Msgr. Paul V. Garrity

Traditional Republicans are wondering what happened to the Republican Party. For many, it is unrecognizable because of tariffs aka taxes, federal ownership of corporations, a bulging deficit and a war that is destabilizing the world. What happened to the notion that the one who governs best governs least? On the Democratic side of the house, things are not much better. When told to form a firing squad, they invariably gather in a circle. Socialism is not communism any more than the interstate highway system is the result of capitalism. Eisenhower was not a socialist but decided that the common good required better roads, for trucks cars and ambulances. Thank you, President Eisenhower, for winning World War II and giving us the Mass Pike and 95! Where is the education about the New Deal and the Great Society?

The rise of Democratic Socialists has one side of the house, salivating over the potential for fearmongering. Everyone knows that communist socialism in Cuba destroyed the Cuban cigar, so why bring it hear? Nonetheless, communism is a commodity that can sell anxiety. Because fewer people come out for primaries, ideological minorities often find a fertile field in which to play. The general population, who eventually vote in general elections, are left with alternatives that don’t reflect the great, moderate middle of Republicans and Democrats.

Despite a gorgeous New England summer, the bad news continues to flow. Ukraine gets bombed every night. The Straits of Hormuz, which most have never heard of before February, continues to raise our gas prices. Iran shows no signs of crying uncle no matter how many bombs are dropped. Measles and cyclospora parasites are spreading while US health officials are spending more time trying to prove that vaccines cause autism. Wildfires in Washington State and torrential weather across the nation make us wonder why admitting climate change is such a bad thing. And the loss of innocent life on our nation’s streets or off the cost of South America (as their “alleged” drug boats are blown up) become just more stories that occasion powerlessness and frustration.

It is easy to get overloaded with bad news that shows no signs of letting up. Democrats and Republicans are not what they used to be. But then again, nothing is. Ideologies on the left and the right exhaust the middle and create their own crisis. The real temptation is to say a pox on both houses or all houses and withdraw into a cocoon. Everybody is corrupt! No one is serving the needs of all the people! Big money is ruling everything and us little people are getting left in the dust! This is called cynicism on steroids!
More than a few people are now being tempted to give up on voting. Political parties and candidates for high office inevitably seem to forget the promises they made during heated campaigns. The cynicism that gets created is real, rooted in facts but also poisonous for our present and future. For evil to continue all that needs to happen is for all good people to sit back and do nothing. Cynicism is a dead end. It guarantees that things will get worse and not better.

Pope Leo XIV, an American citizen, has released his first encyclical letter about artificial intelligence but it is so much more. He calls for the cultivation of a civilization of love and warns against the normalization of war. Surrendering to the temptation to think that our problems are too big and we are too small is a polite form of resignation. All of us, he says, must choose whether to fuel the mentality of force, indifference and cynicism or to preserve the mindset of peace that is about truth, moderation and care.
Voting is a privilege that we celebrate on the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Thousands of people have died to preserve our democracy. Millions of people around the world would love to enjoy our freedoms and liberties. Voting is a sacred privilege. It requires an intelligent assessment of all the issues, an evaluation of the character of office seekers and an understanding that we all make a difference. We should not shrink from this sacred responsibility because of cynicism, anger, disappointment or anything else. Cynicism is a true dead end.

Msgr. Garrity is a Senior Priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and former Pastor of St. Mary’s Parish and School in Lynn.

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