Ally of the Light Not of the Darkness?
Like many Americans, I stayed up later last night to tune into Frm. Vice President Joe Biden’s DNC nomination acceptance speech. While the speech was full of glittering generalities, finger pointing and some repetitive slogans, the line the stuck out and hit me to the core the most was the following -
“Here and now, I give you my word: If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us not the worst. I will be an ally of the light not of the darkness.”
On the surface, one could quickly glaze over at that line as it was stuck in the middle of other “nice” phrases, but I could not. I have repeatedly thought about that line all day long. Why? When Biden stood up there and accepted the nomination to run as the Democratic candidate for the 2020 US Presidential election, he committed directly to support the platform of the Democratic Party. You can take a look at the full platform here but I encourage you to look further at pages 32 and 42 specifically. Let this quote sink in -
“Democrats believe every woman should be able to access high-quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion. We oppose and will fight to overturn federal and state laws that create barriers to women’s reproductive health and rights, including by repealing the Hyde Amendment and protecting and codifying the right to reproductive freedom.” (Democratic Party Platform for Distribution, page 42)
NO abortion is safe. NO abortion should ever be legal. ABORTION IS MURDER! Yes, I might be a bit triggered writing this response as I am currently feeling my 33 week baby boy kick around inside of me. What breaks my heart, though, is the fact that the World Health Organization estimates that each year 40 to 50 million innocent, voiceless babies are aborted. That is around 125,000 babies every. single. day.
For a party that claims to believe that “science matters,” “black lives matter,” “women’s rights matter,” let me put out these three challenges -
If science matters, why is it that someone will be charged with double murder if murdering a pregnant woman, but the elective termination of a pregnancy (aka abortion) is applauded. Scientifically, that baby (individual life) with a separate beating heart is the same baby in terms of development and life as the baby murdered in that double murder tragedy. Science and medicine is incredible! Lyla Stensrud will soon turn 6 years old and was born at 21 weeks. 21 weeks. You can read her story here. So the party of science would applaud the murder of a baby at 21 weeks gestation over the miracle that a baby born at only 21 weeks could now be thriving at 6 years old.
If “black lives matter,” why is it that a tragic number of minority babies are aborted each year in the US? Why is it that someone who wrote “Black Baby Lives Matter” in front of Planned Parenthood in Washington, DC was arrested a few weeks ago?
If “women’s rights” matter, when do those rights start? Don’t they start immediately when one’s gender is determined in utero? What about the millions of innocent, voiceless women who are aborted? Or do “women’s rights” only start at a subjective time when it is politically convenient?
I could go on but I won’t. Here’s the point, nothing is darker or more evil than murder - the direct termination of another life. A human life begins at conception. A baby in the womb is an innocent and voiceless life. The termination of that baby’s life by the mother, doctor, or a criminal perpetrator is murder. A man who stands in front of the nation with a straight face and claims - “Here and now, I give you my word: If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us not the worst. I will be an ally of the light not of the darkness.” - yet openly supports a platform that fully supports abortion - the direct termination of a voiceless, innocent life- is beyond a hypocrite but worse directly promoting what is dark and evil and nothing remotely close to what is light.
And to speak to drawing on the best. Is encouraging a “quick fix,” end of an innocent baby’s life rather than supporting and encouraging life, supporting moms who are faced with unexpected pregnancies and supporting the family unit to be a safe haven to raise children, even close to drawing on the best?
Most people do like to look at how a candidate stands on a variety of issues, but at least for myself, the buck stops there with the issue of life. If someone stands before me and openly supports the murder of an innocent human being, that is a true deal breaker. All lives matter, and that includes the most vulnerable who are yet to have a voice on the outside but certainly are fully human on the inside.