Election Year Musings

And the Common Good

Fr. Frederick Edlefsen

Pope Francis said Americans should vote for the “lesser of two evils.”   Having grown up in Louisiana, I get it.  In the 1991 governor’s race, a popular bumper sticker read: “Vote for the Crook. It’s Important”.   Former governor Edwin Edwards, the Crook, and the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, were the contestants.   

In the 1970s, a journalist from the Houston Chronicle asked Edwards about his shady dealings.  He replied, “I don’t know what you guys from Texas are worried about because I only steal from Louisiana.”  At the 1984 Democratic Convention, Edwards persuaded a Gary Hart delegate to vote for Walter Mondale.   Another Hart supporter accused Edwards of “immorally” converting the delegate.   NBC anchor, Connie Chung, asked Edwards if he had “done anything immoral”, to which he quipped, “Not since I got here.” 

Duke’s ascendency was not amusing.  Advances in Louisiana’s struggle for racial justice were at risk.   By post-reconstruction standards, Governor Huey Long (1928-1932), “The Kingfish”, was a breath of fresh air, abolishing poll taxes and initiating programs that helped Blacks and the poor.  It was only a start.  Outspoken segregationist Jimmy Davis was elected governor in 1944 and again in 1960.  But civil rights advanced in the 1960s in tandem with federal laws.  When Duke took stage in 1991, it was frightening.   Edwards poignantly said in the debate, “While David Duke was burning crosses… I was building hospitals…”  Edwards’ most amusing campaign lines are not fit for church bulletins.  The Crook beat Duke lost by a landslide.  It was important.  

At age 73, the law caught up with Edwards.   The government asked the judge to sentence him for life or for 35-40 years.  Edwards replied, “I’ll take life.  It’s shorter.”  He was sentenced for ten years and served eight, just in time to celebrate his 84th birthday and marry Trina, his 32-year-old pen pal while in prison. 

The tone and substance of politics can range from amusing to tragic.  It’s a practical fact that we must often vote for the “lesser of two evils”.  But it’s a prophetic fact that politics can be the “highest and greatest form of charity” (Pope Francis).   Politicians can leverage good far more than individuals or groups.  Cynicism must not eclipse this fact.  Catholicism prophetically upholds this brave principle:  Public service can be a force for the common good.   

Hear Edwin Edward's final words in the 1991 debate with David Duke: