Hijacking Christianity? Colorado Senator calls Dobson the Anti-Christ
Sunday, May 01, 2005
It’s sour grapes, pure and simple.
The liberal Democrats are still crying in their soup about having lost the November 2nd Presidential election. They had pinned their hopes on Senator John “Flip Flop” Kerry, and they got trounced.
The American people spoke loud and clear. They didn’t want a man who lied about Vietnam, spoke up for homosexual marriage, and voted six times against the ban on partial birth abortion. The “values voters”, the Christians, finally awoke from their four-year lethargy and showed up at the polls in mass, not only for the Republican ticket, but also for the 11 state constitutional amendments banning sodomite marriage.
Which brings me to the Democrats’ filibuster of President Bush’s pro-life, pro-family judicial nominees. What the leftists cannot accomplish through the legislative and executive branches in elections, in terms of implementing immoral public policy, they will force down the American people’s throats through black-robed liberal judicial tyrants.
How ironic! The Democrats are guilty of the very thing they claim Republicans are doing: forcing their will down the throats of the American people.
Whenever fairly-worded polls are taken on the sanctity of human life question – like parental notification or the partial-birth abortion ban, we inevitably embrace the Biblical ethic in Proverbs 24:11: “Rescue those who are being taken away to death.” And the laws which are slowly chipping away at the egregious 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion reflect the constituents’ defense of unborn babies.
And whenever we get to vote on questions related to the sanctity of marriage – the holy union between one man and one woman – the vote is lopsidedly in favor of the Biblical ethic articulated by no less than Jesus himself in Mark 10:6: “At the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” Even liberal Oregon voted to reject homosexual marriage by 58% of the vote.
The Democrats, led by Tom-Daschle-wannabe Harry Reid, threaten to filibuster anytime the President nominates a pro-life, pro-family judicial candidate. And when they do, a super-majority – or 60 votes out of the 100 – are necessary before Bush’s nominees can get a simple up-or-down vote in the Senate. And since the Republicans only have a 55-45 majority in the Senate, the Democrats get their way.
Family Research Council rightly notes that “A minority of senators can prevent an issue from even coming to a final vote by insisting on continuing to debate it for an indefinite period of time. This process is known as a “filibuster.”
That’s why we need to insist that the Senate change this ridiculous rule, stop the filibustering that empowers the minority party to block the will of the people and allow for an immediate up-or-down simple majority vote on judicial nominees.
Chuck Colson said it best: “If the full Senate were allowed to vote on these fine judges, they would easily be confirmed. But a hostile minority is using the filibuster tactic to prevent such a vote – purely for ideological reasons.”
Remember Miguel Estrada?
Miguel Estrada, a Honduran immigrant, was nominated by President Bush as the first Hispanic ever to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on May 9, 2001. Sadly, he was blocked by the Democrats for two and a half agonizingly long years, choosing to finally withdraw his name from consideration on September 4, 2003. Estrada was the first judicial nominee to a Circuit Court in the history of the United States to be filibustered. Democrats simply refused to allow an up or down vote in the U.S. Senate on his nomination.
Kay Daly, president of the Coalition for a Fair Judiciary, was livid. “The rule of law didn’t matter, his superb qualifications didn’t matter, his exemplary legal career arguing 15 cases in front of the Supreme Court didn’t matter either. All that mattered to these political hacks was keeping Miguel Estrada from the bench. The cost? The message to those immigrants who are nominated for the federal bench is heartbreaking. Your accomplishments and legal acumen matter less than your fidelity to the extremist liberal organizations. It’s appalling.”
“This should be the last time that the Left keeps one of President Bush’s judicial nominees from serving his country.” said Daly. “When an extraordinary man like Miguel Estrada is denied an up or down vote for a seat in the federal judiciary, it is time to take the gloves off.”
And that’s exactly what Dr. James Dobson has done. He’s taken off the gloves. He created a 501(c)4 organization called Focus on the Family Action which enables him to raise money for more direct political expression, through non tax-deductible donations. I’ve given to this new group and urge you to join me.
For example, Dr. Dobson ran full-page newspaper ads across Colorado blasting U.S. Senator Ken Salazar, a Democrat, for breaking his campaign promise to allow an up-or-down vote on President Bush’s judicial nominees. Not surprisingly, Salazar’s constituents began calling and complaining.
