I know I am not the only one who thinks this is the craziest presidential primary season, and the voting has just begun! We began this process with a veritable banquet of pro-life governors and senators with legislative and executive experience. Sprinkle in a few who have not served in office, but who appeared to be genuinely in the pro-life camp and — boom! — a pro-life candidate to take on the Clinton machine in 2016. Well, something happened on the way to Super Tuesday.
Along with the unpredictability has come some genuine nastiness. Between now and November, our social media newsfeeds, cable news shows, favorite radio talk show hosts, dinner guests, and our own family members are going to tell us more than we ever wanted or needed to know about who is running and what a bum he or she is.
I think it would be a good time for us all to jump off the bandwagon we are riding and take time to evaluate where we should go from here.
No matter the outcome of the Democratic Presidential primaries, the Democrat candidate for president will be a radical pro-abortion advocate. Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are committed to legal abortion-on-demand, throughout pregnancy and regardless of the situation.
There is only a very small chance that Oregon and Washington primary voters will have any influence on who wins the Republican nomination. Where our votes are critical is in the November general election. It is imperative that we vote for the pro-life candidate who has the best opportunity to win and that candidate is going to be the Republican nominee.
Let’s keep these three things in mind:
1. Our mission is to save lives in Oregon — lives that are threatened by abortion-on-demand, physician-assisted suicide, and other consequences of a prevailing culture of death. And, we are making progress. The number of women who are choosing abortion in Oregon is at an all-time low! Let’s keep this in mind when we make decisions about what to post, what to say, and how to vote.
2. We need each other. Let’s not allow disagreements over other issues, personalities, and a campaign that will be over in a matter of months separate us from each other. As pro-life advocates, we must learn to love and work together.
3. It’s possible you might be wrong about who is the best candidate. It’s possible I might be wrong. It’s important that we move forward together and not give in to the temptation to criticize, gloat, or mock. Our movement is a movement of love, and love does not do any of those things.
Above all, take your vote seriously. It’s not something to be thrown away because of frustration or discouragement. There are many people in this world who do not have the privilege of choosing their leaders. We do. Mother Teresa said she was not called to be successful, but to be faithful. I am hoping that, in 2016, we are both. But, we all know which is most important.
