Bob Marshall Writes "Trump: The lesser of two evils, still an obligatory choice."

Yesterday I posted a link to Edward Feser's article about the election and the dilemma it poses for social conservatives. Today, I offer Bob Marshall's thoughtful perspective. Bob was a Virginia state delegate for many years, often described as the "conscience of the Virginia General Assembly". He was ousted by a transexual who campaigned with ads putting on his dressup makeup to masquerade as a woman. Certainly doesn't say much for the intelligence of the voters in Bob's district.

I've known Bob Marshall for at least 40 years and worked with him on a number of pro-life activities. He's the real deal! I don't trust many politicians, but Bob is a man who is uncorruptable, a man after God's own heart. So when he expresses an opinion, I take it seriously. Consider Bob's message and add it to your prayers for discernment. May God save us from the gathering storm of evil!

Trump: The lesser of two evils, still an obligatory choice.

By Robert G. Marshall ( bio - articles - email ) | Aug 27, 2024

Donald Trump has made it clear that he is no longer the solidly pro-life candidate which he seemed to be in previous elections. Indeed, many Americans who are disappointed with Trump’s manifest deficiencies may consider simply not bothering to vote in the 2024 Presidential election. But in considering this option, it is important to realize two things: First, often in politics we can only protect the good by voting for the lesser of two evils. Second, the Democratic candidate for President and her running mate favor policies which are far, far more evil than anything the Republican candidates would support.

Harris and Walz are called progressives, social democrats, socialists, fellow travelers, radicals, liberals, leftists, etc., but in effect they are really very much like Marxists who tolerate no dissent. Victor Davis Hanson said Democrats “have nominated two neo-Marxists who are openly proud of what they have done.” Steve Forbes noted that the Harris-Walz team is promoting “the most radical leftist Stalinist policies in American history.” To avoid a deadly (but often understandable) apathy, we should review the very grave threats we will face to the right to life, our personal liberty and livelihood, parental authority and family security if Harris-Walz beat Trump-Vance. It is also important to understand that not voting allows Harris-Walz to win with fewer votes. We should not give them this advantage.

There is even an important legislative wrinkle in all this, for this race is very close. Robert Kennedy, Jr., who recently endorsed Donald Trump, is removing his name from the ballots in ten close or “swing states” because he does not want to spoil the election for Trump. Moreover, I mentioned a legislative wrinkle: if neither Trump nor Harris receive the necessary 270 electoral votes to win, the House of Representatives would vote by state to pick the President (26 to win), and for Vice President each Senator would cast a single vote (51 to win). This happened in 1800 and 1824. What this means is that, to prevent Harris from becoming President and Walz Vice President, it is not only important to vote for their opponents in the Presidential election. It is also imperative to vote for the 2024 Republican candidates for Congress for the simple reason that they could possibly choose the President and Vice President on January 6, 2025.

While the positive reasons to favor Trump over Harris may seem disappointing, the negative reasons for ensuring that Harris loses are very strong. Here are the kinds of issues that are at stake:

Right to Life and Reproductive Ethics

• Planned Parenthood Votes “is working to ensure Kamala Harris and Tim Walz make it to the White House.” Planned Parenthood sent a mobile clinic to the Chicago Democratic Convention, offering attendees free abortions and vasectomies.
• Senator Warren (D-MA) bragged that Harris was the, “first vice president in history to visit an abortion clinic.” What colossal hubris!
• Senator Kamala Harris introduced S.510 (2017) to forbid states from requiring that only doctors may do abortions, and to make it illegal to delay abortions or increase costs (think of informed consent, parental consent, 24-hour waiting periods, health/safety regulations, and banning tax-paid abortions).
• On CBS Face the Nation, Harris was asked (9/10/2023), “At what week of pregnancy should abortion access be cut off?” Harris answered, “We need to restore…Roe v. Wade.” In February 2019, The Daily Caller(2/27/2019) asked Senator Harris if there was any point in pregnancy at which she thought abortion was immoral. She said, “I think it’s up to a woman to make that decision, and I will always stand by that.”
• Gov. Tim Walz told the Democratic Convention, “[T]he government stays the hell out of your bedroom.” But Walz justified China’s compulsory one child policy which mandated forced late-term abortion, infanticide, sterilization and IUD’s. Walz claimed it was necessary because, “the Chinese population was so large.” The Chinese government reports that 400 million live births were “averted” since 1979. Steven Mosher (Population Research Institute) states that “hundreds of millions of Chinese women didn’t just pay a tax.… Their babies were ripped out of their wombs by cesarean section by Red doctors who went on to sever the fallopian tubes of those who violated the one-child policy.” So much for Walz’s “choice.”
• Gov. Walz signed HF 1 in 2023, stating that, “Every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual’s own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care.” Walz’s law includes teen minors. Reproductive care includes transgender drugs/surgery. The Minnesota Senate voted 34 to 33, and Minnesota’s House voted 69 to 65 to pass HF 1.
• Sen. Kamala Harris “supports the decriminalization of sex work nationwide.” In an interview with The Root, Harris was asked whether she thought sex work “ought to be decriminalized.” “I do,” Harris responded. (Note that decriminalizing prostitution makes it legal.)
• The 2024 Democratic Platform states, “With a Democratic Congress, we will pass national legislation to make Roe the law of the land again.… We will repeal the Hyde Amendment [which bans tax-paid abortions].”
• The Human Rights Campaign states, “The Biden-Harris Administration has been the most pro-LGBTQ+ administration in history…appointed a record number of LGBTQ+…to key posts…the first gay cabinet secretary, first Senate-confirmed transgender appointee…we must stop Donald Trump.…”

