No other issue confronts the American people with Declaration Principles so directly as the matter of life.

The folly and usurpation of the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, and the inability of the pro-life cause to roll back abortion on demand, has discouraged many of us who hold the Founding Principles dear.

Today I have some surprising news to report about the prospects for incremental victories in the State of California, generally regarded as a stronghold of the pro-abort forces. A poll conducted by the well known public opinion research firm, Zogby International, finds that on eleven distinct and practical measures that could be submitted to CA voters in the state's referendum process, majorities would support life over abortion by margins running from 85-13 [on parental consent] to 48-47 [on a mandatory 48 hour waiting period]. The poll had a margin of error of 5.7%, and was conducted in June, 2002.

The bottom line is that even liberal California provides prudent and determined friends of life and family a chance for incremental victories.

Details on the poll may be found by writing the Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission, Post Office Box 834, Tehachapi, CA, 93581.

Of interest to visitors to this site, the poll was conceived and funded by one of our most loyal DF supporters and donors, Jim Holman. Jim and I talked over the idea of this poll back in the spring of 2002, and now it is an accomplished fact.

Mr. Holman publishes three Catholic lay newspapers here in CA, and is active in pro-life and pro-family causes in the state. He is consulting with other activists about moving ahead to a ballot initiative on these matters in the 2004 election cycle. Speaking for myself, I believe that even small victories in such an important state would be a tremendous shot in the arm for the movement, and I am hopeful that the morale and power of the pro-life cause could be revived by grass roots activism of the sort that Jim Holman represents.

He is showing us what it is to live Declaration Principles.

Yours for Life and Liberty,