"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." — Matthew 5:14-16
President Ronald Reagan often talked about his vision of America as "a shining city on a hill," and thereby inspired a whole generation and our entire nation — helping to pull us out of times of national malaise and to win the Cold War that had lasted half a century.
He often quoted the famous 1630 sermon by John Winthrop, one of America's early founders:
- "For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world."
Ronald Reagan, and John Winthrop before him, understood that for America to be great, America must be good.
But how can we fulfill that vision when we are, through the continuing practice of abortion, callously casting away more innocent unborn Americans every single day than were killed in the terror attacks of 9-11?
Our children are our future. The men and women who labored to build this country knew that. They left us a legacy of understanding, expressed in our Constitution, that every right we enjoy belongs equally to the generations to come, to our posterity. Our God-given rights and freedoms don't belong just to those who are living today.
That's why the Constitution opens with these famous words:
- "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
As George Washington was fighting the Revolutionary that won our freedom, he understood that his actions would greatly affect those who were to follow him. He said:
- "The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army."
Thomas Jefferson put our fundamental national creed — which before anything else valued human life — on paper in the Declaration of Independence:
- "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."
Last year, when the courageous representatives of the people of South Dakota banned the practice of abortion, they were simply acting on those words.
President Jefferson knew the value of human life, and understood government's primary role in protecting it. That's why he said:
- "The care of human life and not its destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government."
And finally, Abraham Lincoln simply expressed what has always been the true and accurate meaning of American liberty:
- "No one has the right to choose to do what is morally wrong."
Today, the eyes of all the people of the world are on the people of South Dakota. Will you help fulfill the vision of America as "a shining city on a hill" — or will you squander your legacy, and America's future, by supporting those extremist forces that seek to continue to kill over a million Americans in their mother's wombs every year?
Referred Law 6 is a test. Will you meet it?
We hope and pray that you, and all of the people of the great state of South Dakota, will not only meet it, but will light a beacon that will shine for all Americans and for all the people of the world to see.
Jesus said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God" — for "it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."
Therefore, let us heed the words of John Winthrop:
- "Choose life, that we and our seed may live; by obeying His voice, and cleaving to Him, for He is our life, and our prosperity."
RenewAmerica analyst Tom Hoefling is a longtime conservative activist. He's the former national political director for Dr. Alan Keyes, and has been involved in many battles to elect pro-life, pro-family, constitutionally-minded candidates to public office across the country. He advocates strenuously for the renewal of an America that "reveres God, respects life, and enjoys liberty."
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