The politics of power

I’m a card-carrying Democrat. I’ll pause here for a moment while you regain your composure. Just put your head between your knees, breathe deeply, and in a few minutes the room will stop spinning.

There, feel better? No? Let me explain myself briefly before moving on to the actual point of today’s essay.

Yes, I’m a Democrat. I know, Evangelical Christian Democrat is the ultimate oxymoron. Nevertheless, there are still some of us who claim that title. We’re a bit like the dinosaurs just after the comet hit—gasping for air, staggering, on our last legs. But we aren’t extinct, yet.

I admit that I have a love-hate relationship with my party these days; these newbie Democrats have managed to defecate on so many of the things I hold dear—things which this party used to hold dear, too. I grew up in the South where Democrats stood for limited government, fiscal restraint, protection of the weak from the strong, and respect for our most cherished institutions—marriage, family, the church, the nation.

Somewhere along the line, my party was hijacked by a pack of progressive nihilists—the Democratic party has joined hands with every anti-God, anti-establishment, egocentric fringe group in America. I know, it’s their country, too. I only wish they’d all joined the Greens.

But I remain a Democrat (holding my nose daily) because I still have a mustard-seed-sized hope that someday, my party will regain its senses. Until it does, I’m splitting my ticket and voting for the people who best represent my political values, regardless of party.

One of the things I appreciate about Democrats is their insistence that non-violent conflict resolution is always preferable to war. I agree. Republicans are way too fond of explosives, in my opinion, though I do believe that their use in the current conflict in Iraq was just and right.

Another thing I appreciate about Democrats is their unwavering commitment to justice and fairness, especially their willingness to champion the weak, to fight for the under-dog. There are powerful interests in the world which, because sin is not an obsolete eighteenth-century concept, must be watched carefully and held in check, lest they run amok.

My commitment to non-violence includes strong opposition to capital punishment. I believe in the possibility of redemption in the case of even the most heinous criminal, and I believe that the love and peace of Christ demands that we extend mercy even to the guilty. Here as well, the corrupting influence of sin means that our justice system is far from perfect. DNA tests can exonerate a prisoner who was wrongfully convicted, but they cannot raise from the dead a prisoner who was wrongfully executed.

On these matters, my Democratic brothers and sisters largely agree. So my question is this: Why does a party that loves justice, hates violence, and runs to the defense of the weak and defenseless exhibit such a callous, vile hatred for unborn children?

Why have Democrats declared war on the fetus?

Over the past decade, 2 million children have been killed in various armed conflicts around the world. During that same period, another 6 million were injured or disabled. (UNICEF Child Protection fact sheet: Armed Conflict) That amounts to 800,000 killed or injured annually.

In the United States alone, we terminate the lives of at least 1.2 million unborn children annually. Worldwide, using figures for 1995 gathered by the Allan Guttmacher Institute, it is estimated that 46 million children are aborted every year in both legal and illegal procedures. (The Incidence of Abortion Worldwide) Because of the stigma attached to abortion in many countries, the actual numbers are frequently under-reported.

That means that in any given year, a child is at least 58 times more likely to be killed in a family planning center than she is in the middle of a battlefield!

And it means that the Democratic party, while chastising conservatives for their hawkish tendency to drop bombs on dictators and, collaterally, children, are meanwhile waging a much deadlier war on children themselves. And unlike a child who is unlucky enough to be caught in a war zone, a fetus cannot run, a fetus cannot hide, a fetus cannot cry for help.

And a fetus sure as hell won’t find any protection by running to Mommy.

The candle-lit peace vigils in front of military bases are all just for show. The hand-wringing and shedding of crocodile tears outside prison walls is just so much theater. My party, the party of peace and justice, has orchestrated the most terrible holocaust in history against victims who have been deemed (by liberal judges) to have no voice, no legal standing, no right of due process. Perhaps the only legal right granted to an unborn child is the right of habeas corpus—but only well after the body is cold.

Until the Democratic party gets serious about rolling back the number of abortions being conducted in this country, until it stops worshipping at the altar of choice and begins some straight talk about non-violent solutions to unwanted pregnancies, this party will have more blood on its hands than any two-bit war lord. Democratic party policies kill more children annually than the military-industrial complex, evil corporations and the gun lobby combined.

Can you spell hypocrisy?

I would apologize for my party, but they never asked my permission to abandon their principles. This was once a very noble party, a champion of the oppressed, a party that made this country strong and great. But no longer. The Democratic party has neither heart nor soul; it has nothing left but raw ambition and a broken moral compass.

I hope, and pray, that Democrats soon come to their senses. But I’m not holding my breath.

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Comments

  1. “I still have a mustard-seed-sized hope that someday, my party will regain its senses. Until it does, I’m splitting my ticket and voting for the people who best represent my political values, regardless of party.”

    When they do, won’t you still be voting for the people who best represent your political values? 😉

    Call me a cynic, but I don’t do party politics.

  2. LOL. Ok Daniel, you got me. My rhetoric got ahead of my brain (again!).

  3. Are you saying that Evangelical Christian Greens just don’t even exist or would they be the most ultimate (sorry for the redundancy but how do you get more ultimate?) oxymoron?

  4. I’m not Christian, and i am extremely pro-choice, but i don’t “hate the unborn”. I don’t believe their rights trump a grown woman’s, and i don’t believe in their full personhood, but i don’t hate them. I certainly wish that abortion could become an extreme measure, only undertaken in dire circumstances — i very much desire that OTHER methods of having only wanted children, such as birth control and adoption, be made sufficiently more appealing and available WITHOUT infringing anyone’s rights.

    I did, however, decide a long time ago that i was unwilling to listen to any so-called “pro-life” person who didn’t meet the following criteria:

    (a) is an advocate of birth control and EFFECTIVE (i.e., NOT abstinence-only) sex-education in public schools, and

    (b) has adopted at least two children who are special-needs and/or of a race not his or her own.

    If those are not true of you, you don’t have a right to make decisions for me, because you’re not willing to back up your support for unborn life with your support for BORN life.

  5. What? Not everyone can afford to adopt a child, let alone TWO children, nor does everyone have the persona to raise children with the love, support, patience, and time that they require (especially if you’re talking about a college student).

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