In which I write two consecutive EJ-admiring posts

Every now and then, we hear about something called the "Catholic vote." Today, it's from Seth Gitell. He makes the standard argument that Catholics are the ultimate swing vote, noting that a bare majority of them went for Gore in 2000, that Bush beat Kerry among Catholics 52 to 47 percent, and that 55 percent of Catholics voted for the Democrats in last year's midterms.

In other words, Catholics as a group voted much like the rest of the country. Catholics are assimilated into mainstream culture to the point that the idea of a Catholic vote doesn't mean much anymore. This is not to say that actual Catholic teaching has no radical, countercultural edge--this certainly is not true. But the culture war splits the Church just like it splits everyone else, and individual Catholics prioritize particular Church teachings differently. When all is said and done, in a general election, the Catholic vote is about as substantive a concept as "the tall vote" or "the squeaky-voiced vote."

See this great EJ article from last summer.