1. NC VALUES: You have less than 2 days to vote early!

As quickly as the early voting window came, it is now almost closed! You only have less than 2 days left to get out and vote early.

Early voting ends this Saturday at 3pm!

We wanted to strongly encourage you to consider voting early rather than staying home until Election Day. After all, you never know what can happen that prevents you from getting to the polls.

2. YOU'RE INVITED: Join us and VP Mike Pence at the NC Faith and Values Summit

We wanted to send you a quick invite to an NCGOP-hosted Faith and Values Summit we'll be attending on May 24th. The event will feature a number of pro-values and like-minded groups from across the state. Vice President Mike Pence will also be the event's key-note speaker.

Here are some details if you're interesting in joining us:

• WHO: NCGOP, NC Values, and other like-minded pro-values groups.
• WHAT: NC Faith and Values Summit, featuring Vice President Mike Pence
• WHERE: Freedom House, 2638 Salome Church Road, Charlotte, NC 28262
• WHEN: Thursday, May 24, 2022, 2:30pm.
• HOW: To secure your spot, click here.

3. FIRST THINGS: There is no "middle way" in Dobbs

"Due to a leak in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case challenging Mississippi’s prohibition of elective abortions after 15 weeks’ gestation, we now know that the Supreme Court stands poised to overturn Roe v. Wade and its follow-up case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. But Chief Justice Roberts has reportedly not joined the opinion, and some speculate that he might try to recruit a colleague to a middle path—upholding Mississippi’s law without reversing Roe and Casey. So while others have focused on the leaked Dobbs opinion, a key question for Roe’s fate is whether that middle way exists.
It does not."

 

4. FOX NEWS: Rhode Island parents enraged at school board for removing honors classes in 'equity obsession'

“Barrington, Rhode Island, public schools are among the best in the state. Many parents move to the district, and tolerate the higher taxes, because of the academic rigor that sets their children up for attending Ivy League schools or receiving academic merit scholarships. However, all of that academic appeal is being chipped away after the district brought in a so-called "equity and inclusion" agenda.”

 

5. FEDERALIST: Indiana Republicans Pawned Social Conservatism For Economic Growth And Got Neither

"There’s a myth in Indianapolis Republican circles that goes something like this: back in the good old days, the Indiana GOP was made up of high-minded, moderate statesmen from metro Indianapolis like Richard Lugar and Bill Hudnut. Then a bunch of troglodytes from rural Indiana like Mike Pence took over and wrecked the party and state with extreme social conservative policies that are bad for business.

Reality is very different. Since Republicans retook power in the state in 2005, Indiana has largely been run by Republicans from metro Indianapolis who have operated according to a philosophy Mitch Daniels called “the truce,” or the avoidance of social issues in favor of fiscal and economic development matters.

In terms of actual legislation enacted, Indiana is one of the least socially conservative red states. But the economic results have also been underwhelming to poor for the state and its people. The Indianapolis GOP elites and their truce both effectively disenfranchised and impoverished the state’s Republican voters, while the left, which never agreed to any part of a truce, made significant advances on its own social policy agenda in the state.

From the standpoint of the average Republican voter, the truce was thus a double failure. There’s no reason to believe abandoning cultural issues in favor of economics will work anywhere."

LORD, we cry out to you as Father. You are a model of the love, mercy, and authority of the perfect parent. We thank you for modeling for us what every parent should strive for, and for creating this wonderful institution called family. 

LORD, we thank you for creating us with a basic nature designed to not be alone. You made us to desire the intimacy of relationships, and it is here where we experience joys indescribable: the joys of marriage, the joys of having children; the joys of seeing our children have children. What a blessing and mercy you gave us in the family! In it we find our first teachers, our first guardians, and our first authorities. 

LORD, we recognize how deeply you love your children, and how deeply it pains you when they go astray. Alongside our adoration and thanksgiving, we pray in confession—as individuals and as members of larger communities—over any sins we may have committed that undermine your beloved institution. Forgive us when we endanger your institution through selfishness and arrogance. Forgive our communities and nation for attempting to redefine some of the most basic and deepest parts of being human—being made male and female, having lifelong marriage vows and responsibilities, and having parental rights over educating one's children. 

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:12-17)