Kansas GOP Insider (wannabe): June 2022

Friday, June 24, 2022

Celebrate Pro-Life Friends, but Don't Get Too Comfortable

Take a bow, my pro-life friends. It is the culmination of 50 years of honorable, patient battle by pro-life warriors. You earned this win, and you did it with grace and integrity. 


You followed the rules. 


For more than 50 years, you worked to elect pro-life lawmakers and pro-life judges – in the places where judges are elected. You annually marched – peacefully – in Washington, DC, praying and hoping for an end to Roe v. Wade. Through blizzards and rain, through Democratic and Republican administrations, you marched from the Capitol to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, attracting hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates each year. 


More than 63 million babies died by abortionists’ hands over those 50 years, and yet, you remained patient and steadfast.


You didn’t demand the abolition of cultural or constitutional norms. Though the opposition used vile and cruel attacks, you persevered.


Viscous and unfair attacks on pro-life judicial nominees didn’t wear you down. You offered encouragement and support to then-U.S. Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas as the Left pounced. Instead of growing weary, you redoubled your efforts to elect Republicans to the U.S. Senate and to the White House. And when abortion extremists on the Left launched disgusting attacks against another Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, you calmly defend him.


The way you battle matters.





But for the Left, the ends always justify the means. That’s why former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a now-deceased Democrat from Nevada, nuked the filibuster in 2013. He was frustrated Republicans used the long-standing Senate tradition to block some of then-President Barack Obama’s nominees.

At the time, Sen. Mitch McConnell issued a warning.


“You’ll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think,” then Minority Leader McConnell said.


Sooner is now.


Thanks to your efforts, McConnell regained the Majority a few years later. And as forewarned, he used a Democratic tactic and eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. And now Roe is no more.


Reid didn’t live long enough to see the end results of his bluster. But pro-life advocates recognize we have Reid to thank for this win.


Pro-lifers, you are about to enjoy the bounty of fighting with honor and dignity in the face of overwhelming odds. Celebrate this victory. And remember how you earned it – by fighting fair, by following the rules until the other side broke them.


The fight over abortion now heads from the courtroom to state legislatures where it’s always belonged. New battle lines are being drawn, and Kansas will be the site of an early skirmish when voters consider the Value Them Both amendment. 


Once again, you will need to don the breastplate of righteousness and take up the shield of faith by knocking on doors, passing out literature, and encouraging your friends and neighbors to vote ‘yes’ on the amendment in August.


The Left plans to double down in its destruction of cultural norms, even though that hasn’t worked out well for them so far. Instead of vowing to elect more pro-abortion lawmakers and judges, they (likely) leaked a U.S. Supreme Court’s draft ruling. They posted the home addresses of Supreme Court Justices and protested in front of their homes. They defaced churches and disrupted Catholic services, and they’re threatening to pack the court.


They haven’t yet learned the lesson so apparent to long-time watchers of this cultural debate. The rules count.


This is one win in an ongoing war, but it is a big one. 


Celebrate, pro-life friends, but don’t get too comfortable.