I really tend to dislike threads like this because they always become Catholic-bashing very quickly. Let's please keep this respectful of other views or else may Aro close this mercilessly.
Now, to the issue at hand. First of all I would like to point out that the Catholic Church in the United States sadly suffers from a divide. A very outspoken group loudly supports the view shown by Cyrus_ -- namely abortion is the one and only thing that matters in US politics. However, there is also a very large group that feels that no matter what, as a Catholic it is impossible to be a one-issue voter. The Catholic Church teaches that abortion is wrong and an intrinsic evil. The divide has arisen because some people, religious leaders and lay people alike, hold the view that intrinsic evils must trump all other issues, while others believe it to be wrong to ignore everything else. However, the Church also teaches that as one world-wide community, we are big enough to encompass more than one perspective. My point is, it's not correct to write off the entire Catholic Church in the US as holding the more extreme idea that voting Democrat is a mortal sin.
In America, you can realistically choose between two parties. What happens if both of them support policies that are sins? Does the CC just tell you not to vote?
The answer to this question is not even communicated well within the Church, much less outside of it. As a Catholic in the US, you are politically homeless. Neither major political party holds a platform that supports your beliefs, and both only line up a little bit at best. The Republican party has campaigned on a platform of anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia, two stances in line with the teaching of the Church. However, the Republicans have been notably out of line in several big issues: immigration policy (illegal immigrants are still people too), large neglect of the poor (the poor need protection of some kind), preemptive war, and the death penalty (which is about revenge). The Democrats campaign with a more noticeable intention of protecting the poor, taking care of the planet and the environment, and being more interested in diplomacy than shooting. However, the Democrats support abortion (which is killing), tend to be rather anti-religious, and as a general rule favor accomplishing things at a high level of government (the Church teaches that problems should be resolved at local levels if at all possible). As you can easily see from just my incomplete list of examples, neither party really supports the ideas of the Catholic Church.
So what does a Catholic Christian in the US do at election time? No one really has the answer. The solution in the past has been to try to pick the candidate with the closest platform to the teachings of the Church, but that really isn't easy to do (they're both way off). The Church does not say to refrain from voting, but it does encourage all voters to look carefully, become educated, and pray before voting. Even then, it will likely be a difficult decision and one with no good answer. The best comment I heard about this issue this year was from a nun who said that Catholics should probably say an Act of Contrition (prayer of reconciliation) on their way out of the voting booth, no matter who they vote for.
Looks like nav wrote a book again with this post.
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