their campaign will get pushed on this, especially by Christian Republican voters.

Another subtext to watch here is that the abortion rate appeared to decrease under President Obama’s administration (hard to find a clear, reliable source on this), though the causation or correlation is certainly debatable. Democrats continue to advocate for access to safe and legal abortion, while intermittently saying they want it to be rarer. (Sidenote: I will say that I feel it to be Congress’ duty to hear President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, and their resistance to Mr. Garland, to me, is unjustifiable.) The Democratic platform no longer includes the word "rare" with respect to abortion and now supports repealing the Hyde amendment, which currently prevents federal funding for abortion; Senator Kaine had sort of appeared to support repeal of this but then reaffirmed his long-standing support of the amendment, muddying the waters on his Catholic faith and public pro-choice policy positions (we'll get to this more coming up!).

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To continue vetting Pence in the early going, here are some links to read more:




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