And it seems to me that this also happens to make some number of individuals very wary (I’m talking in your general direction, Christa…) But in spite of this (to many) politically unattractive belief, I consider Ron Paul to be among the most attractive candidates to both side of the divide between pro-lifers and pro-choicers.

A lot of the discussion about abortion for the last ten to twenty years has focused on questions of what the national government should do about abortion. A lot of naive (and generally ignorant) members of both sides have a tendency to think that we should seek to have anti-abortion, pro-life presidents. Unfortunately, we are seeking unconstitutional, and therefore unlawful, means to pursue our goal of eradicating abortion. The President does not have the right to make laws pertaining to abortion, although he is given the power to enforce laws put into place by Congress. This power does not put the President in a position to constitutionally affect any of the medical standards in relation to abortion.

What most advocates of the pro-life cause fail to understand is that if we seek to eradicate abortion, this requires our support in two particular areas. First, we need to understand that legal power relating to the health, life, and well-being of citizens does not belong to the national government. Health, life, and well-being are legal domains of the states. Thus, we need to ramp up our support for states rights, and actively protest any interference in this right at the level of the national government. Also, we need to encourage and support proponents of pro-life laws in our state governments, and particularly those who have the authority to make these decisions. Second, we cannot abandon this to the state governments and expect for the public to move in the right direction. If we seek to see people behaving in a sanctified way, it only makes sense that we would seek to see people be justified and atoned for by the blood of Christ. Both the sorts and amounts of people that we see embracing a consistent ethic of human life will of course, as time goes on, increase because God is establishing the kingdom of heaven over and against the kingdom of the earth. But Christendom has taken a rather weak and apathetic approach to accomplishing this as time goes on. In both the Protestant and Catholic traditions, we have done far too little to preach the Gospel everywhere we go, and so it is no surprise that we are failing to see changes occur in our culture.

Coming back to the issue of the Presidency and its relation to abortion, I believe that Ron Paul is the best candidate for achieving this goal. He ought to have a strong appeal not only to Christians and the associated fringe groups who adhere to pro-life standards, but I suspect he will have just as much of an appeal to those who are generally liberal. While he doesn’t support abortion - he’s avidly against abortion - the confusion in thinking that he has any power over the making of laws relating to this, once cleared up, will allow those who are pro-choice to understand that his position, at least from the start, holds no threat to them. It just helps us to put things into a proper perspective. So, while all of the other candidates are off bragging about their desire to pass laws that will further restrict abortion, Ron Paul will not change this to make conditions worse (worse from a pro-choice perspective, that is) than they already are. But as I said above, if we seek legal reform of the system as it is, this requires that we move to a view that respects a states’ right to deny abortion to its citizens. Moving back to a system more closer to the Constitution as it concerns state rights will at least put pro-lifers in a place to see this happen, while decreasing the feeling of threat that seems to cause many among the pro-choice camp to disavow most socially conservative candidates. The uniqueness of this position is this: it doesn’t threaten either side. By shifting to a proper view of state rights and limits on the national government, we have not decided one way or the other for or against abortion - which means the question is just as open at the state level as it was at the level of the national government.

As a social conservative who favors limited national government, I support Ron Paul because of the strength of this position. It puts me in a place to adhere to my values and advance my values, and it puts pro-lifers on good terms with pro-choicers because we have not treaded on their treasured ground. If you haven’t considered Ron Paul as a candidate for the 2008 Republican spot, I strongly encourage you to do so.

One other thing. Regardless of who you support, please realize that your vote does make a difference. If you want to see America continue its downward path, refuse to be active in politics. It makes a difference whether or not you vote. And furthermore, it is important that if you choose a particular party to represent you that you vote not only in the general election where we choose the next President of our country, but that you also vote in the primaries to choose who will represent your party. It is a good idea to affiliate yourself with one of the two major parties - Republican or Democrat - because Independents don’t really receive much support. The majority of the votes will, in fact, go to the two Republican and Democrat candidates. So I would recommend that you choose to affiliate with a party, and that you therefore are active in the primaries for that party. Primaries are the election in which a party determines who will be its representatives in the election. Again disregarding your choice of candidate, if you stand for certain values and want to see those at work in our government, you need to vote for a candidate that closely represents those views and make sure that they receive the support of the party you are affiliated with.

You can register to vote by going to Ron Paul’s site (http://www.ronpaul2008.com) or by going to Rock the Vote (http://www.rockthevote.com).

All I ask is that you make a conscientious decision concerning the candidate you seek to support, and that you support this candidate not only in the general election, but also in the primaries in your state. When we become apathetic, we constrain ourselves to the decisions of others who may or may not disagree with this. I don’t know about you, but I’m not OK with that.