Many people are concerned that governments should not be selected on the basis of one issue only. Editors, journalists and media commentators in general are drilling into people’s heads that they must not submit to “pressure groups” or “special interest” faction in supporting a candidate for political office.
While there is some truth in this position, it is only a partial one. Everything hinges on the question: what issue?
Abortion is unlike any other issue in a political campaign.
Despite the fact that it was part of an Omnibus Bill, together with 108 other changes to the Criminal Code it is unlike any other political act in our history. It made Canadians take the place o f God in deciding who will live and who will die; a claim which is intolerable and directly contrary to the common good of our country.
Those who favour legal abortions in some form legal abortions in some form or other disqualify themselves from an elected office as far as the truly conscientious voter is concerned; they do so, let us say, in the same way as those who openly espouse racism or are publicly known to advocate the violent overthrow of society.
To argue that such people may have other good qualities and therefore should be judged on their overall average is no acceptable. If they are wrong on an issue which is vital to the good conduct and order of society, they should be shunned and rejected rather than supported and accepted.
After those who have disqualified themselves have been removed from the list of Candidates in one’s constituency, the voter can proceed to qualify the remaining candidates on other issues. The one-issue anti-abortion campaign is not a platform from which one can or should elect someone; it is a campaign not to elect someone.
What happen when all candidates in a riding accept the right to abortion? See elsewhere in this issue.