Freedom of Speech

• Gov. Tim Walz stated, “There is no guarantee to free speech on misinformation and hate speech especially around our democracy.” But in Matal v. Tam (2017) the Supreme Court ruled (9-0) that “we protect the freedom to express ‘the thought that we hate.’” For Harris-Walz, hate speech or misinformation is any speech Democrats disagree with. During the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, Kamala Harris urged Twitter to close Trump’s account: “Donald Trump, who has 65 million Twitter followers…is using that platform…to openly intimidate witnesses…he and his account should be taken down….”
• Attorney General Kamala Harris “co-sponsored” a 2015 law compelling California pro-life pregnancy centers to give abortion clinic information to their clients [AB 775, the Reproductive FACT Act]. Fortunately, the Supreme Court ruled Harris’ law violates the First Amendment [NIFLA .vs. Becerra, AG of California, 138 S.Ct. 2361].

Freedom of Religion and Conscience

• As Attorney General, Harris filed a Brief asserting that Hobby Lobby owners had no Religious Liberty or Conscience Rights and should be compelled to supply abortion drugs to employees. The Supreme Court disagreed (Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, 573 U.S. 682 (2014)).
• In 2018, Democrat Senators Kamela Harris (CA) and Maise Hirono (HI) opposed President Trump’s judicial nominees Brian Buescher, Paul Matey and Peter Phipps claiming they could not be impartial because they belonged to the Knights of Columbus which opposes abortion and same-sex marriage. The Harris-Hirono “religious test” violates Article VI, Clause 3 of the Constitution; “[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust.” The Senate confirmed Trump’s nominees despite Democratic senators’ anti-Catholic bigotry.
• Kamala Harris introduced the “Do No Harm Act” (S. 2918) in 2018 to stop churches from relying on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which the Supreme Court has ruled exempts religious organizations from being required to cooperate with abortion, homosexual and other objectionable polices. Fortunately, S. 2918 failed.
• The Biden-Harris Equality Act (HR 5 from 2021) compels Christians and Christian institutions to accept behavior condemned by Scripture, or pay huge fines. It prohibits federally chartered banks from loaning money to churches and also allows up to $500,000 in fines for not “celebrating” same-sex marriages. Churches and schools would lose tax-exempt status and school certification unless they promoted LGBTQ+ policies. (HR 5 has failed so far.)

Second Amenment

• Whatever our feelings about gun ownership and gun-carrying, we ought to find Harris’ position suspicious for someone who tends to divide the world into the good and capable people who agree with her and the evil and incompetent people who do not. In 2019, presidential candidate Harris said, “I support a mandatory gun buyback program.” That is confiscation. Law abiding citizens would lose their means of self-defense. In 2008 Harris filed a court brief asserting that the Second Amendment allows a total hand gun ban, and that it applies only to the militia. The Supreme Court ruled firearm ownership is an individual right (District of Columbia v. Heller, 2008; McDonald v. Chicago, 2010); and that it is a self-defense right to carry outside the home (New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, 2022).
• Gallup asked Americans (2023) if handgun possession should be banned, except for police or authorized persons, and 73% of respondents said no. Even granting that private citizens cannot hope to match the firepower of modern governments, the Harris-Walz contempt for huge numbers of Americans who do not share their values makes one wonder what drives them to weaken the right to self-defense of the very Americans they so obviously deplore.

Conclusion

For those who may be reluctant to vote for President Trump because he has so many obvious deficiencies, despite his previous pro-life efforts which included appointing Justices who reversed Roe v. Wade, I believe it is important to consider what Catholic exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger stated when considering political candidates:

[T]he faithful have an obligation to vote for the lesser of two evils. However, that’s not the same as voting for evil…. John Paul II had actually talked about it.… What you’re voting to is to preserve the good that would be lost if the other opponent got in, who’s more evil, or if the legislation got passed, which was actually even worse. [Breitbart 8/21/2024]

Bob Marshall served 26 years in the Virginia House of Delegates and was the chief House sponsor of the 2006 voter-approved Virginia Marriage Amendment and a ban on late term abortion. He recently wrote Reclaiming the Republic: How Christians and Other Conservatives Can Win Back America (TAN Books). Previously, he co-authored Blessed are the Barren, a social history of Planned Parenthood (Ignatius Press). Finally, don’t miss Bob’s Civics Lesson for Catholics in the Catholic Culture Podcast Episode 17. See the full bio.