I am from the very Republican, very Conservative town of Jacksonville, Illinois. In our local newspaper, the Journal Courier, we have a section on the back page called the "Open Line" where people can call in and voice their opinions on different matters. During one such opinion, a caller refered to the Democrats as the "anti-American Democrats". The following is my Letter to the Editor in response:

I am a Democrat. From a recent comment in the Open Line, it appears that at least one person thinks this makes me anti-American. I, however, beg to differ.

Mr. Speaker,

Since we are a nation of laws, we must see to it that the laws are upheld and applied equally to all citizens. That principal is what this nation was built on; it is for what our Founding Fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.

And it is in this great legislative body that we are charged with making the laws that govern our nation. To permit the chief executive enforcing those laws to cast them aside as he pleases would, in effect, sanction such actions. To do nothing would be to place a stamp of approval on illicit conduct and transfer power to the executive branch, thus upsetting the system of checks and balances devised by the Framers. It would cheapen the law, which, in turn, would cheapen the work by this House.

Many people that claim to be pro-life claim to be so because they want to support the life of the child. How is it, they suggest, one can claim that the being inside the mother's womb is not a human? This is nothing but a strawman argument set up to equate abortion to murder. Once abortion can be equated to murder then the case can be made for outlawing it, much like murder. However, outlawing abortion would do nothing in the interest of a person that is really Pro-Life.