Why I Am a Single-Issue Voter

Some years ago, I was discussing an upcoming election with someone. Then, as now, many felt the election was a turning point, a defining moment when the future of our nation would be decided. That same sentiment has been expressed at every election since.

It’s an appropriate sentiment because every election IS a turning point. It is the way the Founders of our great Republic designed it. In our electoral process, the American people have the opportunity to install those candidates to office whom they believe best embodies their position on the important issues of the day. Our future is determined in the voting booth every time we go to the polls.

In that conversation over twenty years ago, I expressed my belief that a candidate’s position on abortion was the most critical factor in determining whether or not to vote for him/her. The person I was speaking with disparaged my “single-issue” perspective. He said that abortion was just one of many important issues and that to vote for a candidate on that position alone was short-sighted.

Since I had always seen abortion as much larger than “one of many important political issues” I was taken aback by this response and failed to respond. Both wisdom and tact demanded that I reply in a measured and reasonable manner. Up to that moment, I had not formulated an appropriate response. I have now.

Contrary to what a recent president said, it is NOT “the economy, stupid.” It is not national defense, as important as those issues are. It is not immigration or terrorism. Neither climate change nor Iran provides the challenge most determinative of our future. The single issue that rises above all these is the murder of millions of innocent pre-born children.

Just as Abel’s blood cried out of the ground to God, so buckets of it scream for justice from abortion clinics across America.

A nation that slaughters its most innocent and vulnerable, its powerless and defenseless, in the name of convenience, does not deserve economic prosperity or safe borders. What it deserves is the wrath of a Holy God Who has pledged Himself as a Defender of the poor and weak.

I am a single-issue voter because THIS issue – the life of the unborn, is THE watershed reality of our time. Once I know a candidate’s position on abortion, I know their position on virtually every other issue. If they are staunchly pro-life, I may reasonably assume they are politically conservative and classically faithful to the Founders on the rest of the issues. If a candidate is pro-abortion, they deny the image of God in humanity and can not be trusted to be right on ANY issue, regardless of how they campaign. How can you trust a man or woman who is for the murder of infants?

That is exactly what many pro-abortion advocates are for. They are not for ‘choice.’ They are for the murder of the innocent. I say, “many pro-abortion advocates” rather than “all” because there are large numbers of people who are generally pro-choice because they have not taken the time to think things through. They have been hoodwinked by pro-choice rhetoric into thinking abortion is a “rights” issue. They need to awaken to the fact murder is never a “right.”

I am a single-issue voter. I will vote for real pro-life candidates whose position is not adopted just because it is a plank of the party platform but whose position is rooted in a consistent worldview that understands the government’s role to protect the innocent and to prosecute the guilty in accordance with what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 13.

I understand the appeal of the pragmatic view that voting for an unelectable pro-life candidate may take away a vote from another major party candidate who, as a pro-abortion candidate, would be “the lesser of two evils.” As recent elections have demonstrated, a so-called fiscal conservative-social liberal ends up being a fiscal weasel. But of course; how can someone who is wrong on THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE of the day be right or consistent on ANYTHING ELSE?

I will not “throw my vote away” on any candidate who lacks the moral wisdom and strength to take a stand for what is patently good and right and campaign as pro-life and will use their office to bring an end to the holocaust of abortion.

Lance Ralston

Lance is the founding and lead pastor of Calvary Chapel Oxnard where he has served since 1982. Lance & David Guzik co-pastored the church for six years before David planted a church in a nearby community.

Lance & his wife Lynn were married in 1980 and have three adult children and five grandchildren. Lance loves teaching the Bible, History, and Leadership. He holds Masters-of-Arts in Biblical Studies and Ministry.
Lance serves as a chaplain for both the Oxnard and Port Hueneme Police Departments and enjoys backpacking, wood-working, working out, gardening, home improvement projects, reading, and graphic design.

The popular Communio Sanctorum: History of the Christian Church podcast can be found in both audio and video at the Into His Image website along with a growing inventory of Lances teaching.