HAGELIN: Vote and fight to uphold moral standards

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Culture challenge of the week: Our children’s future

This election may be the most pivotal of our generation — and our children’s future. As our country goes to the voting booths, the choice between two men — two competing visions for our children’s future — is stark.

We know what we will get with four more years of Barack Obama: ruinous debt, shrinking civil liberties (under the guise of “government knows best”) and swelling rolls of government dependency. With all of that comes a loss of freedom.

Worse (yes, there are some things worse than economic ruin), the moral fabric of our country will be shredded beyond recognition. Marriage “rights” will be invoked by those who seek to normalize their deviant behavior and destroy the basic unit of civil society. Abortion will be pushed on our children as the solution to government-encouraged promiscuity (and the pregnancies that inevitably result). And we can expect a coarsening of public discourse that will make Michael Moore’s foul-mouthed, “old folks” ads look tame.

On the other hand, we know what Mitt Romney will bring: more jobs, balanced budgets and lower taxes. He’s a strong family man, who believes not only in traditional values but also in the strength of the American dream.

In many respects, this election comes down to the future imagined by secularists versus the future envisioned by those who believe in God and his laws. (Religiously unaffiliated Americans are almost three times more likely to support Mr. Obama’s campaign than Mr. Romney’s — and they are overwhelmingly in favor of same-sex marriage and untroubled by government restrictions on religious liberty. Evangelical and mainline Christians are more likely to support Mr. Romney’s vision of the future.)

How to save your family: Vote, and keep fighting

Our country’s problems will not be solved overnight. You have a significant part to play in the solution, not just on Election Day, but also in the days, months and years ahead.

Tomorrow, cast your vote for the candidates at all levels of government who stand for economic sanity, who respect our liberty, and who will uphold the moral standards that provide stability for our culture. And do your best to take someone to the polls with you who also will vote that way.

And don’t forget: The moment you leave the voting booth, a new fight begins. We hope and pray that Mitt Romney and conservatives across the country will emerge victorious and set our country back on track toward fiscal sanity and moral sobriety. If our values win the day, celebrate and give thanks to God for allowing our country a chance to recollect itself and set things right.

And then, the day after Election Day, when all the votes are in, recommit yourself to the battle ahead.

Make no mistake. Even with a victorious Mitt Romney and/or Senate, the cultural battles will rage on, even more fiercely. Homosexual activists face the loss of the president’s bully pulpit on their behalf, and Planned Parenthood’s federal funding hangs in the balance under Mr. Romney’s campaign commitment to defund the abortion business. The pro-abortion and pro-homosexual bunch will turn their rage on traditional families and churches, ramping up their legal battles to destroy religious freedom and the moral fiber of this country. We must remain engaged in the battle, focusing our efforts on keeping both the White House and the Congress on a path that restores constitutional principles.

And if you wake up on Wednesday morning to discover that democracy has handed Mr. Obama four more years in which to do damage, then your task is clear:

Pray. Work. And exercise your liberty to fight anew for the American republic and the values we hold dear. We must never, ever give up.

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