“Render unto Caesar…”: To Vote or Not to Vote

“Render unto Caesar…” may cause some alarm. God Incarnate seems to be lauding Caesar, yet Caesar hardly seems laudable.

The Caesars were a rather disreputable bunch, given their depraved lives. Let us recall that after the worthy life of Augustus, there were Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. Hardly Catholic role models.

All the Roman emperors, whether of the Julio-Claudian line, the Flavian, or the Antonine, were devout votaries of pagan gods, whose tribute they exacted from the early Christians. Refusal resulted in over two hundred years of sadistic persecution.

Let us not forget the conduct of Caesar’s armies in the conquest of nations. Not only was it barbaric, but to their vanquished enemies they meted pitiless punishment. So staggering was their legendary, totalizing cruelty that it caused Tacitus to write in his A.D. 98 De Vita et Moribus Lulii Agricolae, “they create a desert, and call it peace.”

How could the Savior recommend homage to Caesar?

Clearly, He does not.

It was not the Caesars to whom he was recommending tribute but to what they represented: the legitimate state and the proper order it established. That order possessed laws and a way of life which afforded citizens to follow their own proper end as their beliefs dictated.

In the Matthean injunction, Our Lord was teaching that we must live in two worlds: the natural/physical one—namely, the state—and the supernatural world of grace—the Holy Roman Church. Both those worlds have their rights, as well as their limitations. Both are necessary for Catholics. Both are the roads that lead to heaven. The A.D. 130 Letter to Diognetus gives eloquent witness to this striking doctrine of the Church:

Christians are not distinguished from other men by country, language, nor by the customs which they observe. They do not inhabit cities of their own, use a particular way of speaking, nor lead a life marked out by any curiosity. The course of conduct they follow has not been devised by the speculation and deliberation of inquisitive men. They do not, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of merely human doctrines. 

Instead, they inhabit both Greek and barbarian cities, however things have fallen to each of them. And it is while following the customs of the natives in clothing, food, and the rest of ordinary life that they display to us their wonderful and admittedly striking way of life. They live in their own countries, but they do so as those who are just passing through. 

As citizens they participate in everything with others, yet they endure everything as if they were foreigners. Every foreign land is like their homeland to them, and every land of their birth is like a land of strangers. They marry, like everyone else, and they have children, but they do not destroy their offspring. They share a common table, but not a common bed. They exist in the flesh, but they do not live by the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. 

They obey the prescribed laws, all the while surpassing the laws by their lives. They love all men and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned. They are put to death and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich. They lack everything, yet they overflow in everything. They are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor they are glorified; they are spoken ill of and yet are justified; they are reviled but bless; they are insulted and repay the insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if raised from the dead. They are assailed by the Jews as barbarians; they are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to give any reason for their hatred.

This teaching flows directly from the mandates of the Fourth Commandment. Under the general rubric of “Honoring Thy Father and Thy Mother” is included the divine requirement to honor all those who sit in rightful authority. Our Savior is echoing this in St. Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 23:2), “The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that they observe and do; but do not ye after their works; for they do not.”  

The Fourth Commandment further binds us to observe the legitimate laws of one’s country (those in conformity with the natural moral law; without that conformity, they are not laws at all). Moreover, one is required to actively participate in the maintenance of that country’s good as well as its flourishing.  

To that end, voting is among those serious obligations.  

Finally, the commandment flowers into nothing less than the obligation to love one’s country. Of course, this goes by the name of patriotism, which St. Thomas includes under the virtue of justice. Sometimes that love includes laying down one’s life for the country he loves.

All of this was given a certain dramatic thrust by St. John Paul II. Each time he visited a foreign country, he was seen to disembark from his plane and then kneel on the tarmac and kiss the ground. This was a riveting symbol of the love that a Catholic should possess for his country. For it is out of the bowels of God’s mercy that the men of every nation enjoy the fruits of a good life.

It is, therefore, no surprise that Catholics make the best citizens of any country. For the rule of Faith directs them toward a properly ordered love of their country, with its attendant duties and obligations.  

Because God alone is perfect (as well as the infallible teachings of His Holy Catholic Church), a Catholic appreciates that no country is perfect. But it is his vote which holds the power to redress the slippage. Catholic realism teaches that when one vote does not effect the desired change, then maybe another will. And if not that one, perhaps the one after that.   Because God alone is perfect (as well as the infallible teachings of His Holy Catholic Church), a Catholic appreciates that no country is perfect. But it is his vote which holds the power to redress the slippage.Tweet This

No Catholic is permitted to surrender the duty of his citizenship to a sullen despair, exaggerated analyses of decline, idiosyncratic critiques of democracy, or a cynical secession from his duties. If defeat ensues upon his vote, then he must plan and strategize so that the next outcome will be better.  

For good Catholics, defeats do not justify throwing up our hands in despair but, instead, throwing up our hands in prayer. 

The prayer that God may grant is the light to see more clearly the path to victory next time. In the classic words of T.S. Eliot in his Notes Towards the Definition of Culture: “There are never any permanent defeats; nor are there any permanent victories.” Well put. Our life here on earth is the lot of poor sinners in a valley of tears. The only permanent victory is praising the Blessed Trinity in Heaven.

The time for voting is almost upon us. Catholics will fulfill their obligations to the Fourth Commandment, walk to the polls, and cast their vote. Or they should. As they do, they will be showing God that they have accomplished all in their power to insure the good of their country with which God has blessed them. Even with all their doubts, they vote. And leave the rest in the hands of God.

As Catholics vote, they must bear in mind that no candidate (as with any country) is ever perfect. Never forget Psalm 146: “Put not your trust in princes.” Sometimes the only choice a Catholic enjoys is to vote for the candidate who will do the least harm to God’s moral law and the rights of His Holy Catholic Church. Seems like a meager morsel of bread, but a morsel nonetheless.

Keep in mind, as well, that old philosophical axiom: good is not the enemy of best.