What was Salazar’s response? Buckle up your seatbelt. It’s a doozy!
On April 26, Salazar actually stated in an interview with KKTV in Colorado Springs that Focus on the Family is “the antichrist of the world.” The anti-Christ? What has Salazar been smokin’?
I’ve got three conclusions.
1. Senator Salazar is completely clueless about what the Bible teaches about the anti-Christ.
2. Senator Salazar is totally ignorant about the Focus on the Family ministry that you and I love and admire. Or…
3. Senator Salazar just hates this arcane notion of a representative form of government which entitles his constituents to voice their objection to his policies. After all, he was not appointed king, he was elected senator.
But again, we have the pot calling the kettle black as Senator Salazar accuses Dr. Dobson of the very thing he himself is guilty of. “Jim Dobson is not our president, and he’s not our senator,” Salazar said. “The right-wing part of the Republican Party and the so-called Christian conservative organizations like Focus on the Family have essentially tried to hijack the American government. I don’t think that’s what the American people want. That’s not what I want.”
Plus, he accused Focus of “hijacking” Christianity and trying to turn America into a theocracy.
Is anybody, except for Ted Kennedy, buying this nonsensical left-wing diatribe?
Salazar seems to be suggesting that Christians, like you and I, are no longer welcome in the public marketplace of ideas. He doesn’t want us to participate in the political process.
It’s another Polaroid snapshot of how those of us who name Christ as Savior, and have an interest in representing His righteous values in society, are the last politically correct punching bag in America.
To be honest, I think Senator Salazar is pitching a fit not unlike the 5-year-old boy who bursts into an uncontrollable rage of tears and threats in Wal-Mart when his mother says she won’t buy him a Kit Kat bar.
Pat Trueman of the Family Research Council, put Salazar’s comments into some helpful context for Family News in Focus. “In attacking Dr. Dobson, he’s attacking a major figure in the pro-family movement in America,” said Trueman. “Dr. Dobson is someone who has the respect of millions of Americans – people who believe, as he does, that the Democrats are wrong in their effort to target people of faith who are nominated for federal courts.”
Not to mention the fact that it’s unheard of for a United States Senator to attack such a major figure in his own state in such a vitriolic, personal manner.
This isn’t rocket science. Unless there are legitimate ethical concerns about a given judicial nominee, the President has always been allowed to appoint whom he pleases.
I love how Colson puts it. “The Senate is to give its advice and consent – not demand ideological purity. The advice and consent clause, [Alexander] Hamilton noted was intended to provide a check upon a president who would, say, appoint his brother, or engage in favoritism, or reward family connections or personal benefactors – nothing more.”
Why does this matter to you? Simple.
As Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council notes: “Many of the negative changes in American society over recent decades have been imposed by judges. The removal of prayer from public schools, the creation of a nationwide “right” to abortion, and the legalization of same-sex “marriage” in Massachusetts were all decisions imposed by activist judges, without considering the will of the people and their elected representatives.”
If that’s not reason enough to take a stand, I don’t know what is.
TAKE A STAND ACTION STEPS:
1. To object to U.S. Senator Ken Salazer, the Democrat from Colorado, calling Focus on the Family the “anti-Christ of the world” for simply objecting to the Democratic filibuster, call (202) 224-5852 and e-mail him through: salazar.senate.gov/contactus.cfm
2. Call U.S. Senator John Cornyn at 202-224-2934 and in San Antonio at 210-224-7485 and ask him to stop the Democratic filibuster of President Bush’s pro-life, pro-family judicial nominations.
3. Call Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison at 202-224-5922 and in San Antonio at 210-340-2885.
4. Call these seven liberal Republican Senators and insist that they allow for a simple majority up-or-down vote: Sen. Mike DeWine (OH), 202-224-2315, Sen. John Warner (VA), 202-224-2023, Sen. Susan Collins (ME), 202-224-2523, Sen. John Sununu (NH), 202-224-2841, Sen. Lincoln Chafee (RI), 202-224-2921, Sen. John McCain (AZ), 202-224-2235 and Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME), 202-224-5344.
5. Learn more about this issue at http://www.focusaction.org/ and contribute money to help Dr. James Dobson in this critical battle of our time. Send your check to: Focus on the Family Action, 8655 Explorer Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80920-1050, call toll-free (866) 655-4545.
----------------------------------- |
