In these difficult economic times it is easy to forget about the importance of pro-life issues leading up to the November elections. Everyone is rightly concerned about high unemployment, budget deficits and Obamacare.

In the Declaration of Independence we read the infamous phrase, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, That among these are Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

There is a reason that our founders listed the right to life before all else, because without the right to live, the other rights mean nothing. The first responsibility of government is to protect human life. We saw this evidenced so beautifully in the awesome rescue of the 33 Chilean miners in which the Chilean government played a vital role.

Whenever I cast a vote, I always look at where a particular candidate stands on life issues. It says a lot about their ability to lead in my opinion. I recently received a voters guide from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life. All the major candidates for public office were sent a survey on how they would vote on vital human life issues ranging from abortion, to human cloning, whether or not taxpayers should be forced to pay for abortions, the prevention of health care rationing etc. I was saddened to see that our local representative Robin Brown did not respond to the survey and was given a 0 percent rating on votes that she has cast on life issues as our local representative. This is appalling. On the other hand, her opponent, Rich Murray, scored scored 100 percent pro-life on the 10 questions on the survey.

For the sake of unborn childern, please consider the candidates’ positions carefully before voting. In the governor’s race, Tom Emmer is the only candidate who is 100 percent pro-life. In the 1st District race, candidate Randy Demmer has a long record of supporting all right to life measures while in the Legislature. He also scored 100 percent on the MCCL survey while his opponent, Rep.Tim Walz ,would not respond and has consistantly voted against nearly every pro-life measure as our representative.

The choices this November could not be clearer. Please join me in supporting Rich Murray for House 27A , Tom Emmer for governor and Randy Demmer for 1st District rep.

Scott Bute

Alden