Hypothetically, what if the choice in an election comes down to two candidates–one who supports abortion policies, and the other who supports an unjust war? Whom would–whom should–you choose?
Commenter “GloriousRuin” passes along this imaginative dialogue by political philosopher J. Budziszewski that I think is quite helpful. There’s probably no better way to get a quick introduction to the distinction between formal and material cooperation than this dialogue!
If I may be permitted one additional comment: I don’t like the label “single-issue voter” and don’t use it to describe my position. I’m not sure there’s a better term–but the fact remains that there are many issues that are of concern to me. By using the term “single issue,” I think we suggest that an issue like abortion is the only issue of serious consequence in this election. Some may believe that, but I don’t.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that abortion is the great moral outrage of our day–and no one, for example, in the mainstream media (or in many churches) makes a peep about the daily slaughter of the weakest members of the human race.
The following video is very painful to watch–but I believe it is necessary as a reminder that we are not discussing abstract policies and arguments but rather innocent lives being systematically killed: