GUEST COMMENTARY: Douglas W. Kmiec on 'The Presidential primary and a Catholic assessment '

Long ago Plato taught that when disorder exists, it is first in our souls before it is in our politics. This is worth remembering. There is a relationship between spiritual and political health.

LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - We are now fully engaged in the assessment of presidential candidates. There are serious concerns confronting our nation: the irrationality of terrorism, the need to fairly address the exploitation of undocumented immigrants, the provision of health care and all the pragmatic concerns of an economy overburdened by military conflict and the extension of mortgage credit on less-than-honest terms.

That we live in a world beset by these and other problems is not news, but as Catholics we should not overlook a certain unity to their cause.

Long ago Plato taught that when disorder exists, it is first in our souls before it is in our politics. This is worth remembering. There is a relationship between spiritual and political health.

Listening to candidate debates may give one the misleading impression that politics is little more than endless discussion. Indeed, modern conceptions of civility stress conversation as if it were a good in itself.

Our spiritual side, however, should remind us that dialogue is good only insofar as it is actually a search for the truth that exists beyond politics. There are answers to questions.

Politics is not just a question of engaging each other in the exchange of views; it is also an opening of the mind to what actually is.

Catholicism is neither Democratic nor Republican. The extensive body of Catholic social teaching is not a political platform, but it does supply what Joseph Pieper described as "the yardstick of every practical act of life."

Thus, it is good to see political assessment as continuing the work of the apostles.

Since Christ chose his apostles for their lived fidelity to truth and love of neighbor, being a witness to faith in political discussion requires both courage and humility.

As Pope Benedict XVI's address in Regensburg last year illustrated, asking honest and fundamental questions can be unsettling and unpopular. Even now, it is commonplace to hear the pope criticized for his choice of words or his quotation of materials challenging the intrinsic violence of some Islamic teaching.

It is claimed that the pope was overly blunt, and thus impeding, rather than advancing dialogue.

Yet, whether it is the international political conversation of Benedict XVI or a domestic political debate between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama or Governor Mike Huckabee and John McCain, the object ought never to be just talk, but whether that talk is leading to answers that coincide with the human person as a created being.

When Catholic answers to public questions oppose perpetuating a war out of national pride, the Catholic voice will not be popular.

When Catholic answers challenge unlimited claims of personal autonomy that disregard innocent life, the Catholic perspective can be expected to be shunned.

When Catholic answers defend the disenfranchised or the undocumented worker who may have formally violated an unenforceable human law in order to honor the unwritten law of basic survival, the Catholic position may be shouted down.

When Catholic answers challenge globalization or technology for its blindness toward its impacts on communities and families or the environment, it may not be welcome in many circles of influence.

Nevertheless, it is fair to assume that without these Catholic interventions, many of these important questions would likely go not only unanswered, but unasked.

In giving any answer premised upon faith to a public question, the Catholic attitude must always be one of humility and charity. But as Thomas Aquinas reminds us, it is humility properly understood; it is not a humility that denies truth. We are to be humble in the pursuit of earthly honor, not in the acknowledgment of God's will.

In political evaluation, as in all matters, there is of course no substitute for love, since as Aquinas also wrote, "charity which moves directly into God's company is nobler and more potent than humility."

May we choose wisely.

Douglas W. Kmiec is Chair and Professor of Constitutional Law at Pepperdine University and the former Dean and St. Thomas More Professor of The Catholic University of America.

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