Guest Opinion: Obama's Declaration of Dependence, Pt. II

A former law student of Professor Doug Kmiec continues his analysis of the US Presidential campaign. "Democracy cannot last long when we deem some people unworthy of life."

LOS ANGELES, Ca. (Catholic Online) - In my last article, I asked the question, "What is the proportionate evil being prevented by voting for Obama that can possibly outweigh abortion?" Today, for the sake of fairness, let us try to answer this question.

Abortion is the number one killer of African Americans in America. Since 1973 abortion has killed more African Americans than AIDS, accidents, violent crimes, heart disease and cancer combined. An innocent baby dies every 23 seconds due to abortion. 42,000,000 babies have been killed due to abortion in America since Roe v. Wade. Every year there are about 1,200,000 abortions in America. Objectively, there is nothing proportional to this moral crisis in this presidential campaign.

Beyond the sheer number of deaths caused by abortion, it is equally disturbing that Obama cannot even recognize these babies as fellow human beings and exalts these murders as a source of equality for women. All of Obama's social programs cannot outweigh this issue because a social program that denies the fundamental right to life is evil. Those who are willing to trade abortion for "social justice" have only decided to engage in evil so that evil may result.

Pope John Paul II has warned us: "In the name of what justice is the most unjust of discriminations practiced: some individuals are held to be deserving of defense and others are denied that dignity? When this happens, the process leading to the breakdown of a genuinely human co-existence and the disintegration of the State itself has already begun." Such an attitude is a contradiction of the very principles of democracy, it is a "move towards a form of totalitarianism" and "a tyrant State."

Sadly, some Catholics are on record publicly encouraging Obama to adopt pro-contraception legislation as a means of reducing abortions in an effort to find "common ground." However, if we support the use and funding of contraception as an alternative to reducing abortions we commit a grave error we have been warned against in Humanae Vitae:"Neither is it valid to argue, as justification for sexual intercourse which is deliberately contraceptive, that a lesser evil is to be preferred to a greater one . . . ." This moral precept is based on the natural law and; therefore, is applicable to all. We must guard against endorsing contraception so that we do not become guilty of it. We cannot rely on contraceptives to justify a vote for Obama.

But does the war justify a vote for Obama? Unlike abortion or contraception the Church has not taught the faithful that the current military effort is unjust and an intrinsic evil. Indeed, the Church has allowed soldiers participating in the war to continue to receive Holy Communion, unlike Kansas Governor Sebelius who was told not to receive it by her Archbishop due to her pro-choice position. In fact, Cardinal Ratzinger has made it clear, "[n]ot all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. For example, if a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. . . . There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia."
Therefore, Catholics who are unhappy with the war cannot point to statements by the Holy See to justify contradicting Catholic teaching on abortion.

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We must remember the warnings of Mother Teresa, who knew a thing or two about serving the poor: "We cannot solve all the problems in the world, but let us never bring in the worst problem of all, and that is to destroy love. This is what happens when we tell people to practice contraception and abortion." We cannot hope to solve America's problems by joining in Obama's call to destroy love and life. Indeed, I often wonder how my fellow Catholics can believe, with any credibility, that a man who cannot even see the value of an innocent human life in the womb, will make military decisions based on Catholic just war teaching.

How different the point of view of Republican candidate John McCain, who has stated that the "noblest words ever written" were "the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" and that those words "apply to the unborn." McCain, on his campaign website, has recognized that "Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned" rather than enshrined as a fundamental right. He wants to "find new ways to empower and strengthen . . . armies of compassion [like pro-life crisis pregnancy centers]" and "will seek ways to promote adoption as a first option for women struggling with a crisis pregnancy." Moreover, McCain voted "to ban the practice of 'fetal farming,' making it a federal crime for researchers to use cells or fetal tissue from an embryo created for research purposes." Additionally, he has promised to only fund stem cell research that "do[es] not involve the use of human embryos." This is the language of a man who understands that the unborn are indeed human beings entitled to the same equality and rights as the rest of us. He recognizes that "[t]here is no greater nobility than to sacrifice for a great cause and no cause greater than protection of human dignity." How different from this are the ideals of Barack Obama who is willing to allow the murder of innocent human life.

In addition, those who wish to impugn McCain's character by describing him as being anti-immigrant, anti-environment or anti-child are in danger of some of the most misleading calumny. John McCain refers to immigrants as God's children. Furthermore, McCain has made a "commitment to conserving America's natural resources and promoting environmental stewardship." Also, McCain is in line with Catholic teaching that parents should have primary control over their child's education by supporting school choice.

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Therefore, the choice is clear this election. Both the Church and our country recognize that the first and fundamental right of every human being is the right to life. Democracy cannot last long when we deem some people unworthy of life. The candidacy of Obama is not built on hope or a bright future, but on despair and death. We deserve better, our country deserves better, our unborn deserve better.

To be continued...

Gunnar Gundersen graduated number one in the Class of 2007 from Pepperdine University School of Law, where he studied Constitutional Law under Professor Douglas W. Kmiec. He is also a former law clerk of Judge O'Scannlain of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

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