President Clinton and the Children
from "WND" on www.worldnetdaily.com
October 21, 2000
By Alan Keyes

In the final weeks of a presidential campaign, it is easy to overlook the importance of the thousands of local, state, and congressional elections.... But the fabric of our liberty is woven, or frayed, by our decisions in these elections as well. This has always been the case, of course. But there is particular reason in our time to think that the outcome of local political contests may become increasingly important....

Success for conservatives in national and local elections...will come to candidates who successfully point out to voters the danger posed by the Clinton legacy to the distinguishing public good of American life, which is liberty. To win, we must remind citizens that the purpose of American politics is not money, but defending the claim of ordinary men and women to responsibly to shape the destiny of their communities. We are a people who have brought the dream of freedom to life by turning it from an abstract hope into a living reality. To win, and to deserve to win, conservatives must remind their fellow citizens of what makes liberty possible -- even in the sometimes-mundane context of local politics.

It is clear what made it possible in America. Our founders understood the essential principle of liberty and enshrined it in the founding document of American life, our Declaration of Independence. America was born free because we professed that the basis for human justice, dignity and rights is the will and authority of our Creator, God. This principle has been our national bulwark against the abuse of human power.

As long as it has been professed in America, we have been able to be confident that we, the people, would not ultimately acquiesce in the suppression of human dignity. We have been confident that, as a people, we are still resolved to seek and accomplish the justice that the Creator of our liberty ordained as the purpose of political life. As long as America has been devoted to its founding principles of justice, Americans have been resistant to the many siren songs of tyranny -- particularly because we believed ourselves able and willing to accomplish justice on our own, without the coercive push of government. The liberal plan for government to run our families, schools and communities has fallen mostly on deaf ears as long as we have trusted in our own resolve to manage those precious institutions, to care for one another out of our own decent motivations and in fulfillment of our God-given mandate to seek justice and the common good.

Indeed, the liberal effort to establish government domination of these tasks has almost always had its success outside the communities of those voting to support it. They have convinced us that people in other communities, other states, other "socioeconomic categories," need to have their schools and families run for them. Seldom have they convinced us that we need that help in our own neighborhood. For the most part, even today, we know better.

In our local communities, our resolve to maintain our liberty will be strong so long as we believe that we will use that liberty responsibly to accomplish justice. If we come to believe that, as a people, we are no longer committed to the path of justice, then we will acknowledge that we need a government to take over for us because we are incompetent to take care of ourselves. And the corrupting pushers of addictive federal therapy will always be eager to "help" us abandon the task....

Either our rights are here by the will of God or not a single one of us is safe in our claim to rights and freedoms. Deny it to the innocents in the womb and we have denied it, in principle, to ourselves. People who are unwilling to care for unborn children cannot convincingly and reliably claim to care for the born ones. When their passions and private interests make it convenient to withdraw their care from other "categories" of persons, they will do so....

We live today in what might be called the aftermath of principled civility. Civility is a fading fashion among some of us, toward some of us -- and we all know it. And we are all wondering who will next follow the abortionists in deciding that there are more satisfying ways to conduct our affairs than by being civil. It is not idle to wonder how long disputes about property taxes, zoning, and educational jurisdiction can be resolved bloodlessly within the institutions of civil government under such circumstances. Eventually, a new fashion will arise. Or, rather, a fashion as old as the bloodstained history of man -- might makes right, to the victor go the spoils. America was supposed to mark the end of that brutal fashion for good.

If we are going to remove the question mark behind our capacity for self-government, then we must first restore our respect for the moral principles that guarantee us against the abuse of rights -- the first of which is the principle that our rights come from God, not from any human choice. Then we must reclaim those responsibilities and rights that allow us to govern our families, our schools, and our communities. By restoring our moral foundations, by reclaiming our rightful sovereignty and discipline as a people, we can put this Republic back on the path of self-government....

Conservatives can not only win elections at every level, but they can do so in the right way and for the right reasons if they invite voters to join them in the task of vindicating the possibility of self-government at every level. It will require tact, courage, and real human wisdom. But a political movement devoted to a national re-examination of the prerequisites of civility -- which are respect for the divinely authored principle of human equality and the self-mastery implied by that principle -- can rely on deep roots in the souls of our fellow citizens.

Many of the candidates running in local elections are trying, more or less, to play their part in such a political movement. It's a hard job and conservative voters can be hard to please. So uphold our standards -- but don't be too hard on your local conservative. If he has a heart for the real work of restoring principled civility to our public life, then help get him into office. Much depends on electing men and women at all levels who will at least recognize what moral obligation is and who can, if only by example, help remind a confused citizenry of the inescapable connection between morality and freedom....