The Republican Party will Achieve Unity when …
Unity. It’s the elusive quest for Republican leaders locally and nationally.Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a radio interview at last week’s Conservative Political Action Committee convention that he’s seeking unity in the party.And just recently I read a blog by the outgoing leader of the Republican legislative district in Scottsdale. He listed the accomplishments of his time as district chairman, thanked those who had helped him, and expressed regret at his inability to gain party unity.To these men’s credit, they tried to do the impossible. Anyone striving to achieve unity in the GOP -- at any level -- is biting off more than he/she can chew.The big stumbling block, which they don’t seem to articulate publicly, is the sanctity of human life. Party base Republicans defend it. The official Republican platform recognizes it.But pro-abortion Republicans will not honor the pro-life plank of the GOP platform. It’s as invisible to them as the Constitution is to Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and B. Hussein Obama.Respect for life and a lack of respect for human life are diametrically opposed positions. They are completely irreconcilable.Pro-life voters will never vote for abortion supporters. Abortion advocates do not vote for pro-life candidates.In fact, it was abortion-advocate RINOs in Scottsdale who put Janet Napolitano in office as governor several years ago. They refused to vote for the conservative candidate, Matt Salmon. Napolitano over-performed in the Scottsdale legislative district more than any of the other 29 districts in Arizona.It was around the time of that 2002 governor’s election between Salmon and Napolitano that I attended the monthly RINO meeting in Scottsdale. And it was scary. Leftist RINO state Senator Randall Gnant stood up and railed against Salmon. Now state Senator Michele Reagan was stumping for increased gambling in the state. The RINO chairwoman praised state Rep. Carolyn Allen -- a self-described Planned Parenthood activist -- as a “model” lawmaker.I went home that night shaking my head, and I wrote a blog titled “Wasting Away again in RINOville: Searching for My Lost GOP.”But the RINOs say we have to have a big tent! Well the pro-abortion Republicans would rather stand in the rain than stand with pro-life Republicans under the big tent.So, good luck to all you Republican leaders thinking you’re going to bridge that rift over the issue of human life. But a word to the wise: if you do not stand for the sanctity of human life, all else is moot. As long as presidential candidates think they can do the soft-shoe shuffle away from the life issue -- yes, you John McCain, Mitt Romney and Bob Dole -- Republicans will not control the White House, will not control judicial nominations. You leaders must begin at the proper starting point, the GOP platform section on “The Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life”:
Faithful to the “self-evident” truths enshrined in the Declaration of ndependence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion or fund organizations which perform or advocate it and will not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life. We oppose the nonconsensual withholding or withdrawal of care or treatment, including food and water, from people with disabilities, including newborns, as well as the elderly and infirm, just as we oppose active and passive euthanasia and assisted suicide.Republican leadership has led the effort to prohibit the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion and permitted States to extend health care coverageto children before birth. We urge Congress to strengthen the Born Alive Infant Protection Act by enacting appropriate civil and criminal penalties on healthcare providers who fail to provide treatment and care to an infant who survives an abortion, including early induction delivery where the death of the infant is intended. We call for legislation to ban sex-selective abortions – gender discrimination in its most lethal form—and to protect from abortion unbornchildren who are capable of feeling pain; and we applaud U.S. House Republicans for leading the effort to protect the lives of pain-capable unborn children in the District of Columbia. We call for a ban on the use of body parts from aborted fetuses for research.We support and applaud adult stem cell research to develop lifesaving therapies, and we oppose the killing of embryos for their stem cells. We oppose federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. We also salute the many States that have passed laws for informed consent, mandatory waiting periods prior to an abortion, and health-protective clinic regulation. We seek to protect young girls from exploitation through a parental consent requirement; and we affirm our moral obligation to assist, rather than penalize, women challenged by an unplanned pregnancy. We salute those who provide them with counseling and adoption alternatives and empower them to choose life, and we take comfort in the tremendous increase in adoptions that has followed Republican legislative initiatives.
In conclusion, we need Republicans who will fight the Party of Control Freaks tooth and nail over important issues -- starting with life and moving on from that crucial starting point.
