Life is a National Issue
I was very disappointed to watch the long-standing pro-life plank in this year’s Republican National Platform be watered down. I’m glad it wasn’t taken out altogether but it is much weaker than it was before.
The new language emphasizes that states can protect the right to life, and that’s good, but makes no mention of a federal role in the protection of the unborn. The old platform said that the “unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed” and expressed support for a Human Life Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to guarantee that right. It also condemned the use of taxpayer money to support abortion groups, the sale of unborn baby body parts, and insurance that includes abortion coverage and praised efforts by groups that help women choose life. All of this was in context of federal action. None of this was mentioned in the new platform.
This is a bad turn of events. Protection of life (abortion) is a moral and human rights issue, just as the protection of liberty (slavery) was a moral and human rights issue. President Abraham Lincoln said America could not live “permanently half slave and half free”. In the same way, America cannot now live permanently half supporting death and half supporting life. Just as President Lincoln stood up for the protection of liberty for all, we must now stand up for the protection of life for all.
We cannot forget that the right to life is the first right listed by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence as being one of the rights endowed to us by our Creator. Without the right to life, you cannot have the right to liberty or the right to pursue happiness.
We need to remember that justice never sleeps and moral and human rights issues never go away. Our Founders were on the right side of this issue and we should be also.
To be sure as the platform now says, other legislators and I will be pressing forward in our state for the most protection for the unborn that we can.
Marriage and Family
It was equally disappointing to see the marriage and family plank of the new Republican National Platform be weakened too. Support for marriage adhering to the God-ordained, time-tested, universally recognized model of one man-one woman was omitted from the platform entirely and should never have been left out.
The marriage of one man and one woman is the strongest union in terms of raising children with the best physical, mental, emotional, moral, and spiritual health. Experience, social science and common sense all tell us that. Families headed up by one man-one woman marriage therefore should be the most encouraged by government policy. Strong families lessen the need for government in our daily lives.
Children have a natural right to life, to their mother and father, to innocence and to bodily integrity. Mother and father each provide something distinct and necessary to their child. One man-one woman marriage is the only institution that unites the two people to whom children have a natural right. No policy should elevate the desires of adults over the needs and well-being of children.
One man-one woman marriage is a matter of justice for children. It’s the best chance for children escape poverty, substance abuse, crime, peer pressure, teen pregnancy, mental health issues and low educational achievement.
GOP Platform Committee
I was also disheartened by the reports I heard coming from members of the Republican National Platform committee. The normal open process was not followed where delegates could work in their committees and discuss and debate platform planks and propose amendments. Members had to relinquish their cell phones and speaking was limited to one minute. Discussion and debate were squelched and the proposed and totally unamended platform was ramrodded through in an unusually short time. This process entirely dismissed the voice of the “bottom-up” grassroots who had labored in each state to bring forward their platform ideas. Instead it wound up being a “top-down” imposed platform by Trump campaign staff. This should never have been.
Iowa’s two representatives to the national platform committee were Tamara Scott from Norwalk and Brad Sherman from Williamsburg and they fought to keep the process open and responsive to the Iowa Republicans that sent them there, and to keep the strong language on life and marriage and family in the platform. So we did have great representation from our state.
This is a “red flag” moment for us as Republicans. We have criticized and denounced the Biden administration for the many authoritarian, oppressive, and heavy-handed ways government agencies have trampled on citizens’ constitutional rights. We should not be doing the same thing.
Concluding Thoughts
While these 2 important issues were gutted in the Republican National Platform, the rest of the platform was great and I would support it. However, I disagree with Eric Trump’s dismissive and minimizing remarks implying that the issues of life and marriage are not as important as other issues. He couldn’t be more wrong. You have to build on the rock of the basic rights and foundations of a society in order for the rest of the building to be secure, strong, and firm.
As for voting for President, President Trump would be way better on the border, the economy, energy, foreign policy, the military, and defending constitutional rights than who the Democrats would choose. And we would stand a better chance of having good pro-life and family policy with President Trump than we would with a Democrat pick. For all those reasons, I am supporting President Trump in the November election and would encourage everyone else to join me.
A side note here: Regarding the assassination attempt on President Trump’s life….horrendous and unconscionable. We can be very thankful for God’s intervention to spare his life.
Finally, what I will not do is disengage from the process because the platform and even the candidate isn’t everything I would like to see. We must continue to work very hard for what we believe is best and encourage everyone we know to stay engaged or get engaged in the political process.
“Staying home” is not an option! Too many of us have done that and it has hurt us and enabled many bad things to happen. We are privileged to live in America where we have a voice, but we have to use it.
Gone are the days when we could stay in the bubble of our wonderful life with our family and friends and whatever else we enjoy doing. Our enemies of totalitarianism and anti-Constitutionalism are at war with us! We must wake up, get engaged, take a stand, and fight!
