Bachmann: America's future depends on rights of family

11-November-2011 -- EWTNews Feature

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said that America has no future unless the rights of the family are defended.
"If family is rendered meaningless in the United States, then we will be on the road to ruin," Bachmann said at a Nov. 7 talk at Family Research Council headquarters in Washington, D.C.
For Bachmann, protecting "the rights of parents, the family and the institution of marriage" are the values that shape all of her political views. "Those are at the core of my conviction, and these principles form the basis of a civilized nation and the backbone of a healthy society," she said.
In her speech, Bachmann emphasized the need for the family unit to function without unnecessary external regulation and insisted that "there are jurisdictional areas that only the family can solve."
She pointed to United Nations agreements and bureaucratic agencies as prime suspects for encroaching on the rights of the family through excessive regulation.
Recalling the years that she and her husband spent as foster parents, Bachmann argued that "children are best served when they are raised in a home with a mom and a dad."
Bachmann also criticized President Barack Obama, claiming that he has ignored the Constitution and abused his executive power by choosing not to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act.
If elected president, she said that she would "work to protect the American family from activist judges who are trying to dismantle marriage as a legal institution solely between one man and one woman."
She voiced her support for a federal marriage amendment "so the courts cannot impose their will on the people of this country."
Bachmann also warned of the ongoing threat of abortion being funded through the new health care law. She explained that although the details on abortion funding are not found within the health care bill itself, they can be seen "in the reams of bureaucratic rules that have only now begun to emerge from the Secretary of Health and Human Services."
The GOP hopeful emphasized that respect for life is one of the nation's foundational principles.
"I believe that every child has the right to life because I believe that every child is made in the image and likeness of a holy God," she said.
"This is an unalienable right that is guaranteed to us through our Declaration of Independence, and if we don't respect and protect those who are born and unborn, then our morals and our values will be without meaning in the future."
Bachmann stressed the need for people to participate in the upcoming election, explaining that next November, voters across the country will decide "whether the United States of America as we know it will survive."
"I believe this election is the last exit ramp to our national survival," she said. "We have one chance."
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