Politics is a Game and Sometimes We Shouldn’t Be Playing It

Being one of those weird people who call themselves politicos and who like to feel some camaraderie with characters on the show The West Wing, it’s too easy for me to show up at work thinking about “the game.”

Good games involve limited resources (cards, tokens, money) that players use strategically to outsmart their opponents.  Games usually aren’t about any goals beyond the simple question of whether you won or lost after a couple of hours of trying to trade sheep for scarce gold.

Politics is oh so easy to think of as a game. You have limited resources (time, people, money) and—in my case—limited experience.  And you usually have the same outcome as with any other game: a win or a loss.

Why is the question of whether the unborn have the right to life contested in this arena?  It is certainly a political question today. And it most certainly should not be.  If you read this in the USA  you are protected–both by the law of the land and also by the assent of all other Americans to that protection of you. It’s an important distinction. Many people in this country believe we should deny our cherished, God-given rights to our fellow humans just because they’re in an earlier stage of development.

Your right to life is not a political question. It isn’t fought in the game of politics. The preborn baby’s right to life isn’t a game either.  No human life–not even criminals, let alone the innocent preborn–should be at the mercy of how skillful some players are.

Every day I show up to help Team Life win.  However, I frequently remind myself that this isn’t a game. The right to life shouldn’t be political. To me, we will not have truly won until every innocent human life is protected in the arena of politics, even the unborn.