The Illinois Federation for Right to Life (IFRL) Political Action Committee (PAC) has published its endorsements for the upcoming 2010 Illinois Primary to take place on February 2nd, 2010.
Anyone can view and download the endorsements by visit the IFRL website at www.ifrl.org and clicking on the 2010 Primary Election Link near the top of the page.
Published are the Candidate Surveys, Candidate Responses and IFRL-PAC Endorsements.
The IFRL-PAC's mission is to help those who want their vote to protect the unborn, the disabled and the elderly. Those endagered innocent lives that are being threatened need men and women in government who respect all human life.
It is not the PAC's intent to control any political party. It the PAC's intent to elect men and women of all political parties who will speak for and vote for legislation to protect the first and most important right for all of us - our right to life.
When more than one pro-life candidate seeks the same office, IFRL PAC always endorses the pro-life incumbent. There are a few candidates who we recommend over the opponent. The IFRL PAC has even endorsed a candidate who had no opposition. The purpose of that endorsement is to keep you informed that we continue our support because the candidate continues to support the right to life issues.
The IFRL-PAC Endorsements page is paid for by the IFRL-PAC, connected with the Illinois Federation for Right to Life, Inc. and was not authorized by any of the candidates. James M. Quirke, Treasurer. A copy of our report is on file and is available for purchase from the Federal Election Commission, Washington, D.C., and the Illinois State Board of Elections, Springfield, IL.
VOTING WITH A CLEAR CONSCIENCE
1. Vote!
First, make sure you actually vote. Primary Election Day is Febraury 2nd, 2010. Take advantage of early voting if your state allows it, and if you’re going to be out of state or are homebound, use an absentee ballot! Bring your voting decisions to prayer.
2. Know the candidates.
Be sure you know where the candidates stand on the issues.
3. Reject the Disqualified.
If a candidate came forward and said, “I support terrorism,” you wouldn’t say, “I disagree with you on terrorism, but what’s your health care plan?” Similarly, those who permit the destruction of innocent life by abortion disqualify themselves from consideration.
4. Distinguish Policy from Principle
Most disagreements between candidates and political platforms do not have to do with principle (“Is there a ‘Right to Crime?’”), but rather with policy (“How do we reduce crime?”). But the dispute over whether there is a right to life does deal with principle, and is therefore more fundamental.
5. Weigh other issues properly.
Not all issues have equal weight. The Catholic Church teaches that war and capital punishment, for example, may at times be morally justified, but abortion and euthanasia never are.
6. Keep your loyalty focused on Jesus.
Your loyalty to Jesus Christ must be stronger than your loyalty to any political party.
7. Remember, the Party Matters.
Elections do not only put individual candidates into power; they put political parties into power. Consider what the parties stand for, and how the outcome of the election affects the balance of power.
8. Distinguish “choosing evil” from “limiting evil.”
If two opposing candidates both support abortion, then ask: Which of the two candidates will do less harm to unborn children? This is not "choosing the lesser of two evils," but rather choosing to limit an evil, and that is a good.
9. Support the candidate with more than your vote!
Additional activities include donating to the campaign, volunteering for the campaign, handing out literature for the candidate, making phone calls and visits on the candidate’s behalf, sending emails, using yard signs and bumper stickers, and praying for the candidate.
Elections are not contests between two candidates. They are contests between two teams. The bigger and more active team will bring in the most votes.
10. Mobilize as many other voters as possible!
Each of us has one vote, but each of us can mobilize hundreds, even thousands of votes. Focus on mobilizing those who agree with you rather than convincing those who don’t. If you can take the day off on Election Day, do so. Spend the day contacting people by phone and email, reminding them to vote, and helping them get to the polls.
By: Fr. Frank Pavone, MEV
NO APOLOGIES FOR BEING SINGLE ISSUE VOTERS
Some well intentioned but misguided friends often suggest that a vote based only on a candidate's position on Life Issues is simply narrow. Doesn't single issue voting disclose a lack of interest in and knowledge of other vital issues-especially education, immigration and health care matters?
Absolutely not! A citizen's right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness are worth nothing if he/she can be put to death without trial. A very wise man once said, "You can be more or less poor; you can be more or less hungry; but you cannot be more or less dead."
The Non-negotiable issues of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, human cloning, traditional marriage, have been set apart. The first four are life issues dealing with deliberate homicide against which we have always had protective laws. If a candidate is willing to express his support for any one of these forms of homicide, what difference should it make what his position is on education or health care? Father Pavone of Priests for Life asks: "If your candidate declares his support for terrorism, would you even ask him how he stood on immigration or any other matter?"
How can it be possible that more than thirty-four years have passed without these specific instructions being promulgated? The problem heretofore could have been our rather reasonable assumption that the value of innocent human life is far too obvious to call for special instruction on how to vote, allowing consciences to become plastic. Now, we face the assertion that it's the law and we just have to get used to it. Did we get used to slavery when it also was the law? Will we be more ready to defy God's law than to reject our allegiance to one political party?
A criticism frequently leveled at single-issue voters has to do with capital punishment. Some will contend that we have no right to support the cause of Life if we do not at the same time and with the same force denounce capital punishment. Misinformation abounds on the position of the Catholic Church on capital punishment. The Church officially condemns abortion; it doesn't forbid capital punishment in principle. Pope John Paul II merely gave it his own considered view that in our time capital punishment will no longer be defensible. His personal judgment carries weight but does not have the status of official teaching.
Bishop Rene Gradida, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, declared: "There is no clear unequivocal position of the Church on such issues as minimum wage, education, health care matters, immigration etc." From this we are to understand there is no moral equivalence between these lesser issues and the intrinsic evils, which are always gravely evil in themselves and prohibited by absolute moral norms derived from the natural law.
By: Irene Napier, Right to Life McHenry County
