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by Barb Heki

To give you a little history, my husband and I met privately or in small meetings with most of the presidential candidates last winter. All of these candidates, then-unannounced, were very, very nice people. I don’t want to minimize that at all. But our solid conclusion after our meetings was that there were only two who were by far the most Biblically and Constitutionally conservative. Those two were Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and Judge Roy Moore. Moore later decided not to run.

Michele Bachmann is the only candidate out there who has led the charge on conservative issues without gathering worrisome baggage that contradicts our beliefs or that President Obama can use to shoot her down. She has gone to Washington and Washington has not changed her. She has remained the highly principled, fiery Congresswoman that sacrificed leadership opportunities for not cow-towing to the Republican establishment in Congress, but gained a huge following of Christian conservatives and tea party activists. As the founder of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress, Bachmann knows that the Tea Party is not a small faction that holds signs at rallies; it is you and me and a massive cross-section of citizens, from evangelical Christians to conservative Democrats who are outraged at the government takeover of our U.S. Constitution and private businesses and the lives of we the people. She is focused on serving the people, not the party. That’s what people want today — a leader who will fight for their rights, not another establishment Republican.

As conservative Christians, my husband and I talked with Congresswoman Bachmann about women in leadership in secular government. To our delight, we learned that she shares our Biblical beliefs of male leadership in the home and the church. As a leader in our secular government, she views herself as a servant in the jurisdiction that God has placed her. We went on to study Scripture more in-depth and saw that while God instructed men to lead in the home and church, there are examples in Scripture where He raised up women to lead in powerful ways, including judicially and militarily. We believe, without a doubt, that with her children now adults, and her husband fully in support of her candidacy, that God has raised up Congresswoman Bachmann “for such a time as this.”

It is striking how truly focused she is on seeking God’s direction. In two separate instances, friends of ours who have visited her in Congress have told us that she got down on her knees on the floor and prayed with them. Our first priority in choosing a leader is someone who fears God and looks to Him first for direction. The reason is — if you fear God, you don’t fear man; and you will do the right thing rather than the expedient thing. Congresswoman Bachmann has proved herself time and again in this area, from her days of fighting federally mandated education in Minnesota as a homeschooling mom before she ever ran for any office, through her years in the Minnesota Senate, and now into her third term in Congress and a candidate for the presidency.

It has been heartwarming to hear candid stories from the various candidates – stories that touch our emotions. But we need to make sure we look at records and consistency because all of us have emotionally gripping situations in our lives that we can relate, that will make people cry, but that doesn’t make us qualified to be president.

So, I’ve looked at the pro-life records of Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum. Congresswoman Bachmann has a very clean record of consistently being pro-life, without exception, from conception to natural death. She believes we should fight abortion at all levels. From my research, she is stronger in this area than Rick Santorum.

Sen. Santorum endorsed pro-abortion Sen. Arlen Specter and pro-partial-birth-abortion Gov. Christine Todd Whitman

He has contradicted himself on whether he should or should not have endorsed Specter. He said on Dec. 18, 2010, that he wouldn’t have supported Specter if he had known what Specter would do. He said Specter’s opponent, Pat Toomey, was a better representative for conservatives, but his decision to endorse Specter was “a strategic decision.” Then less than 4 months later, on April 27, 2011, he said that he would appoint Specter again.

In supporting former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, he stated:

“I wish I could clone me and campaign only for people like me.’ But the fact of the matter is that Governor Whitman and I agree on 90 to 95 percent of the issues. And when I find someone I agree with on 90 to 95 percent of the issues, I enthusiastically campaign for them because they’re heading this country in the right direction.”

Also, Sen. Santorum has contributed to more than a dozen Republican supporters of abortion and embryonic stem cell research. Through his former Fight-PAC, now known as the America’s Foundation PAC, he has steered more than $100,000 to Republican candidates known to support the pro-abortion position and embryonic stem cell research.

Santorum Endorsed Romney in 2008

Sen. Santorum endorsed pro-abortion, pro-homosexual-marriage, pro-government-health-care Gov. Mitt Romney for president in 2008. He did this while Gov. Mike Huckabee was still in the race. Sen. Santorum actually initiated his endorsement of Gov. Romney by telephoning the Romney campaign. Why would he do this? Another “calculated political decision,” he said, “that Romney was the stronger horse and had a better chance to win Super Tuesday with the resources he had.”

Things changed in March of this year when Sen. Santorum decided to run for president. He withdrew his past support for Romney, saying this election is “A different field; a different set of issues.”

If Sen. Santorum could state that Gov. Romney was a “true conservative” in 2008, and then believes he’s not a true conservative today, I believe that Sen. Santorum has the wrong priorities on what we need to look for in a candidate. Gov. Romney was just as objectionable to evangelical Christians in 2008 as he is today. Why, then, would we want to support a candidate like Sen. Santorum who endorsed Romney in the most recent presidential election?

