Election Countdown

Dear family and friends, I hope that you are excited for this Tuesday! The question that has been haunting us constantly for the past two years will have a definitive answer and we will begin to deal with the consequences.

I can’t tell you how wonderful it has been living in Italy during the last months of preparation for the U.S. Election! Brendan gets updates on the internet, but other than that we are FREE from the incessant commercials and hype. Ok, that’s partially because we watch almost no TV too – whenever Sister Pat turns it on for the news they’re broadcasting on the U.S. election also. The whole world is watching and waiting just like we are.

So what are you going to do? Vote? I hope so. We just sent in my absentee ballot today, and Brendan’s was sent in three weeks ago (it’s a long story…). It’s so nice to have it sent, so that our votes can hopefully make a difference.

Brendan and I have been praying daily for the result of the election and for America in the future, regardless of the decision on November 4^th. I know many of you have been doing the same. Keep it up – prayer is powerful and effective, especially when combined with action!

So who will you vote for? It’s easy to get very emotionally involved because politics is a subject that really exposes our values. But emotions aside, it’s easier to think logically in terms of numbers. It’s almost necessary when both major parties have a lot wrong with their judgment. Until there is a political party that truly values the dignity of all people of all ages, and applies that value to the laws of the state and country, we will be stuck in this horrible position. Here are the numbers on some very important issues…

Death Penalty – 42 deaths in the U.S. by death penalty in 2007
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org This is becoming less of an issue as more states make the death penalty illegal.

Euthanasia – 49 deaths in Oregon in 2007 http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/pas/docs/year10.pdf

There are not many because currently only Oregon has legal euthanasia. But it will become more and more of an issue because many states have been trying to get it formally legalized (but have been unsuccessful as of yet).

Embryonic Stem Cell Research – I spent twenty minutes trying to find stats on how many embryos/babies were destroyed for research in 2007, but couldn’t find anything specific except that pro-embryonic stem cell research people are hoping to get people to donate at least 200,000 from infertility clinics.

This also is an issue that will become more and more prevalent if democrats are elected. Bush compromised and gave federal funding to start 78 lines of embryonic stem cells (lines made by destroying many embryos), but banned more funding in the future. The Democratic parts of Congress have been trying to override that ruling during his term, but have been unsuccessful. It will undoubtedly come up again in the future.

And to clarify, I have no problem with adult stem cell research which has been VERY successful in curing illnesses (I think it was more than 70 conditions as of now). If no embryos are used then no human life has to be destroyed in the process.

War

4,189 U.S. casualties in the Iraq War so far.
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/

There have been an estimated 1,203,640 U.S. casualties in ALL wars the U.S. has been involved in, as of January 2007. Plus a few more with some casualties in the Iraq War from January last year until now.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_US_soldiers_were_killed_in_all_wars_fought_by_the_US

Keep in mind that this is the number of casualties during more than 200 years of fighting wars!

Abortion –

Approximately 49,915,600 babies have been killed since abortion was legalized in 1973. That’s almost 50,000,000 deaths in 35 years! That dwarfs the number of U.S. soldiers killed in all our wars! You may begin to see why many people treat this as a single election issue.

And if you'd like to compare the numbers to the other issues listed above, there were approximately 1,287,000 abortions performed in 2007. The disproportionate effect this issue has on our country cannot be ignored.

These numbers are from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research institute that gets numbers directly from Planned Parenthood abortion providers and tracks data for the govt. http://www.nrlc.org/Factsheets/FS03_AbortionintheUS.pdf

If that many babies have been casualties of abortion, imagine the far reaching emotional and physical effects on the parents, especially the mothers, on the misguided doctors who perform the abortions, and our society whose conscience dies little by little as we accept this tragedy. Not only that, but what example are we giving to the other countries of the world? Being in Italy has really made me understand that American standards have had a big impact on most countries. That’s a lot of responsibility.

Mother Teresa said, “For me life is the most beautiful gift of God to mankind, therefore people and nations who destroy life by abortion and euthanasia are the poorest – for they have not got food for one more child, home for one old person. So they add one more cruel murder into this world.”

She also said, “It is very painful to accept what is happening in Western countries: a child is destroyed by the fear of having too many children and having to feed it or to educate it. I think they are the poorest people in the world, who do an act like that. A child is a gift of God!”

And again, “Abortion is the killer of peace in the world…the greatest destroyer of peace, because if a mother can destroy her own child, what is left for others but to kill each other? There is nothing to prevent them.”

Mother Teresa applied Jesus’ love in our times – her life was spent living with the poor, lavishing love on them. She knew that abortion does not help – it can only hurt. In fact, a topic that took up a significant part of her Nobel Peace Prize speech was a complete rejection of abortion and challenging us to stop slacking on the life issues.

I don’t expect you to be the next Mother Teresa, but these are the values and responsibilities that Jesus gave us and that are consistent with the dignity of every person. If you consider yourself a person of faith you’d better be intimately involved with both alleviating poverty (physical and spiritual) and protecting the most vulnerable (the unborn children and the elderly among others) in your actions, including the way you vote. Most of the republicans I know are people who are pro-life in their voting and actions and they are giving their time and treasure to the poor. But in my experience I haven’t met many democrats who are actively pro-life, which makes me sad. I would love to be shown otherwise, but I’ll wait for that day.

I voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin because Barack Obama has a 100% voting record for the NARAL for the past few years (meaning that the leading pro-choice organization gave him an A+ for voting perfectly in support of abortion). He also voted against banning partial birth abortion, a horrible procedure where a baby is being born and is halfway outside the mother's body and is killed. I won’t say how it's done here, but it brings me almost to tears when I think about it. http://www.ontheissues.org/Barack_Obama.htm

The murder of the innocents is of prime importance to me. To be honest, I checked out the voting records on life issues for each of the president and vice president candidates and the only one that was really good was Sarah Palin. I would vote for her for president if I could because of a solid stance on most of the life issues. McCain is a bit more iffy, but much better than Obama or Biden. So it's a sad state of affairs, but I do know that McCain will do a better job of protecting the innocents and has the international experience to make things better. But I don’t put all my hope in a president (thank goodness!) because there is only so much that a president can do. What I wish for America is a change of heart and a return to what’s really important.

God bless America…

~ Rachel and Brendan