A Proposal for the President

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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

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Trey Mays
6 years ago

Good proposal. A little too accepting of certain things that are really quite insignificant but you’ve treated them as significant. Because, in reality, Gorsuch is probably the only promise Trump has kept. And even then we do NOT know how he will rule on the Supreme Court. There haven’t been enough cases before the Court sense he’s been confirmed. His legal reasoning during the hearings were a load of crap and made him sound like the name who saved Obamacare twice – John Roberts. At best he’ll be like Alito, at worst he’ll be like Roberts, so he’ll probably be… Read more »

Capndweeb
Capndweeb
6 years ago

Hear, hear!
I would heartily add my signature to this proposal.
This should be a petition on the White House petition website.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/

joshbishop
joshbishop
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

Well, let’s somebody start one.

joshbishop
joshbishop
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

And signed. Although I think I remember hearing about problems with the signature counter there.

Alden Hunt
Alden Hunt
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

And also signed.

BJ
BJ
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

Done ????

St. Lee
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

I’m in! Signed and verified.

Matthew
Matthew
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

And signed.

Qodesmith
Qodesmith
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

Cheerfully signed.

Jamberry
Jamberry
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

Done.

Valerie (Kyriosity)
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

Are you able to edit the wording? If so, take out the comma after Progress.

And thanks for doing this! :^)

Billtownphysics
Billtownphysics
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

Signed and forwarded to all my friends.

Dunsworth
Dunsworth
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

Signed, verified, and shared on Facebook among that portion of my friends who will not respond by attempting to sabotage it. :-P

Noah
Noah
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

Hey Doug, how about putting a link to @capndweeb:disqus’s petition at the top of your post?

OnSiteScholar
OnSiteScholar
6 years ago
Reply to  Capndweeb

Done, will forward, and use as a teaching tool.

Bike bubba
6 years ago

Given that a lot of legal issues are still being litigated and prosecuted regarding this, I dare suggest that this tactic could even be counterproductive. Perhaps a better approach would be to have the DOJ research whether the many indictments Daleiden and others in this group have faced, but which have been thrown out of court, amount to some sort of prosecutorial abuse of Deleiden et al.

Prove that, THEN give Daleiden a medal. Trump needs to start minding his ps & qs, and this is a great place to start.

David Trounce
6 years ago
Reply to  Bike bubba

It’s never counter-productive to glory in the truth.

Bike bubba
6 years ago
Reply to  David Trounce

Agreed, but first you prove it’s true. No?

Dunsworth
Dunsworth
6 years ago
Reply to  Bike bubba

Another perspective: use the bully pulpit. Take the moral position that it WAS prosecutorial abuse, and force the issue of investigating it.

I agree that Trump needs to mind his p’s and q’s, but I’m not sure that amounts to strict legalism so much as principled caution.

Bike bubba
6 years ago
Reply to  Dunsworth

I’d soften it a touch from that; take the moral position that when multiple indictments are thrown out by a judge, you’ve got to ask whether this was reasonable, or whether it might reflect bias on the part of the prosecutor. Remember your good cop/bad cop routines here.

Dunsworth
Dunsworth
6 years ago
Reply to  Bike bubba

Oh, I don’t assume that because they were thrown out, it was abuse. I’m saying you take the position, based on the known information, that in this case, it was abusive.

jigawatt
jigawatt
6 years ago
Reply to  Bike bubba

I understand your position, but consider the circumstances, and especially that the crimes (if they were crimes) were non-violent. I say that Daleiden is a Hebrew midwife and is justified in his disobediance (if indeed it was).

Bike bubba
6 years ago
Reply to  jigawatt

Agreed, but the trick is that if Drumpf gives that medal and Daleiden is convicted and it’s upheld, he looks like an idiot. We have to be as wise as snakes at times.

katecho
katecho
6 years ago
Reply to  Bike bubba

Trump has the power of pardon as well. Something to consider.

Previously, Wilson has suggested that Trump preemptively announce that a pardon will be extended if Daleidon is convicted of things like trespass or false identity.

Bike bubba
6 years ago
Reply to  katecho

Granted, but a pardon does not make Daleiden into a hero. Just ask Richard Nixon. That’s the trick here. To give him a medal without heroism is like giving a Nobel Peace Prize to a guy who had hardly done anything yet. You know how much we esteem that award due to that and other factors, of course.

LittleRedMachine
LittleRedMachine
6 years ago

the next SCOTUS appointment (assume it is Kennedy) will be a battle for the ages. Get ready, people of God. Especially if PDJT appoints Judge Bill Pryor, the uproar will be Bjork on steroids.

katecho
katecho
6 years ago

LittleRedMachine wrote:

… the uproar will be Bjork on steroids.

Trying to imagine an Icelandic pop singer on steroids. Maybe it’s a reference to loud trippy eclectic music, or maybe LittleRedMachine means to refer to what happened to Judge Robert Bork. :-)

Dunsworth
Dunsworth
6 years ago
Reply to  katecho

Thank you. I was seriously thinking he was referencing the fuss made when Bjork wore that strange feathered dress, which seemed to me to be an odd choice of reference. For some reason I completely blanked on the obvious Bork reference.

LittleRedMachine
LittleRedMachine
6 years ago
Reply to  Dunsworth

well, you guys are sharper than I ! Not even sure who this Bjork is you are referencing but I did mean Bork… as in Judge Robert Bork. Can’t believe I referenced an Icelandic pop-singer…. LOL

blueskiesmom
blueskiesmom
6 years ago

Signed and verified.