Michigan is what’s known as a “target state.” We’re a big state that the Democrats want to control. This means we’re in the spotlight. Even if we want to avoid the elections, we can’t. In truth, we shouldn’t. Tuesday, August 4, is Primary Election Day. Please don’t sit this one out.
Peggy Noonan, President Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter, famously wrote, “Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls.”
I remember fondly the days of bipartisan support for commonsense state legislation like parental consent for abortion and protections against using taxpayer dollars to fund other people’s elective abortion. Overwhelming support for a ballot initiative in the late 90s to defeat the threat of physician-assisted suicide. These family-friendly, life-affirming positions enjoyed support across the aisle. There were, as many agreed, issues that transcended politics – issues that strengthened our families and communities, issues that were distinctly American.
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I take comfort in the idea that we might again return to that shared sentiment. Any hope of doing so lies in our commitment to stay engaged in the democratic process and exercise our right, our duty, to vote.
Yet, both Republicans and Democrats have difficulty turning out their traditional supporters or “base” voters for elections. Sadly, pro-life voter turnout drops during midterms – it dropped 19% from 2016 to 2018, and then 26% from 2020 to 2022. Why have we decided to exercise our right to vote and stand in the gap for the unborn only every four years? If that happens this year, our candidates will lose. Our issue will face another setback, and lives will be lost.
It strikes me that voting is the simplest of tasks with the greatest impact on everything from gas and grocery prices to children’s safety and security. Yet political parties, candidates and interest groups spend billions imploring their supporters simply to vote.
This year, leaders in the Democratic Party are taking it one step further.
Pro-abortion Democrat candidates and consultants are working tirelessly to discourage Republican voters. Why vote this year, some might suggest. While Trump isn’t on the ballot, they want to cast his shadow over the entire country – if you don’t like Trump, vote Democrat; if you did like Trump and aren’t sure anymore, well, what’s the point?
Don’t buy what they’re selling! Democrat politicians in our state care about one thing – POWER.
Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s Secretary of State and the lead Democrat candidate for governor, announced “The Road to Trifecta,” a bus tour seeking to win the governor’s mansion and both the state Senate and state House. The name of the tour isn’t about a policy she wants to champion to bring down prices, improve children’s test scores, or fix the d### roads. It’s about securing the levers of power. How revealing…and troubling.
The Democrats have occupied the governor’s mansion for eight years, with control of both chambers of the state legislature for a portion of it. We know what they do when they have unbridled power, and it’s time for a new path in our state. The destruction they’ve wrought is almost incomprehensible. Jocelyn Benson wants it back.
The elections this year are entirely about Michigan – our families, our communities and our future. The president is not on the ballot. Our governor, state Senate, state House, dozens of local races and a handful of critical Congressional races are front and center. In each and every race, the primary focus is Michigan.
As you consider voting this year, I invite you to ask yourself two questions:
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- Do you love America and care about its future, for your children and your children’s children?
- Do you care about the cause of life here in Michigan?
If you answered yes to these questions, please say “yes” to voting this year!
The stakes are high. If we fail to vote, we hand over our entire government to the anti-life Democrat political leadership. Physician-assisted suicide will be legalized. Parental rights will be further chipped away. Children will be targeted in schools with abortion. It’s a dark path. If we care about the future of our state, this is an election we cannot sit out.
There will be some who suggest this article is too political. I disagree. Sadly, Democratic Party leaders have failed women, the country and our state by making abortion a litmus test for public office. They refuse to support candidates who won’t peddle their dark anti-life, anti-family agenda. Their answer to unplanned pregnancy is singularly abortion and, instead of working to secure safeguards for women, they’ve made it even less safe. I hope that changes in the years ahead, but for now, we know where they stand.
At Right to Life of Michigan, we are supporting candidates who advocate another choice – the choice for life, candidates who are committed to ensuring women have the support they need to make a choice for life if they would like to do so. It’s a straightforward proposition. One that will not only impact the future of our state but have ripple effects across the country.
Please take 30 minutes. Find your polling location at https://mvic.sos.state.mi.us/Voter/Index. Then print your pro-life ballot at rtl.org/vote. Vote in the August 4 Primary Election and the November 3 General Election. Let’s take back our state!
LifeNews Note: Right to Life of Michigan President Amber Roseboom is the author of this opinion column.
