Subject: Breaking the Back of the Christian Coalition
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 11:41:09 -0400

EDITOR'S NOTE: "c.c.watch" has provided you with a number of
reports/articles/documents that speak not just to the activity of Pat
Robertson and the Christian Coalition, but also a unique dynamic that
threatens to deal a severe blow to the Coalition's position in American/GOP
politics. The CC is perceived to be very powerful, that it can deliver lots
of votes. Is it? Can it? This year the CC backed itself into somewhat of a
corner by backing Bob Dole early on. The idea was to back someone who was
conservative and who could win.  The Coalition would back him, help deliver
the vote and then collect  -- thereby consolidating more political power for
the advancement of the Pat Robertson political agenda. Bob Dole, however, has
turned out to be a candidate who has very much disappointed evangelical
Christians and who will not win. So while the Christian Coalition continues
to back the GOP candidate, CC grass roots activists are either: 1)
de-energized -- running the gamut from not voting at all to not handing out
CC "voter guides"; or 2) deserting the GOP altogether to support Howard
Phillips and the US Taxpayers Party. The following statement is by Peg
Luksik, who ran as a pro-life third party candidate in PA against Tom Ridge.
PA Christian Coalition Chairman Rick Schenker backed Ridge, thereby incurring
the wrath of Paul Weyrich and splintering the CC in PA to the point that it
had to be reorganized. Schenker formed a separate organization and accepted a
state job from Governor Ridge. Luksik, meanwhile, continues on her path as
the tireless and uncompromising national campaign manager for Howard Phillips
-- who was not allowed to speak at the CC "Road to Victory '96" conference
and who is not included on the CC "voter guide."  Here is Luksik's call for
votes for Mr. Phillips:

      			A Vote Worth Casting by Peg Luksik

        I know many of you are agonizing over this year's Presidential
election. Clinton is so radical that you feel any alternative is preferable
to his reselection. I can sympathize with those feelings.

       But feelings are a bad base for decisions.

        I have decided not to support Bob Dole this year. In fact, I am
serving as Howard Phillips' National Campaign Manager. I want to tell you
why.

        First, I believe that my vote is more a measurement of me than it is
of the candidate I vote for. If I proclaim to have certain absolute values,
then I must be willing to stand by them absolutely.  If a person will vote
against his proclaimed values, then his proclamations are meaningless. An
absolute value does not change. And words don't count, actions do.

        So, if that person proclaims that he is 100% pro-life, but doesn't
vote using that standard as his measuring rod, then he is really not 100%
pro-life. A pro-life position is really only a preference for him. It's not a
value because he will abandon it.

        For me, being 100% pro-life is a value, not just a preference. I
cannot and will not abandon it.

        Second, I believe that if I must apologize for the candidate I vote
for, or his record, to justify my positive vote, than I have used the sacred
trust of the ballot box to tell a lie.

        For example, many of us have been involved in fighting the continued
funding of Planned Parenthood through federal Title X and state dollars.
Pro-life newsletters have decried the pro-funding votes of
Congressmen like Greenwood and Coyne. Yet they overlook the fact that Bob
Dole also consistency voted to fund Planned Parenthood.

        To say that it is wrong for Greenwood or Coyne, and okay for Bob Dole
is hypocrisy. Either we hold everyone to the standard or we abandon the
standard. Otherwise, pro-lifers are sending the messages that standards of
accountability are relative. This is often called situation ethics - and it
is exactly the mentality of the pro-abortion advocates. If pro-lifers must
become as morally bankrupt as pro-aborts to justify voting for a candidate,
what did we win?

        Finally, I believe that my first loyalty must always be to God. If I
want Him to bless my efforts, then I must act in perfect obedience to His
will. And God NEVER compromises! In fact, when Peter suggested to Jesus that
maybe He could be less radical, and maybe avoid the "loss" of the cross, our
Lord called him Satan.  The cross was a defeat. Christ was betrayed, mocked,
tortured, humiliated, and killed. But because He accepted even death to stay
faithful to the fullness of the truth, He was glorified, and we were saved.

        His life is my example. My own experience has proven again and again
that God blesses the efforts of those who act in obedience without
compromise. It has also shown me that when I rationalize disobedience, I walk
away from those blessings, and ultimately lose.

        But I know that many of you are terribly afraid of Bill Clinton. I am
more afraid of losing God's blessing on my work. I am working for Howard
Phillips because he is the ONLY candidate for President who recognizes God's
standard and who upholds it without equivocation or compromise.

        I would urge each of you to ask yourself if God would abandon any of
His most precious little ones if He were standing in the ballot box, and to
trust Him with your vote instead of trusting a politician. He will never
betray your trust.

        God bless you.

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                            U.S. Taxpayers Party
                              1-800-2-VETO-IRS
                         http://www.ustaxpayers.org/
                           "Raising The Standard"

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