Gubernatorial Election: What to Do, What to Do…

Written by Laurie Higgins

Maybe Illinois conservatives, beaten down by Illinois politics and bad governance, badgered by fellow Republicans, and panicking because they focus too much on the short-term nightmarish picture they see before their eyes, will at the last moment fold and vote for Bruce Rauner. That would be a huge mistake.

The long-term health of the party, the state, and the nation depends not solely or even centrally on tax rates for businesses but on issues related to respect for human life, marriage, and sexuality. The fact that so many Republicans don’t see that bodes ill for Illinois and America. Having Pinocchio Rauner at the helm of the Republican Party will exacerbate the ignorance on these issues, and the GOP will continue to rot from within.

We don’t need any more evidence of Rauner’s unfitness for office, but here goes. On Father’s Day, Rauner chose to demonstrate his contempt—again—for conservative voters by marching in the shameful homosexual “pride” parade in Aurora, Illinois. On the day that commemorates fathers, he marched in a parade that celebrates the intrinsically sterile unions of people who are acquiring children like commodities and intentionally depriving children of fathers (and mothers).

We cannot rebuild, repair, or restore the GOP at either the state or national level as long as we continue to support and sustain leadership that corrupts it ideologically. If we recognize that reality, we are left with three options with regard to the choice between Pinocchio Rauner and J.B. Pritzker:

1.) Don’t vote

2.) Vote for a third-party or write-in candidate

3.) Vote for Pritzker

The first two options spare voters from violating their consciences by voting for a man who told IFI that he believes life begins at conception and then pours his own money into the coffers of the baby-killing profiteers at Planned Parenthood. Most conservatives don’t view option #1 as justifiable. Self-governance and civic participation are obligations.

Then there’s option #3, which isn’t really a vote for Pritzker. Rather, it’s a more efficacious way of ensuring Rauner’s defeat. Not giving Rauner a vote hurts Rauner’s electoral chances. Giving a vote to Pritzker hurts Rauner’s electoral chances even more. The question before voters is, how critical is it to the long-term health of the Republican Party that candidates like Rauner are defeated.

Brilliant Princeton University law professor and eloquent defender of life and marriage, Robert George, offered these helpful and applicable comments regarding a California congressional race several years ago between a homosexual Republican candidate and a Democrat:

If I were in the district, I could not in conscience vote for the Republican. His election would do greater harm to the causes of life, marriage, and religious liberty than would the election of his Democratic opponent, as bad as that guy himself is on these issues. The question is whether to abstain or to cast a tactical vote in favor of the Democrat. In circumstances like these, I believe that tactical voting is morally permissible, and it would improve the likelihood of the least bad outcome….

The partisans of abortion and marriage redefinition have a lock on the Democratic Party now. Effective dissent of any type is not possible. Having gained that lock on one party, they are now turning their resources and attention to weakening the pro-life and pro-marriage reality witness of the Republican Party…. I can think of no more urgent priority than preventing that from happening. Maintaining and solidifying the pro-life and pro-marriage reality stance of the Republican Party is critical. That’s why tactical voting, including voting for bad Democrats over bad Republicans, is IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES (e.g., where the election of a Democrat does not jeopardize Republican control of a legislative house), morally legitimate and perhaps even advisable. We must not let the pro-abortion and pro-marriage redefinition movements strengthen their positions in the Republican Party. We must make the Republican Party as solid for life and marriage as the Democrats now are for the contrary positions.

Even though five U.S. Supreme Court Justices imposed same-sex faux-marriage on the country, issues related to homosexuality and the “trans” ideology remain critical and, therefore, so does tactical voting. Already in Illinois, Republican leadership is barely distinguishable from that of Democrats. We must not allow their ideological commitments to metastasize within the party.

Because of political leaders like Bruce Rauner and Pat Brady, media personalities like Guy Benson and Milo Yiannopoulis, and agitprop groups like the Log Cabin Republicans, the GOP is abandoning critical conservative positions on homosexuality, the “trans” ideology, the rights of children, marriage, and religious liberty. How long will it be before the party abandons conservative positions on speech rights in its obsequious deference to the “LGBTQ” agenda? Conservatives better take a stand while they can. Yes, there will be short-term pain, but that’s the cost of restoring conservatism after decades of cowardice and capitulation.

Since the moral miscreant Michael J. Madigan (D-Chicago) wields near-absolute power in Springfield and throughout the state, Republicans can accomplish little, which means ensuring Rauner’s loss risks little legislatively. And we already know what No-Social-Agenda Rauner will do with any social issues legislation that lands on his desk: He will do the same damnable thing Pritzker will do.

Whether it’s your view on abortion, homosexuality, co-ed private spaces, or this election, ask yourself who gets most enraged about your views. If it’s Hollywood, MSNBC, or RINOS, you can be confident your views are right. You know who will fume with rage if conservatives choose to use their vote to ensure Rauner’s defeat (i.e., by voting for Pritzker)? RINOs like Pat Brady, that’s who will fume. Brady is the oleaginous back-stabber who still swashbuckles his way around the upper echelons of Republican politics in Illinois even after being forced out of his leadership position because he snuck around behind the scenes trying to coerce Illinois lawmakers to legalize same-sex faux-marriage.

Conservatives often say that “progressives,” are committed to relativism and subjectivism (i.e., there are no absolute, objective, transcendent moral truths), tolerance, and diversity, and yet “progressives” don’t really subscribe to those philosophical claims. They believe that absolute, objective, transcendent moral claims exist, and they are intolerant of beliefs that deviate from theirs.

But what is the source of their moral claims? Here are some important questions to consider:

• On what basis has Rauner determined that there exists a moral right for women to have the humans in their wombs exterminated and that taxpayers should subsidize those killings?

• What forms his moral conclusion that the government should participate in the science-denying fiction that men should be deemed women because they wish they were?

• Who or what does he look to for his belief that homoeroticism is worthy of public celebration?

• What is his epistemology (i.e., the study of the grounds for knowledge; the study of what differentiates justified belief from opinion)?

• Are Margaret Sanger and Cecile Richards the gods goddesses he serves?

• Is Equality Illinois his god?

• Is woefully unstable social science research the grounds for the moral claims that animate and impel his actions?

• Has he ever thought deeply about these questions or been called on to defend the presuppositions that guide decisions that affect the lives of the most vulnerable humans?

If you think the long-term health of the GOP matters, then please think deeply about the best way to work toward it as we approach the November election.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

Summer-Time Challenge

As you may know, IFA has a summer-time matching challenge to raise $40,000. That’s right, a great group of supporters are colluding with us to provide an $20,000 matching challenge to help support IFA’s work to help elect pro-family candidates to the Illinois General Assembly.

Please consider helping us reach this goal!  Your donation will help us with a strong get-out-the-vote effort in the November election!  To make a credit card donation over the phone, please call the IFA office at (708) 781-9371.  You can also send a gift to:

Illinois Family Action
P.O. Box 93
Mokena, IL  60448