In Ohio, the Republicans have been winning elections for decades, yet we stand on the precipice of enshrining a “right” to abortion in our constitution. 

As of writing, the abortion lobby is gathering signatures to put the question directly to the people. If they gather 413,488, which is achievable, Ohio will hold a referendum vote in November. The abortionists win with 50% of votes, plus one. (See Oh. Const. Art. II, §§ 1a; 1g.)

If the surveys are to be believed, abortion has been gaining popularity over the past decade. Back in 2014, 48% of Ohioans supported abortion, by 2020 it had climbed to 51.3%. A June 2022 survey claimed 53% support for abortion in Ohio, and an October 2022 survey claimed support was at 57.2%.

Compare those numbers with Ohio’s recent elections. In 2016 and 2020, Republican candidates for President and Senate all won by decent, or strong, margins. In 2022, Republicans swept the elections for statewide offices.

And consider that Republicans have dominated Ohio’s government for the past thirty years. From 1992 to the present, the Ohio Supreme Court has always had a Republican majority, the Ohio Senate has always had a Republican majority, the Ohio House has had a Republican majority for all but two terms (1992 and 2008), and Ohio has elected one Democrat governor for a single term. 

While polling should always be viewed with suspicion, I find the above numbers plausible, as I have heard plenty of self-professed alleged conservatives, Republicans, or right-wingers express lukewarm opinions about abortion, or even support it!

In Ohio, at least, Republican political success has not produced a virtuous, vital society.

Ohio has fared little-better than the rest of the country, which has suffered precipitous social decline since the end of the Second World War. This is well-documented by Robert Putnam with regard to communities in Bowling Alone (2000) and religion in American Grace (2012).

Putnam’s works observe the erosion of “civil society,” the parts of life not related to the government or what we do for a living. Sometimes also called “third places,” civil society is composed of organizations like churches, charities, sports leagues, arts groups, professional associations, and social clubs. Examples would include Kiwanis, the Rotary Club, the Knights of Columbus, Alhambra, the American Medical Association, the Cincinnati Bar Association, the Kolping Society, or the Angelico Project.

Those institutions bridge social divides (such as class, culture, age, sex, ethnicity, religion, etc.), they are the glue that holds communities together—and Putnam observed how they rotted during the 20th Century. Writing in the 1990’s, Putnam was especially concerned about the isolative effects of television’s constantly available stay-at-home entertainment. Back then, the internet barely existed—let alone streaming services, Zoom, smartphones, and video-gaming. Putnam warned of a host of harms.

The decline of civil society causes people’s interactions to disproportionately involve the workplace or government. The result is that different social groups decreasingly meet in friendly settings and increasingly meet in relationships of hierarchy and conflict. As a result, communities lose their bonds, grow to distrust each other, and hostilities increase. The result is a vicious cycle of self-isolation, community degradation, further self-isolation, and further community degradation, that harms not only the society—but also the individual.

The trends Putnam observed decades ago have only accelerated. Today, we live in a world racked by psychological suffering. Americans feel poorer, anticipate decline, and are experiencing record rates of depression, loneliness, suicide, distrust, and mental illness. The 21st Century American way of life promotes despair.

There is truth to the old adage that “it takes a village to raise a child.”

But we’ve burned the village.

And, because decent, normal people have withdrawn from civil society, first into suburbs, then into living room televisions, and now further into computers and smartphones, we have ceded what remains to extremists.

With that backdrop, it should be unsurprising that the culture of death is ascendant. Is it possible to overstate the vulnerability of an isolated, frightened woman threatened by hardship, lacking a community to turn to, without support or counsel, and hearing the lies of ruined social institutions? Those circumstances underlie the false promise that she can end her suffering by murdering her child.

That is why “pro-life work” is one of the useful political activities to engage in. Independent of political considerations, it saves lives and souls by empowering women to reject abortionists’ lies. And think of the joy in Heaven at an abortionist’s repentance!

But abortion is a symptom (albeit the most horrific one) of the death of our civilization.

I am against politics because politics doesn’t seem to have helped much. We’ve won elections, but seem to have lost everything else. Community and culture matter at least as much as politics. They shape the political landscape by generating leaders, setting agendas, and establishing the cultural norms that become laws. That said, law and government shape culture and communities too, as people will change their views to reflect the law and the power to regulate and criminalize behavior cannot be ignored.

But while there are already plenty of people wrapped up in politics, I don’t know of very many working to resurrect our civilization.

If our civilization is dead, political success merely means we get to rule the ruins. Which is better than the alternative, but an unworthy goal for Christians.

We only have so much time. So how do we spend it? Whatever we do must be radically different, because “normal” living since the 1950s has brought us to this crisis.

Maybe political activism will finally pay off, but it hasn’t yet, and its success relies on an incalculable number of factors outside of anyone’s control. I agree that political engagement should be done by a “small number of people.” But, at least for the foreseeable future, those people shouldn’t be any of us. We have more important things to be doing.

We, Cincinnati Thought’s readership, need to be rebuilding our civilization. And we start by living radically different lives from your run-of-the-mill Christian Conservative.

No matter how small, each choice we make contributes to creating, maintaining, or destroying the current state of things. The world around us is the result of the culmination of others’ actions across history.

We change the future by starting to make different choices right now. There’s a lot to be done, but I agree that it is best to grow into it, and start small.

One of the simplest, most broadly applicable ways to begin is by joining an organization based around one of your interests. Despite the troubling trends observed by Putan, many civil society organizations still exist—they’re just largely populated by Boomers and rarely recruit new members (Gen-Xers and Millennials don’t tend to join things), so maybe bring a friend. 

Despite their membership issues, these groups usually have a lot to offer. And those Boomers will be extremely happy to have you. In their enthusiasm, they may try to give you prominent positions very quickly—be careful about accepting too much too fast, and feel free to gracefully decline if you want to just be a member and get to know the group.

Literally just show up. People don’t do that anymore. You will be surprised at the caliber of organization you can “just show up” to, how far you’ll get, and how quickly you’ll get there by just showing up consistently.

You could also do other small things, and we will need to make serious changes to our lives, but joining a group is one of the easiest ways to start, with the most potential benefit (to yourself and others), and you can probably get started immediately after finishing this article.

So, in the spirit of showing up, show up to vote “no” on the abortion amendment. Even if the surveys are accurate, we win if more of us show up.

Deciding how to vote takes all of an instant, doing it takes maybe an hour.

And in this fight, if you feel inclined toward direct action, you end up engaging in prayer and evangelization.

But I would be remiss if I did not note that this is the exception that proves the rule. Of Against Politics‘ six objections, only the fourth, fifth, and sixth are implicated by a referendum—and none apply in this instance. Here, any hard work is obviously worthwhile. Here, success is measured by a clear, definite result without reliance on politicians keeping promises. Here, a political movement around Christianity may make sense, as we need all the serious Christians to come out to vote and the amendment is an attack on Christianity. And regardless of religion, the amendment is an affront to the Natural Law, so rational people of any faith (or none) should be able to join in opposing this evil.

So, do what you are called to—but know that defeating the amendment in November does not close Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinic on Auburn Avenue. In your free time, consider ways you can begin breathing life back into our culture and community. Ultimately, God decides when the clinic closes, but we can take steps to help, so it doesn’t need to be a miracle.