“Winning for Life in 2014”
Karen Cross
I’m going to challenge you this morning with some difficult questions:
I’d like to start with a show of hands. How many of you can name the Vice-President?
Polling has been consistent over the past few years that a staggering number of Americans struggle with the most basic of government-related questions. A Newsweek poll a couple of years ago demonstrated that TWENTY-NINE percent of Americans couldn’t identify the current vice-president.
A 2010 Pew poll found that percentage to be FORTY-ONE percent!!
Okay, and be honest here. How many of you can name all three branches of government?
Did you know that MORE THAN HALF of the country can’t answer that basic question?
The reality is that our friends and neighbors often don’t have the information we take for granted. They are so busy with their daily lives, they just don’t have time or at least don’t take the time to know.
And frankly, many don’t understand the impact what happens in their state capitol and in DC has on their daily lives and on saving lives.
But I can tell you this: The people who don’t know who the vice-president is, surely don’t understand the radical pro-abortion agenda of the current Administration.
The half of the country that can’t name the three branches of government don’t understand the significance and deadly consequences of elections. BUT…
These are the people who are voting.
This is how Wendy Davis got elected.
Being in Texas this week, we have seen on display just how much our local elections matter.
The work that you do on political action MATTERS. Because of votes cast, many by people who can’t even name the sitting vice-president, unborn children who are capable of feeling pain aren’t protected in law in Texas.
We cannot assume that our neighbors are registered to vote, or understand how vital the process truly is. When we do, we lose elections, and babies die.
The time to prepare for 2014 is NOW!
As pro-lifers it is imperative we remember that being involved in politics is an integral part of saving lives.
You might find this difficult to believe but some people don’t like politics!
Most of you have gone to a lot of trouble to get here – you’ve taken off of work and you’ve been in airports or on long road trips. Thank you!! The fact that you’re here means you recognize the importance of political action.
You know that passing pro-life legislation saves lives.
In South Carolina alone, there are more than 132,000 babies alive today because they passed pro-life legislation. That’s 132,000 families blessed with a baby instead of cursed with despair and regret.
It has been estimated that more than one million people are alive today because of one piece of legislation on the federal level – the Hyde Amendment. God bless Henry Hyde. One million lives!
However, in order to pass pro-life legislation, pro-life legislators must be elected.
In 2012, National Right to Life endorsed 290 candidates for federal office nationwide. Four out of five or 80 percent – won their elections.
In the most competitive federal races where National Right to Life focused, the candidates supported by National Right to Life won 58% of their races.
These remarkable results were despite being vastly outspent by pro-abortion groups like EMILY’s List.
EMILY’s List is a pro-abortion PAC which supports only women candidates who support abortion on demand, partial-birth abortion, and using our tax dollars to pay for abortion.
24 of those 99 candidates were in highly competitive races against candidates who were supported by EMILY’s List.
EMILY’s List raised more than $51 million for their 2012 election efforts, while National Right to Life spent less than $5 million in all 99 of our competitive races.
Despite that huge disparity, in twelve of those twenty-four races (or 50 percent), the pro-life candidate supported by National Right to Life won.
I thought I’d look back over the last 20 years to see how well National Right to Life fared head-to-head against EMILY’s List in the most competitive races.
So what does EMILY’s List have today to show for hundreds of millions of dollars they raised and spent over twenty years?
Looking at federal election successes from 1992 until 2012, there are 14 current U.S. Senators and 54 current U.S. House members in office who have been elected with help from EMILY’s List.
Looking at National Right to Life’s election successes over the same twenty year period, there are 39 current U.S. Senators and 160 current U.S. House members who have been elected with help from National Right to Life.
These are office-holders in which National Right to Life was actively involved working toward their election.
In the face of this tremendous financial disparity, the sacrificial giving to National Right to Life and its entities by our members was greatly needed and deeply appreciated. The funds, used wisely and efficiently, were effective in turning out pro-life voters to the polls and have been for more than 20 years.
And, electing pro-life legislators to Congress is making a difference.
Remember in 2010, when we saw pro-abortion Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi hand over the gavel to pro-life Speaker John Boehner? (Now that felt good!)
Now, instead of playing defense in the U.S. House of Representatives, we are seeing many pro-life initiatives actually pass the House.
Unfortunately, they are currently being defeated in the U.S. Senate.
Leadership matters.
Pro-life legislation matters.
Political action matters.
This is where 2014 comes in. And we’re just months away from 2014.
2014 is an especially important off-year election because it is critical that we maintain a pro-life majority in the U.S. House so that President Obama does not have free reign his last two years in the White House.
The U.S. Senate is within reach. The U.S. Senate is only a net gain of six seats shy of achieving pro-life leadership. Thirty-five U.S. Senate seats are up in 2014. Six of the eight current open Senate seats are held by pro-abortion Senators.
Months of research goes into determining which races are most competitive – the races where National Right to Life can best use pro-life resources to either protect a pro-life incumbent, defeat a pro-abortion incumbent, or win an open seat.
National Right to Life has to be very selective in which races we are involved. And we must be extremely frugal with our funds in order to reach millions of pro-life voters across the nation.
Unfortunately, in every election, competitive races must be dropped due to inadequate funding. It is a very painful process of elimination, especially knowing that once we cross the race off our list, a pro-life candidate is less likely to win.
When National Right to Life has the funds to educate the public – to let them know that since 1973 more than 55 million defenseless babies have been aborted – more than 3,300 each day, 365 days a year, and when voters realize that when they stay home on election day, they allow atrocities like those seen in the Kermit Gosnell murder trial to continue daily across the nation, then they are more motivated to get to the polls and vote pro-life.
The most important reason pro-life candidates benefit is because the American people are pro-life. Most people are horrified when they hear testimony about the atrocities in the Kermit Gosnell murder trial. Most are disgusted when they realize Gosnell’s utmost disregard for women, hear about the filthy conditions at his clinic, and learn about his brutal method of “snipping” the spinal cords of sometimes six pound babies who were born alive during an abortion.
The violence of abortion, as displayed so graphically in the Gosnell case, is supported, without limitations or restraints, by EMILY’s List and the candidates they support.
We will continue to win, with your help, and continue our tireless work to truly protect mothers and their unborn children.
Every one of you is here so you can take back what you’ve learned and ensure that your community is abortion-free.
The work you do on a local level is vital! When you start work early on educating and electing pro-life officials, YOU SAVE LIVES!”
I started with a challenge, and I’ll end with a challenge- THE challenge: to take your help, your energy, your passion, your enthusiasm and your determination, to change history!!
So, just 16 months from now, on November 4, 2014, let’s take our country back.. FOR LIFE!
Source: NRLC News
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