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NRL News
“Bringing
LIFE to the Heart of America ... Last night I took part in an ad hoc committee called together by a group to which I belong whose goal that evening was to produce a “mission/vision statement.” One gentleman, who has been a party to the creation of many such statements, said it takes a lot of time and effort to produce such a document, but that it would be well worth it. Such formulations not only tell our members what we are about, he said, they also shape the way we are understood by others. I thought of that when I read Holly Smith’s delightful come-to-NRLC 2007 story that appears on page 18. As she explains, “Bringing LIFE to the Heart of America ... Bringing the Heart of America to Life!” is this year’s slogan. While these 14 words are a rallying cry to come to Kansas City June 14–16, they are more than this: they articulate a very revealing mission/vision statement for our Movement. They help us understand what we are about, and why. And they challenge the conscience of a nation to see not only unborn babies for who they are, but also who their champions—you!—for who we are. Pro-lifers are amazingly creative in the manner in which they accomplish this difficult mission. Take what pollster and author Kellyanne Conway said at last year’s convention’s opening session held in Nashville. Her analysis of polling data was mesmerizing. What sticks out in my memory are two related points she made early in her presentation. First, that we “have two lobes of the brain so we can hold inconsistent thoughts at the same time.” She illustrated that with our fascination with change. One lobe of our brain is in love with change, options, and alternatives, Conway said. The other lobe “recoils” when we are actually asked to make a change, or exercise an option. Partly as a reflection of this, partly as a cause of this, Americans support the status quo. That’s where we come in. “Remember,” she told her audience, “People are anchored to the status quo because inertia is the most powerful physical force unless and until it is overcome by friction. And you must be the friction. Unapologetically, you must be the friction to overcome the inertia.” We have abortion on demand, not because the American people were eager to raze the laws of 50 state legislatures, but because the Supreme Court of the United States treated the legal status quo with utter contempt. Justice Harry Blackmun rummaged around in his sack of eye-popping historical inaccuracies and worn-out clichés, and pulled out absurd conclusions based on shoddy legal scholarship, liberation-now gibberish, and a calculated indifference to the humanity of the unborn child. Americans have enormous respect for the rule of law and the Supreme Court, which, alas, often does not share that respect. However shakily, Roe remains standing because of this, and because turning the Court around when it has made a disastrous decision is like turning around an ocean liner. The Court may have begun to swing in the direction of legal sanity, but that turnabout does not happen overnight. Our job is to continue to do what we’ve faithfully done for 34 years: be the friction that is gradually overcoming the inertia that keeps Roe v. Wade on the books. Trust me, that day is coming, provided you and I never give up. As part of that commitment, if you can, please come to NRLC 2007 where you will learn just how much you have already accomplished and how much more you can do on behalf of the littlest Americans. |