A Proposal for the President

Dear Mr. President,

I should begin by acknowledging that I was not among those who supported your campaign for the Republican nomination, and that I did not vote for you in the general election. This was centrally because—speaking frankly—I did not trust your professed conversion to the pro-life cause. At the same time, I need to say that I have been pleasantly surprised by your appointments and behavior in this regard thus far, and have been greatly encouraged.

In line with this, I am writing to propose something that would be an even greater encouragement to people in my position, and which is well within your capacity to do. It is far more like an executive order than it is like getting a fiscally-sane budget through Congress, and so I wanted to write you this open letter, and suggest the proposal to you.

The proposal is this: that you award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, and the man who courageously exposed the trafficking in human parts that has been conducted by Planned Parenthood.

Here are some of the reasons why I believe this should be done:

First, this is the kind of action for a political leader that the Scriptures specifically commend. Two passages make this plain. Speaking of political rulers, the apostle Paul says, “Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval” (Rom. 13:3, ESV). The apostle Peter is explicit about the same thing. “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good” (1 Pet. 2:13–14, ESV). An essential part of your task, assigned to you by God Himself, is to praise those who do good. You are summoned by God to honor honorable citizens, and to praise them for their honorable work. This long-overdue exposure of Planned Parenthood certainly fits within this category.

Second, this is the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is something you control directly. It is not something that requires the permission of Congress or federal judges. This is something you can simply do. Whether or not you do it is entirely up to you. In political terms, it is low-cost and brings a high-return.

Third, taking an action like this will help restore gravitas to the award. We live in a time when there is an ever-growing impulse to give awards like this to celebrities and pop culture icons. Giving the award to a serious investigative journalist, who risked a great deal in order to expose one of the most vile practices ever tolerated among us, will go a long way to keeping the award a serious and culturally significant one.

Fourth, because the pro-life constituency is active and large, it has been easy for politicians to treat us as a voting block to be manipulated (and taken for granted), and this means that many politicians (when it comes to life issues) have tended to over-promise and under-deliver. But thus far, on life issues, you have done the opposite—you have under-promised and over-delivered. Since Roe, we have had pro-life presidents, and we have been grateful for what they have been able to do. But you have already been willing to surpass them in certain ways—having the vice-president address the annual pro-life march for life, for one example. Giving Daleiden this award would be another example of the same kind of thing.

And fifth, since the Roe decision, hundreds of thousands of Americans have consistently protested and have given themselves to cultural activism of the best sort. We have done this over the course of a full generation and more, and today our movement is more robust than ever. Our goal remains to abolish human abortion, and we are encouraged in our work. Roe was a constitutional travesty, and in the minds of many legal scholars, it really is truly vulnerable. It is susceptible to reversal. At the same time, these pro-life Americans who have so faithfully kept the pressure on are in need of encouragement. You are in a position to encourage them greatly. Awarding the Medal of Freedom to David Daleiden would do certainly do it.

I thank you for considering this proposal, and ask you to be assured of our continued prayers (1 Tim. 2:1-2).

Cordially in Christ,

Douglas Wilson