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Family Research Council
Pushes Pro-abortion CandidateFriday, August 8, 2008
By Mary Starrett
I was interested to see how the Family Research Council would respond to my asking why they’d invited Senators Barack Obama and John McCain to their upcoming so-called “Values Voter” Summit while snubbing Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin. Baldwin, a committed, pro-life, Christian pastor and talk show host (www.chuckbaldwinlive.com) won the nomination of the Constitution Party, the nation’s largest and fastest- growing third party at a national convention where delegates overwhelmingly chose him over Ambassador Alan Keyes. Baldwin has emerged as the ‘antidote’ for voters who can no longer hold their noses and vote for the ‘lesser of two evils’ in November.
The FRC’s Values Voters Summit, billed as the “largest gathering of values voters from across the nation”, is sponsored by FRCAction, the legislative arm of the Family Research Council headed by Tony Perkins, and Focus on the Family, led by Dr. James Dobson (who has alternately said he “will never vote for McCain” and recently that he likely will vote for the man who spearheaded the most egregious assault on the 1st Amendment in recent history- the McCain Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act, author John McCain).
I asked FRCAction why Chuck Baldwin couldn’t join in at the Summit, since he is the only authentically pro-life, pro- 2nd Amendment , pro-Constitution, pro-secure borders candidate from a FEC- recognized party who is running for president.
Apparently the folks at the Family Research Council either had not done their research or chose to ignore that one of the speakers they have headlining their conference, Senator Barrack Obama, supported infanticide, and the other speakers like Mitt Romney and John McCain are anything but representative of pro-life “values” voters.
I jogged their memory a bit so they’d remember that Obama was against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act and the Induced Infant Liability Act, legislation even the rabid pro-aborts at NARAL wouldn’t oppose. The bills simply stated that babies surviving abortions shouldn’t be left to die in soiled linen rooms at hospitals and that the compassionate and yes, humane response- even in this culture of death we’ve allowed through legalized abortion- would be to help those babies, not finish them off by leaving them to die alone.
No, Obama thought that infringed on a woman’s ‘right’ to snuff her child. The Christians at the Family Research Council think that presidential candidate, not the pro-life pastor from Pensacola should get front and center billing at a summit devoted to “values.”
I also reminded the FRC that John McCain has supported federal funding of embryo-destroying stem cell research. FRC’s website says this about their position on the issue: “Family Research Council opposes research that destroys, harms, or manipulates an embryonic human being.”
By this point, I was thoroughly confused.
Another Values Voter Summit headline speaker is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney whose pro-abortion pedigree spans generations and whose legacy includes taxpayer- funded abortions all around for the good women in his state who might find themselves facing an untimely pregnancy.
So you can imagine how much more confused I became when I received this reply from Ann Simmons at FRCAction saying:
“Mary, as you know, FRC Action is focused on values issues-such as marriage, abortion, and stem cell research-and our stance is well-known throughout Washington, D.C. We are also a nonpartisan organization that communicates these deeply-held values to all political actors-regardless of party. (emphasis mine) We are holding the Values Voter Summit from a position of confidence that FRC's pro-life and pro-family work of 25 years has been done with both integrity and success. We will never be persuaded to change those views, but we believe that we can change the views of those who disagree with us through engagement and action-and that we must try.”“ Integrity?”
Where is the “integrity” in pre-selecting candidates- ignoring some and pushing others with stances on issues diametrically opposed to those FRC supposedly promotes?
“Success?”What “success” can FRC or the ‘Christian Right’ in general point to? Despite years of Republican control at the legislative and executive levels, we are no better off than if liberal Democrats had been in control this past decade. We have compromised while the left has held fast; we have given in while the left has not. That, despite millions poured into the coffers of groups such as the Family Research Center and Focus on the Family.
“Regardless of party?”Unless, of course, you’re a candidate from a solidly pro-life party such as the FEC- recognized Constitution Party which is growing by leaps and bounds all across the country.
The Family Research Council “tries” to change our political landscape by inviting pro-aborts to speak at a summit on “values” while ignoring the only candidate who’d actually work to change the horrors this country now condones, regardless of party?
Simmons went on to explain why Chuck Baldwin was excluded from the summit by making this mind-numbingly contradictory statement “(I)n order to preserve our non-profit tax status, it is essential that FRC Action treat candidates equitably in inviting them to speak-both this year and in the future..”
Astounding.
FRC is apparently not concerned enough about its tax-exempt status to include all the candidates. The organization furthers the myth that our Republic was designed for a two party system. The FRC refuses to acknowledge there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties now controlling government. The FRC adheres to a paradigm that concludes that any crumbs tossed from those parties that control our government are worthy of being gobbled up by donation-seeking advocacy groups, just for a seat at the table- anybody’s table…. even those who promulgate evil.
I’m reminded that in Matthew 7:20 we’re instructed to evaluate the message of those who desire to lead us. Verse 15 describes false teachers as wolves in sheep’s clothing. That wolf is an outright liar who distorts God’s message for a seat at the table or a cozy relationship with ungodly political power brokers.
And still the unenlightened send their hard earned dollars to FRC or Focus on the Family and show up at conferences where the wolves line up the sheep for slaughter.
Mary Starrett was the Constitution Party candidate for Oregon governor in November, 2006, a TV news anchor and talk show host for 25 years and a radio talk show host for 5 years.
Executive Director, Oregonians for Life, Board of Directors, Christian Family Adoptions.
She is currently the Communications Director for the Constitution Party. The Constitution Party is the fastest-growing minor political party (www.ballot-access.org) and is made up of Americans who believe a return to constitutional government is imperative.
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