Peculiar Pennsylvania Politics

Recently, we decided to try some relatively simple and direct activities to promote the cause of Life. And, since we figure that Pennsylvania is probably typical of the country as a whole when it comes to political parties, politicians and the Life issue, we hope these will give you some ideas for activity in your area.

In PA's 166th District, a pro-abort, Greg Vitali, is State Representative. He is a Democrat and a Catholic. His Republican opponent is John Williamson, also a Catholic. Mr. Williamson has been involved in pro-life activities for years. A list of them would be too long to include here.

The problem is that in Mr. Williamson's last campaign - in his campaign literature, newspaper ads, debates, etc. - there was no mention of the Life issue… absolutely no mention. So, unless you know him personally, you are not likely to know that the Life issue was and is important to him. Many local pro-lifers are more than a little confused by his silence.

Over the years, pro-lifers have almost gotten used to being betrayed by candidates, mostly Republicans, who say they are pro-life during the campaign and then do nothing when elected. Have we now advanced to the point where we shouldn't even expect that they take a stand at all?

John Williamson is not the bad guy. We would love to identify him as 100% pro-life and then work like crazy to get him elected. But it is the bitter experience of decades that good pro-life candidates who, for whatever reason, will not stand up for Life before election day, seldom do so later in office. I guess they figure if their pro-life views weren't needed to get them elected in the first place, they may lose the next time around if they then make Life an issue. Result: no real pro-life activity.

We wanted to encourage Mr. Williamson a little to proudly proclaim his strong pro-life position, so we put together a rather simple statement/petition asking him to be public about it in his campaign. If you'd like to see it, click Candidate Petition Form. It was very easy to get well over a hundred signatures in a 2-week period of time.

Sadly, the petition was ignored. We later informed the petitioners of the outcome. We did not do this to insult or attack Mr. Williamson. On the contrary, it would be wonderful to get rid of Vitali. But to replace him with someone who appears to be afraid of the Republican Party or the pro-aborts or the electorate when it comes to Life is just spinning our wheels. Ah yes, wheel spinning, a great "pro-life" activity.

How many times have we been down this road?

It does not work! Over 32 years of experience and we keep seeing the same mistakes. Fortunately, mistakes can be useful as more rank and file pro-lifers are exposed to the 100% position. And that, of course, is one reason why the PAC exists.

One of Mr. Williamson's supporters referred to one of the PAC's board members as "stubborn". This makes me jealous, because I am just as stubborn. As a matter of fact, our entire board and our entire advisory board are made up of some of the most stubborn, pig-headed people you could ever meet. Isn't it great? A precondition to being on our PAC board is to be pig-headed.

You see, we all have this thing about legalized killing of innocent humans.

Rick Santorum's troubling answers to the 2000 PA Catholic Conference questionnaire

This should be an interesting year for Pennsylvanians

100% Pro-Life PAC, Inc.
PO Box 1601
Havertown, PA 19083