I am a member of the American Solidarity Party because I am trying to be more pro-life for the whole life. That’s incredibly motivating for me because my own disability and the disabilities of my family tend to put us in groups that are seen as “burdens to society” or sometimes even “human weeds.” I want to affirm that every human being has inherent dignity and worth regardless of whether they are in the womb or in the country illegally. I have found that is not a very popular position, but it is one I am willing to advocate.
The other reason I am an ASP member is because I wish to do everything in my power to demand robust conscience protections. The two major parties are both horrible when it comes to Mormons. A good bulk of Republicans don’t think Mormons are Christian or at least Christian enough, and many Democrats tend to see Mormonism as, to quote one, “Islam for white people.” The ASP is better, though it’s Catholic roots tend to make it’s members exclusionary to non-Christians. I want peoples consciences protected whether they are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Mormon, Buddhist, Hindu, or atheist. I firmly believe that God is going to judge people on an individual basis. Your church won’t save you and mine won’t damn me.
The economics of the ASP sometimes bother me though. I have never been sold on the idea of distributism. I am warming to the idea of an ownership economy, and I’m thinking about that again today. I simply don’t want to own and maintain the “means of production” except for computers and phones. I would like to own a place to live for myself and my family and be adequately compensated for the use of the media that I produce. That seems like a more realistic goal than an being an employee in an employee owned business. I also think my way would scale better in the information age. Who knows?
15 March 2023
Latter Day Sinner 