By Carol Tobias, President

Editor’s note. This appears in the just-released July issue of National Right to Life News. Please enjoy this story—and all the other stories, analyses, editorials, and President’s column.

Please also share with your pro-life family and friends. You are welcome to write me with any comment. My email address is daveandrusko@gmail.com.

My favorite holidays are Christmas and Easter because of what they mean for the world. Right after that comes the 4th of July, Independence Day, because of what it means for our country.

I enjoy parades, I love the fireworks and the patriotic music of John Philip Sousa, such as “The Washington Post March” and “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Even though it was written about winning a battle in Europe, who doesn’t feel their heart beating just a little faster when the cannons boom during the “1812 Overture”?

But most of all, I love our rich history; the wisdom and strength of our founding fathers who were determined to create a country where all could be free and all had specific individual rights that could not be denied, even by a majority.

As this wonderful new country was in its early stages, John Adams wrote, “It has been the will of Heaven that we should be thrown into existence at a period when the greatest philosophers and lawgivers of antiquity would have wished to live … a period when a coincidence of circumstances without example has afforded to thirteen colonies at once an opportunity of beginning government anew from the foundation and building as they choose. How few of the human race have ever had an opportunity of choosing a system of government for themselves and their children? How few have ever had anything more of choice in government than in climate?”

We can’t choose our climate, but we can choose our government.

We just celebrated the 248th anniversary of Independence Day, an amazing event in world history. It’s up to us to decide whether this system of government is a lasting example for the world or whether the experiment was nice while it lasted.

The Declaration of Independence states it is “self-evident,” that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Yet there is an incredibly well-funded force, working to deny the first right—Life—to certain members of the human family.

We can’t let that philosophy win.

I have some questions for you: Do you know who represents you in your state legislature? Can you name your U.S. Representative and your two Senators? Many of our laws are defended by a state attorney general. Do you know who your AG is? Does he/she vigorously defend laws to protect preborn children or to protect abortion?

Are you registered to vote? Are you going to vote? If you are not registered to vote, please do so today. (I think John Adams would be disappointed if you didn’t.)

Do you understand the magnitude of the elections now just a couple months away? Of course you do.

After all, to a very large extent, I’m speaking to the choir. People involved in the pro-life movement are active and aware of what is going on in our federal, state, and local governments.

But are your friends and neighbors? How about your kids and grandkids?

I spoke recently with a woman who said she had her grandchildren learn the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. I recently looked up the US citizenship test to see if I knew as much as I should. We can always do more to make even ourselves more aware of what is happening around us.

We have an amazing system of government, but its health, even its survival, depends on citizens staying aware and being involved. Saying “I don’t pay attention to that stuff” contributes to the eventual fall of this democratic Republic.

At times, we can be frustrated or discouraged. It’s easy to think that all politicians are crooks or that we can’t really do anything to make changes, so why even try. But if and when enough of us decide to be involved, and bring others along with us, we can make changes, even fundamental changes. (Remember Dobbs which overthrew Roe?)

Begin at the beginning. Start at the local level. Who is on your school board, who serves on the city council or county commission? These are the people who are likely to one day become your governor or senator. Where do they stand on issues that matter to you? If you don’t know, find out. If they’re good, help them get re-elected. If they’re bad, find someone to run against them. Maybe you are the one to challenge them.

Rev. Everett Edward Hale, who served as Chaplain for the U.S. Senate from 1903 to 1909, wrote, “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”

With pride in the United States of America and with determination to see it fulfill its potential, we will continue to proclaim that every human life is created equal, and that every life is endowed by his/ her Creator with the unalienable right to life.