Standing in the path of evil
Alan Keyes
July 01, 2000
The Supreme Court's decision striking down a state ban against partial-birth
abortion has everyone in the pro-life movement reaching for new adjectives to
describe the depravity of our so-called political elites. The decision makes
clear, yet again, that the only real prospect for ending the abortion
nightmare in America is for the people to assert their sovereign will. The
highest court in the land has, in effect, prohibited the banning of
infanticide. Such an uncivilized decision will no doubt tempt many of us
anew, and not unreasonably, to conclude that American civilization is ending.
Our duty to be
prudent and careful, however, does not pass away with the latest outrageous
act of our government. Before we decide that the time for political action is
over, and that we must turn to preparing our families for the dark age to
come, we should pause to consider our duty. We are in a time when many things
and people are being tried and weighed in the balance and we shall see
whether they are adequate or to be found wanting. We can be sure that this
time of trial will have real and grave consequences, even if we have but a
murky view of the course that events will take. Whatever else is veiled to
us, we must hold to the truth that we are called by God and country to act
with all the dedication and wisdom we can muster to limit the damage and
inspire a renewal.
It is still a great
privilege to be an American citizen and to be able to fight abortion in the
political arena, rather than in the streets and barricades. I count as a
great privilege every day that I am able to spend as a free American, fully
participating in our political life. In our frustration and anger at the
corruption of American political culture, it is easy to dismiss the unique
opportunity this privilege still presents us. But those of us who come
somewhat recently from a heritage without this privilege understand how
precious and important it is to be able to stand up, to speak out, to vote
and to run for office. My resolve to fight the political battle against
abortion to the end is inspired partly by the fact that my ancestors were
denied the privileges of citizenship and enslaved for such a long period in
our nation's history by the very principle that abortion represents: that it
is possible for some human beings to have a property right in the life of
others and to act in such a way that their power gives them the
"right" to disregard the basic dignity of innocent human life.
It is that issue,
as clear as slavery and freedom, that is at stake in the Republican Party's
stance on the abortion issue. It involves the life of innocent children --
but it also involves the life of this country's freedom -- and its dedication
to those principles without which that freedom cannot and will not survive.
The Republican Party began as an instrument in the fight to end slavery. It
must continue, if it is to live at all, as a party that will lead the fight
to ensure that we end the heinous practice of abortion, which so
fundamentally violates the rights, not just of innocent children, but of
every human being. For if the rights of the most helpless and vulnerable
amongst us are violated, then all our rights are violated and we cannot sleep
secure.
It is a time for
heroism, for standing in the path of evil. And this challenge faces us not
just individually, but in our common political actions as well. For example,
this latest Supreme Court challenge to the moral conscience of the nation
comes just weeks before the Republican Party holds its presidential nominating
convention. The question of the hour for lovers of American liberty is
whether the party of Lincoln is still willing to be the voice of the people,
rising up to rebuke a gruesomely conscienceless elite. In the weeks between
the Supreme Court's illegitimate decision and the opening of the Republican
Convention, Republicans should think carefully and prayerfully about the need
for political heroism in this dark moment.
First, we must be
absolutely clear that should we fail to restore a national understanding of
the basic principles of human equality and respect for God' s law in human
affairs, the cost of that failure will be catastrophic. For we live in a time
when the perennial moral temptation to put ourselves on God's throne is
matched by a scientific and technical capacity that seems increasingly
commensurate with that insane ambition. Bill Clinton greeted the latest
success of the human genome project by talking about understanding the
"language of God." And, indeed, we must anticipate that the
accelerating success of genetic science will spawn legions of Margaret Sangers who aspire to understand and speak that language
in order to abuse it by playing God. Already, they are working to fabricate a
future in which they will be able to create specialized types of human beings
in whom others will claim property rights. When man believes he can make man
in his own image, he will be sorely tempted to enslave and abuse those whose
life will then be the product in some sense of our technology. The abortion
issue, as we look into the future, goes beyond the life of innocent children
today. It extends to the life of many other classes of human beings who may
very well live in the same shadow of slavery that blasted the lives of my
ancestors.
If we want to avoid
such a future, it is essential that the Republican Party continue its
commitment to the pro-life cause with a pro-life plank and a pro-life ticket.
At this turning point in our national life, a Republican party that ceases to
be pro-life will simply cease to exist. For a party that has lost its heart
will be like a body when the soul flees: it will die. It will die not because
this or that group kills it but because political life will be impossible for
it.
The GOP says it
stands for freedom and limited government, and for all the things which
require, in the end, that we trust ourselves, our character and our decency
to get things done for family and community in the right way. The egregious
legacy of the Clinton years has been its zealous pursuit of the destruction
of America's moral foundations and, therefore, of the capacity of its people
to conduct their lives with dignity and justice. And the abortion issue
epitomizes the struggle over whether to preserve or jettison our most sacred
moral principles. We must stand for those principles -- and for life -- or we
offer the American people no alternative to the moral corruption represented
by Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Principled defense of the pro-life position is
imperative for Republican victory and for Republican integrity. And, on this
victory and integrity will rest, I believe, the very fate of America as a
democratic republic.
The November
election will hinge on the question of whether the Republican Party can keep
its hands clean and its heart focused as it moves forward to denounce what
has been the greatest era of moral degradation in the history of our country.
If we want to end Bill Clinton's era of moral humiliation, and to assure that
his shadow of corruption, Al Gore, will not occupy the White House, then we
must stand firm to present to the American people a clear moral alternative.
That moral alternative begins by renewing our allegiance to the great
principles of the Declaration by which our character is defined. If we do so,
then we shall go forward to victory. If we do not, then we shall not only
lose the battle for an election, we shall be losing the battle for this
nation's soul and future.
Originally
published at WorldNetDaily.com