CHRISTIAN RESCUE BY PROXY

By Deacon Paul M. Weyrich

Surely if you had the chance to rescue a baby from a burning building you would risk your own life to do so. Yet millions of babies are being killed each year. The means to stop the killing is at hand. Still a majority of Christians, like the priest in the parable of the Good Samaritan, turn a blind eye to the situation and refuse to help.

You say to yourself: " This cannot be. I have never refused to help a child who was so threatened."

Really? When is the last time you voted? "Oh," you protested, "I do not vote. My vote does not count. It has nothing to do with rescuing babies." If you think that, you are dead wrong. Believe it or not, a majority of eligible Christians is not even registered to participate in the political process despite an unprecedented effort in most states to make it easier and easier to register and still easier yet to vote.

If self-professed Christian believers would participate in the elections, and if they informed themselves about the issues, they could make the difference in virtually any election at every level.

The last nationwide election featured the lowest voter turnout since 1924, a year in which the platforms and candidates of both of the major parties were so alike that most citizens felt they had no choice. Indeed, that is a frequent complaint of potential voters in survey after survey of non-voters. The Free Congress foundation over the years has asked potential voters why they refuse to vote. They claim their vote does not count.

Some say that all politicians are crooks. Some are, of course. But as a percentage of population there are fewer corrupt politicians than there are in any of the major professions. Even doctors have more moral and ethical problems these days then the average politician. That is because unlike other professions, politicians are subjected to much scrutiny by the media and the public. Little is known about the lives of other professionals upon whom we often rely for life and death assistance.

Others say that their vote really does not make a difference. The record says otherwise. A shift of less than one vote per precinct in a handful of states would have defeated Woodrow Wilson in his bid for re-election in 1916. A few votes per precinct in Illinois and a couple of other states and then Vice President Richard Nixon would have defeated John F. Kennedy in 1960. The same is true in elections at every level. In 1974, Congressman Louis Wyman was declared the victor in the U.S. senate race in New Hampshire, after a recount, by just two votes.

In fact, the recount was so controversial that the election was actually re-run some months later. Bob Livingston, who but for his marital infidelities would be Speaker of the House in this Congress, was initially defeated by 10 votes when he ran for Congress. But the election had to be re-run because of irregularities and in the special election Livingston prevailed by 10,000 votes. One recent congressional election was decided by a flip of a coin. In suburban Philadelphia, John Fox was re-elected with less that a tenth of a vote per precinct.

Each year, there are hundreds of close elections all levels of government. But again, if millions of unregistered and thus disinterested Christians were to arm themselves with good information, they would cause an electoral revolution. In 1994, for example, the Republican land slide which changed control of the Congress, occurred when a voter turnout increased among Christians in the South and Midwest by just a few percentage points.

A third group of non-voters says they do not participate because no changes ever occur when new people are voted into office. In fact, the legislation which passed the last three Congresses has been vastly different than legislation approved by the past six Congresses. Much of it never was finally approved because President Clinton vetoed it and Congress lacked the votes to override Clinton's vetoes. That includes the ban on partial birth abortion. It passed the House Representatives by more than two thirds in three successive Congresses. But in the Senate, proponents of stopping that especially brutal from of near infanticide lacked just two votes to override Clinton's veto. Had just a few additional percent of Christians, correctly informed on that issue, voted in a couple of states (Georgia and Wisconsin come to mind) partial birth abortion would have been stopped.

Now comes arguably the most important presidential election in the past several decades. Why? Precisely because the next President will get the opportunity to nominate three or four Justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the Presidential candidate who says that "a woman's right to choose" will be a litmus test for his Supreme Court nominees wins, the killing of the unborn will be solidified for the next generation or more. On the other hand, if the nominee who says he will appoint judges who just interpret the law and do not make up laws out of thin air (such as the invented right to privacy in Roe vs. Wade) wins, then there is a real chance that the right to life can at least revert to being a state issue (as it was prior to 1973) where supporters of the unborn can fight for lifer in every legislature until every life is saved.

