The Republican National Convention has come and gone, and the final phase of the elections will soon proceed full steam ahead.
The assassination attempt upon former President Trump reminded the nation of the need to unite as it faces yet another crossroads. That unity can only be around God and fundamental principles if the country is to return to the right track.
A Broken Consensus
However, that path to consensus at the convention was broken. Amid all the drama and tension, some conservatives were shocked by the handling of procured abortion and same-sex “marriage” in the newly approved GOP platform. In addition, of the 110,000 words of the transcribed speeches at the convention, “abortion” was not mentioned once. The term “pro-life” had a single reference.
Eternal and Natural Law: The Foundation of Morals and Law
To the social conservatives, this sea change represented a betrayal of principles. These essential issues are at the foundation of what it means to be conservative. If a nation cannot protect the most vulnerable of its members, then the cycle of violence will only escalate.
The Powerhouse of the Conservative Movement
Social conservatives have long been the powerhouse of the conservative movement. Their passion for the cause of the preborn has turned the tide of many elections in favor of the Republican Party. The pro-life movement’s grit and resilience can always be counted upon to deliver at the ballot box.
More importantly, the pro-life and pro-family activists changed the tone of elections, turning political disputes into a culture war. The left had hoped that abortion could be framed as a health issue and be considered settled law. It soon found itself helpless against a moral crusade that opposed not just abortion but its whole social agenda. The figure of the unborn child puts the left on defense.
Protesters praying rosaries in front of abortion clinics naturally transitioned into effective and passionate political activists who would provide enthusiasm and energy to the conservative cause. This activism also spread fear and dread on the pro-abortion side, which morphed into hysteria with the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Social Conservatives Not Appreciated
Despite their tireless dedication, social conservatives have always been the least appreciated component of the conservative coalition. Political candidates make many promises to them before the elections. However, once in power, they tend to forget about these voters…until the next election.
In the past, the GOP platform included a call for a constitutional amendment that would ban procured abortion nationwide. It also called for the overturning of Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court decision that imposed same-sex “marriage” on all fifty states.
If politicians did not always act upon these planks, the platform at least indicated the wholesome goals of the party faithful. It proudly displayed them for all to see. These themes resonated with the rank and file, who applauded them during past conventions.
Platform Steamrolled Through Committee
Yet now, not even these platform references have survived. The new platform committee railroaded major changes over the objections of pro-life delegates. The new version gutted the strong references into a vague notion of the protection of life. The old 58-page document was reduced to a mere 16 pages. Contrary to past practices, pro-life amendments were not allowed. To confound pro-lifers even more, the GOP platform defended contraception and IVF.
Learn All About the Prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success About Our Times
At the convention, openly pro-abortion speakers were allowed to address the assembly. Pro-homosexual groups like the Log Cabin Republicans rejoiced that same-sex “marriage” is no longer condemned in the platform text.
The Fallacy of Going Soft
The excuse for the changes was to appeal to swing and moderate voters upset with the party’s strong defense of life and family.
It is the worn-out and ragged fallacy that watering down one’s message will attract moderates when the truth is that the only thing moderates reliably bring to the coalition is their softness and ineffectiveness.
Such betrayals of principle, however, demoralize the important pro-life voter bloc that gets out the vote. If the purpose is to get somewhere, does it make any sense to remove the foot from the accelerator while adding a heavy trailer behind?
The politics of concession and moderation is a sure path to defeat.
Sending the Wrong Message
The changes to the platform send a message to social conservatives that moral issues are not important. The real issues are economic strategies and identity issues. The focus of the campaign is now economic and cultural, not moral. Religion becomes a hollowed-out cultural identifier that defines who people are but not what they believe.
However, morals are those unchangeable rules that define right and wrong. Without them, the proper functioning of an economy and the making of a healthy identity, culture or society becomes impossible. Abandoning these values is a form of cultural suicide.
Tricking the Enemy
Some say that the downplaying of procured abortion and removal of same-sex “marriage” from the platform is a mere ploy to trick the other side into thinking conservatives have softened and that this disguising of the conservative position will attract new voters.
10 Razones Por las Cuales el “Matrimonio” Homosexual es Dañino y tiene que Ser Desaprobado
In reality—the sophism continues—deep in their heart of hearts, the GOP leadership still supports the unborn and traditional marriage, although they do not say or do much. This is not a moral surrender but a political decision to help win the election.
Shame on the GOP leadership if they think they can pull this one off on the radical left. Far from tricking leftists into becoming GOP voters, the surrender has only energized them to vote more pro-abortion. The left’s campaign appeals contain dire messages warning liberal voters not to believe in this strategy of omission. Thus, this strategy both energizes the left and demoralizes the right. It takes away the visible goals toward which the movement has always held and replaces them with nothing.
This strategy goes against past ones. The pro-life GOP never hid its goals of a total elimination of procured abortion. It had sometimes pursued the tactic of incremental measures limiting the practice, but it never hid its ultimate goal in the GOP platform. That was a morally permissible and honorable way of operating.
Turning the Issue into Another Political Issue
The GOP platform deceptively gloats that the abortion issue has been “returned to the states.” The insinuation is that this is where procured abortion and same-sex “marriage” belongs.
That legal strategy may have made sense in the fifties and sixites, but no longer. Once the left federalized procured abortion and same-sex “marriage” starting with Roe (1973), then with Obergefell (2015), and most recently with the infamous Respect for Marriage Act (2022), only a federal abolition of these moral evils is proportional to the threat.
In addition, such a state-based perspective denies the tragic reality of an America of broken families, shattered communities and empty churches that litter the cultural landscape. The nation’s economy is not the cause of these problems but the effect.
America’s problem is a moral cancer that has eroded everything the nation holds dear. The only solution is a moral one: the return to God and His Ten Commandments.
This solution is contained in the message of Our Lady at Fatima, who in 1917 called for conversion lest humanity be punished for its sins. That punishment is already seen in the decadence around the nation and the world.
Science Confirms: Angels Took the House of Our Lady of Nazareth to Loreto
Elections should revolve around vital issues like procured abortion and same-sex “marriage” that touch the lives of everyone. As the pro-life movement has proven, these topics are immensely attractive to all those of good will, especially the youth who want a better America. More importantly, they will attract the much-needed blessings of God upon a people that obeys His law.
Despite the betrayal, the pro-life movement should not waver in its convictions or diminish its efforts. Instead, it should not put its faith in a feckless, ungrateful and unprincipled GOP leadership but in God and His Blessed Mother. Ultimately, God will prevail, and that is the only winning that matters.
Photo Credit: © aheflin – stock.adobe.com