No real pro-life candidates, but one LOVES abortion

I never intended to go a whole week without blogging, but there were some family matters and other issues that were more important. For starters, Brandon was ill all last week, and even before. Poor boy missed his last football game. Even worse, he hates missing school, and had to miss 7 1/2 school days. He was really excited to get back yesterday. Additionally, last week my oldest daughter, Amanda, popped in for a surprise visit for a few days.

Honestly, I did not want my first returning post to be about politics, but it will be.

I saw this article on facebook this morning. Of course the intention is to shock me from thinking that Mitt Romney was pro-life and has changed his position, and so this somehow cancels out any pro-life-first voter discernment.

I won't bother to link to the numerous posts I have made about Romney not really being pro-life. But I am a bit disturbed that some make this a big deal, while not fairly pointing out that it is President Obama who seems to be "in love" with abortion. It is President Obama who has made very loud and clear his support of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest provider of abortions. It is President Obama who has supported late-term and even partial birth abortions. You know, the ones where the baby's head is delivered, and then a pair of scissors is jammed into the back of it's skull. It is President Obama who as a State Senator voted more than once to not protect babies who survive abortion, but to instead leave them in soiled linens to die.

Romney is not pro-life anywhere near to my liking. But you just can't be any more pro-abortion than Obama.


   

Romney Revelations

At this late stage of the presidential campaign, I suspect that voters who are most concerned about abortion issues were not moved one way or the other by the supposed "new" revelations about Mitt Romney's views regarding abortion. Yesterday, Romney said,

"There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda".

This should go without saying, but for those whose number one concern is the least-restricted, uninhibited, tax-funded availability of abortion, there is probably nothing that can be said or done that would change their minds about voting for Barack Obama.

For those whose number one concern is to "take what we can get" with regards to an even slightly more pro-life-friendly president than Obama, there is probably nothing that can be said or done that would change their minds about voting for Mitt Romney.

For those "hard-core" pro-life voters who are beyond merely disgusted with the current system and the political machines backing either of those candidates, there is probably nothing that can be said or done that would change their minds to vote for someone other than either Obama or Romney.

Lisa Graas posts "Romney and Abortion – Top Tweets" which shows the various positions taken regarding Romney's statement. I admit that I did not dig into the prior tweets of any of the tweeters in Lisa's blog post, but I'm pretty confident that their positions on Romney will be found to be consistent before and after the statement.

Kyle Cupp posts "Romney Just Doesn’t Care About Abortion Policy". I wish I could accuse Kyle of just creating an attractive title for his post, but in the end, I believe that Romney is foremost a politician and does not care about abortion policy; at least not anywhere near as much as I would like him to. About pro-lifers and regarding Romney, Kyle writes,

"His opponent’s a real believer in reproductive rights, so Romney can flip-flop and self-contradict and play the moderate here and still appear preferable to their eyes."

Kyle gets this dead on. (With my only objection being Kyle's use of the pro-abortion term "reproductive rights".) Obama is a real believer in abortion. He supports the most liberal and radical policies regarding abortion, and he believes that you and I should pay for them regardless of our own beliefs. It is hard to imagine any politician bold enough to rival Obama's position regarding abortion.

That is exactly why I will again hold my nose in November, check the Romney box, and then begin doing what I can to protect the unborn.

The Weighting Is The Hardest Part

I've been writing about examining all candidates with a prayerful and properly formed conscience and keeping faith and morals in the political discussions.

There can be such a will of some people to defeat a particular candidate that they don't even want to hear or read anything, and I mean anything, that might cause them or others to do anything but march on in a robotic trance, with blinders on their eyes and fingers in their ears.

As Christians, we have a greater responsibility and allegiance to God than to any politician, political party, and even to our country.  Of course our country is important, but as Christians we are responsible to cooperate with God in our witness to others first, hopefully transforming the country through God's Grace.

The most common responses I have received so far have been:

Romney "is pro-life".

-Well, there's more to being pro-life than being anti-abortion.  And Romney is not always anti-abortion. And even when he is, I do not see such conviction that I believe that he will actually do anything other than say he is pro-life. There's more on this, but you can do a little research on your own right? (Of course we know Obama is definitely pro-abortion and even pro-infanticide so do not misinterpret or distort what I am saying.)

What " if your vote results in dramatic worsening of the situation for pretty much everything you care about (a bigger evil staying in power)?" and "A vote for a third party candidate is a vote for Obama."

-That is part of the discernment that one needs to consider. But it's a part and needs to be taken to prayer and considered in the whole of the process. When our conscience is clear, we will proceed with assurance and peace, not fear. The Lord does not give us a Spirit of fear.

"I know Romney is not perfect. He was not my first nor second choice in the primaries but he he is better than Obama."
-My intention is to get people to think about the weight of their vote on their souls before the weight of politics. Honestly, it's not for me to judge someone who wrestles with the full grasp of facts and takes that (hopefully with prayer) into the voting booth.

I was going to rant on a bit more about this, but Lisa beat me to it.  (Ah, good for me and for you.)

No, it's not easy, but it is your responsibility.  And although Tom Petty's song "The Waiting" was definitely composed with a different end in mind, the chorus of that song reminds me of this process.  Here it is (with my changing of that one word <2x>):

The weighting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The weighting is the hardest part
(The Waiting, by Tom Petty - with editorial liberty)

So try not to get angry about any of this, just think and pray and discern until you truly feel at peace that you have taken into account all of the information. Soon, the weighting will be over.