Picking the Supreme Court Judges for the Courts of Appeals (which decide 85% of the controversial cases which never make it to Supreme Court) will really make or break the effort of the Christians to take back the culture. Win the wrong judges in office, even if Christians do prevail in the legislature or in referenda, the courts will declare these actions null and void.

With judges who take Constitution seriously, those who fight for the family in the legislature and in statewide initiatives can be successful. The right to life is by no means all that is at stake in the November election. The effort of Vermont to sanction same sex unions will be taken nationwide with a President and a Congress who have the wrong set of values. Issues such as a school choice (where parents will be able to, with a voucher, send their child to a parochial school instead of a failed public school), the marriage penalty (which requires married couples to pay an average of $1400 more in taxes then two singles with the same income who file separately), measures to enshrine religious liberty into law (which daily is more and more threatened by meddlesome courts who are taking away our rights to profess our beliefs in the public square) and on and on and on will be determined by outcome of this election.

What of our duty to participate? Jesus Himself reminded us to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. That clearly does not just entail the payment of taxes. This nation was founded, in part, with the underlying theme of "no taxation without representation." Since we must pay taxes, we have the duty to see to it that these taxes are used for just measures and not to subsidize the killing of the unborn or illegitimate lifestyles or unjust wars where women and children are starved to carry out dubious policy. In Eastern Christendom, the American Notion of the separation of Church and State was unknown. The leaders of the Byzantine Empire after Constantine clearly viewed the church and civil society as one in the same. This is why emperors were considered the head of the Church. This is why emperors called ecumenical councils for example.

If you are uncomfortable, as a Christian, in taking an active role on politics, go back and see what our beloved St. John Chrysostom (+407) (in honor of whom we celebrate Divine Mysteries most every Sunday) did when he was Archbishop of Constantinople. He was exiled more than once for speaking the truth about the moral corruption in the political system of the time and he became all the stronger because of it.

In our system of government, as flawed as it may be, the individual still does have the chance to make an enormous difference. Clearly, we will be held accountable on the just judgment day of Christ Our God if we had the chance to save the children (Christ’s most beloved) and we failed to do so.

This is not a political matter. It is a moral question.

If we would not hesitate to pull a child from a burning building or jump in a river to save a drowning baby, how much more would we be judged if we had the opportunity to save millions of the unborn, indeed, perhaps to rescue the very culture in which we live, and we turned a blind eye to the process? Surely, Christ Himself will ask where you were when He was again suffering the wounds of death. Each time one of God’s creatures suffers, and we fail to come to their aid, we are inflicting this suffering on Christ Himself and will have to account for this at the final judgment.

In this nation, as opposed to other nation states where voting is not voluntary and is not really free because of how you are known by the authorities in power, we still do have the secret ballot. You do not risk your life or your job or your security by voting. And by active participation on behalf of those candidates who clearly stand for life and other important precepts of the Gospel, you become one of the most important people in the nation. Your single vote may determine the outcome of the election. That President you vote into office will either nominate someone such as Clarence Thomas or Anthony Scalia (two Catholics on the Supreme Court who regularly affirm the principles of life) or someone such as John Paul Stevens or Ruth Bader Ginsburg (two justices who always vote for death). That Senator you vote into office will either vote to confirm or reject these nominees. Remember, Clarence Thomas (who has emerged as the clearest thinker on life principles on the court) won confirmation by only 52 to 48 votes in the Senate.

Voting in this nation is a privilege and also an awesome responsibility. Each individual has in his/her hand enormous power in this system of ours.

Come judgement day, when Christ asks what you did to save the least of his brethren (the unborn who cannot speak for themselves), what will be your reply?

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Deacon Paul Weyrich serves at Holy Transfiguration church in McLean, VA. He is President of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, a public policy think tank.