Single Issue Voting
Our forefathers drafted a constitution and set in motion a system of government that allows each citizen to register to vote and choose representation at the national and state levels of government freely and privately. Each of us decides which candidate deserves our vote. In making that decision, we are subjected to enormous amounts of advertising, polling information and media analysis.
We often have a built-in cultural mechanism for making our choice. In that mechanism there are issues that we personally care about when casting our votes. However, a single issue often becomes the deciding factor for many of us.
Since the country began, the issues that move us have been different and varied. The issue of discrimination is a case in point. The “Dred Scott” Supreme Court decision in 1857, denying personhood to black Americans, perpetuated slavery and set in motion years of struggle. This single issue influenced election after election, until slavery was finally abolished. Slowly, through the democratic process, it effectively changed the way we relate to one another and clearly defined our civil rights.
Other issues that have influenced elections are economic, environmental and foreign policy. These issues have continually had a strong influence on the way we vote. Throughout history the electorate has made the greatest impact when a single issue captures the hearts and minds of a majority of those voting.
Are we surprised? Our forefathers knew that when people become aroused enough to answer a need or right a wrong, they must have recourse to those who govern them through laws and policies.
And Now…
There are one-and-a-half million abortions a year, and each time an abortion occurs, a woman is victimized, her baby destroyed and the abortionist made richer. This violent solution to an untimely pregnancy is not just a “termination of pregnancy” but also the killing of an innocent child.
Abortion, as a single issue, is the most important issue facing America today. The right to life for all members of our human family is the most important right guaranteed by our Founding Fathers.
As concerned citizens elect candidates on their willingness to protect human life, presidents, legislators and judges will begin to restore protection to the unborn, and the end to abortion on demand becomes a reality.
A candidate’s pro-abortion stand becomes a disqualifying issue as voters awaken to the terrible injustice perpetrated by abortionists.
If the civil rights of the unborn throughout the nine months of pregnancy are to be restored, then our obligation to vote for candidates who hold the right to life inviolate becomes as important as democracy itself. Without life, all other rights have no meaning.
As Judge John Noonan said, “Once or twice in a century an issue arises …so far-reaching in its consequences and so deep in its foundations that it calls every person to take a stand.”
Abortion is one of those issues.
The democratic process is enhanced each time you and I vote pro-life. Our vote is completely void of self-interest or economic gain. As pro-life voters we are called to a single issue of such magnitude that we cannot stand idle. We must speak with one voice for the unborn child.
We must vote pro-life.