Where Are Our Leaders?

One of the most remarkable aspects of the 2008 presidential election was the absence of great leaders among the candidates. In the face of great challenges to our nation, no superior personalities came to the fore. One could argue that mediocrity has always floated to the top in American politics; however, in this cycle, the dearth of leaders was particularly noteworthy.

On the Democratic side, we had figures like Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Christopher Dodd, and Dennis Kucinich. We’ve seen these guys before, and none of them has ever gotten out of the low single digits in popular support. There was a guy from Alaska who I had never heard of, and I follow politics. There was Hillary Clinton, whose principal accomplishment is being married to a former president. Like a former president named Carter, the winner was an obscure politician who had served briefly in one of the higher public offices.

On the Republican side, we had Mitt Romney, who in 1994 had run as a liberal for the Senate from Massachusetts, one of our most liberal states, and now presented himself as a great conservative. There was Mike Huckabee, who seemed more like a comic than a politician, and now indeed hosts a television show. Fred Thompson, an actor and former Senator, hesitated too long, and never showed the requisite fire in the belly. Besides some more or less one-issue congressmen, there was the great “Maverick,” John McCain, who tried to pull off the impossible feat of spitting in the face of his party base and pulling in enough “moderate independents” to make up the difference.

Needless to say, there were no Eisenhowers, Reagans or Trumans.

Why should this be in the greatest country on earth? Thirty-five years ago, five justices of the Supreme Court gave each woman the decision whether her baby would be allowed to continue living his or her life. Barring some seismic change on the Supreme Court, each pregnant woman thus has the prerogative to act as God with respect to the life of her baby. Since 1973, tens of millions of babies have been killed by abortion. And, of course, death by abortion did not start in 1973; many abortion-killings were carried out before 1973. Do you suppose forty million people would have yielded up any great political leaders, not to mention scientists, teachers, physicians, engineers, artists and athletes? The answer is obviously “yes.” There might have been a greater golfer than Tiger Woods or a more brilliant scientist than Nicola Tesla among those forty millions, who never had a chance to eat his first spoonful of baby food.

Can a people be great who kill their smallest, most helpless citizens, who willingly nullify the lives and contributions of hundreds of thousands of their own each year? I say that it obviously cannot. Each woman has the “choice” to look upon her baby as an American with an unlimited and promising future rather than as an infection.

Who decides what a life is worth?

I met a young man at the gym this week. He caught my attention because he was rolling his way through the gym in a wheelchair. He wore a tee-shirt bearing the word "Souldier." After passing by me and through and around various benches and machines, he began to exercise with dumbbells. I approached him to ask him if he was a soldier. He said no, that he had been born with cerebral palsy. He pointed out that the word on his shirt was spelled S-O-U-L-D-I-E-R. I introduced myself; he told me his name was Mike, and that he was a regular member of the gym. I told him it was good to see him in the gym. He responded that it was good to be there.

Mike can't walk. He can't run. He can't even stand up. How many times have we heard people say, "Oh, I wouldn't want to live like that." But Mike is living; and making his way through the gym, working out like the rest of us, he is every bit a man.

Cerebral palsy. Is that one of the diseases a woman can be "screened" for while she is pregnant? I judge Mike to be in his early twenties. Were amniocentesis and its related "screening" tests available in the mid-1980s?

It occurred to me that before he was born, another human being had the power of life and death over Mike. At that time, Mike's blue eyes, his brown hair, his smile, and his cerebral palsy were fully determined. Whoever it was "chose" to allow Mike to be born. Why? Why didn't she say, "No, this baby is a mistake. I'm going to put an end to this and start over again. I'm not ready for something like this. This is not the right time for this."

Mike is a young man who has had cerebral palsy his entire life. Is Mike's life worth anything, to anybody? His life is worth something to me. I'm not a kid anymore, and sometimes weight training and exercising are a struggle because of injuries and the aches and pains that come with age. It inspired me to see Mike confidently going through the gym, going through his workout. I've been in a lot of gyms in my time, and I haven't seen many guys in wheelchairs in those gyms. It takes a lot of guts to do that, surrounded by muscle men and hard-body women and trainers. Obviously Mike's life is worth something to him, too. It takes a lot of desire to do what he's doing. Most perfectly healthy people can't bring themselves to go into a gym. Mike's doing this to challenge himself, to push himself, to make himself better, stronger. That's exactly why I go to the gym. I guess Mike and I aren't very different at all. In fact, he's better than I am: I don't have to get into a wheelchair and a special vehicle just to get myself through the door. And I'm "normal," right?

What would Mike say? That he wishes he'd never been born? Judging from his smile and his accomplishments, I doubt it.

Change Hearts and Minds

I believe we must save babies' lives by changing the hearts and minds of women and those who would encourage them to kill their babies. Let's face some facts: Legislation hasn't worked. Litigation hasn't worked; courts are, to a large extent, immoral. Protesting at abortion mills, courageous as it is, doesn't work; your government is liable to throw you in jail or sue you for everything you have. If some thug throws you on your head, as happened to a Harrisburg, PA man recently, your government will simply stand by and watch. (That is in fact what happened.) Displaying photographs of murdered babies, though it depicts the truth, doesn't work; people simply recoil and blame you instead of the killer.

Moreover, Americans don't like to be "told what to do." After all, they now have the "right" to an abortion. They need to be persuaded, so that when they act or fail to act, they will feel that they are doing so out of their own convictions.

Public relations, marketing and advertising accomplish great things in this society. They make a giant economic engine hum. They have made a mere tramp like Paris Hilton an international celebrity. Can't they also be a force for good? Of course they can. I propose that the life movement mount a positive public campaign to persuade people that our position, that babies must be protected at all points in their lives and development, is the right one, and indeed the imperative one.

This is an approach that requires organization and money, but it is certainly worth pursuing. Americans will shower many millions of dollars on presidential candidates, none of whom I believe would make a dent in the slaughter of abortion in this country. I would like to attract like-minded people to begin such a long-overdue effort. Of course, if anybody can show me an organization that is already carrying out such a mission, I'll give to it myself.

What do you think?

Welcome

Welcome to my blog, Babies are Miracles. As you might guess, it is dedicated to the idea that human life, from the time it begins at conception, is precious and should be protected. Though this is a simple enough idea, in our current American society it is one that needs to be promoted. I hope to create a conversation and allow people to share ideas on how to promote this idea and persuade others to adopt it.

As you'll see when I get a profile up, I am a "recovering lawyer," but more importantly, a husband and father. I've wanted to do something, on my own initiative, to promote the preciousness of human life for many years. This, then, is the beginning.

OK, folks: Welcome, and let's have at it.