Rick Santorum Voted for No Child Left Behind

Education is another reason my husband and I support Congresswoman Bachmann over Senator Santorum. As homeschooling parents, we prize our God-given right to educate our children the way we see fit, and we know that, according to the Constitution, the federal government may NOT get involved in education. Yet Sen. Santorum has worked against parents on at least two big-government education initiatives:

1. He has advocated IEPs (Individual Education Plans) for children. That means more federal government oversight into the lives of families. Also, Sen. Santorum doesn’t want to get rid of “all” of the Federal Department of Education. We support the candidate who does — Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. The federal DE is unconstitutional; it’s intrusive; and it usurps states’ rights. Leaders have to make tough decisions and Congresswoman Bachmann is willing to abolish this illegal department, not hang on to pieces of federal regulation, in violation of our Constitution, as Sen. Santorum proposes we do.

2. Sen. Santorum voted for No Child Left Behind, saying that it was good because it would show us how bad we are in education and give us a measuring point. That shows a deep lack of understanding by Sen. Santorum of the depth of government intrusion into education and families that was given an open door through No Child Left Behind.

Congresswoman Bachmann opposed NCLF, and even before she was elected to the Minnesota Senate, she took the fight across the state to successfully reject Goals 2000, making Minnesota the only state to overturn this federal educational intrusion.

Congresswoman Bachmann has first-hand experience in all forms of education – homeschool, private school and public school. Because Minnesota law prohibited homeschooling for foster children, the Bachmanns were able to experience first-hand the problems in public schools, so Michele did what she always does – she attacked the problem and founded a charter school that would give parents who had to use public schools more control over the teachers and curriculum.

Bachmann Refused to Raise the Debt Ceiling

We also appreciate Congresswoman Bachmann’s consistency on refusing to raise the debt ceiling. As a former tax attorney and a member of the House Financial Services Committee, she understands economics and this is just one more example of how the firm stands she takes in opposing the establishment when the establishment is wrong.

Meanwhile, Sen. Santorum voted multiple times to raise the debt ceiling, adding $3 trillion to our debt. Here’s a blog with roll-call votes.

Bachmann Shines on Foreign Policy

In foreign policy and national security, Congresswoman Bachmann outshines everyone. Even Speaker Gingrich, as well as Sen. Santorum, have been out of the information loop for a very long time. As a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Congresswoman Bachmann is privy to classified information that very few know. She deals daily with various threats to our nation and, very importantly, she knows the mindset of terrorists because she understands that their behavior emanates from the teachings of Islam.

She also understands the threats of international law as she sees it being used by our courts and she has acted to protect us in that arena as well. She is an original co-sponsor of the Parental Rights Amendment in Congress (along with Iowa Congressmen Steve King and Tom Latham and Sen. Chuck Grassley) and she has made an unprecedented commitment: she will remove the United States as a signatory from a very insidious treaty – the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Bachmann is Strongest on Border Security

Immigration and border security are closely connected to our national security, as well as our economy. Congresswoman Bachmann is the ONLY candidate who has signed the Americans For Securing the Border pledge to build a date-certain double-fence across our entire southern border.

Bachmann is Electable

When Bachmann won the Iowa Straw Poll she proved that she can win against a slate of male competitors. She’s won every state and national election she’s entered. She is the one most uniquely positioned to defeat President Obama. An establishment Republican won’t defeat him, and a candidate with personal or political baggage won’t defeat him. Congresswoman Bachmann has a track record of winning elections and has the uncanny ability to rally conservatives of all stripes, tea party activists and conservative Democrats to support her because she is serving them.

We need someone like her, who will not buckle under and compromise our Constitution or God’s Word for short-term gain, because that is long-term loss. We have this ONE opportunity to get a true conservative in the presidency.

If we really want to keep Gov. Romney out of the race, we need to coalesce evangelicals and the tea party behind one candidate. We have an impenetrable case for supporting Congresswoman Bachmann. While the other candidates have been busy doing damage control as the media uncovers multiple problems in their past and present records, Congresswoman Bachmann is the only candidate who will not have to take things off the table when pitted against President Obama.

More importantly, she makes decisions the same way many of our Founding Fathers made decisions– on her knees.

Before deciding to run for congress in 2006, the Bachmanns sought counsel from the same Counselor as our Founding Fathers, as has been their practice for nearly four decades:

“… We took three days and we fasted and we prayed, and we said, ‘Lord is this what You want? Is this Your will?’ And after the fast, about the afternoon of day two, He made that calling sure.”

As a conservative Christian voter, I believe my responsibility is twofold:

1. Choose the most Biblical, Constitutional candidate whose life and record consistently attest to that fact.

2. Carry them to victory by supporting, promoting, endorsing and VOTING for them.

While all the candidates deserve credit for various conservative accomplishments, Michele Bachmann has remained a steady force with a solid, principled, conservative record. The Democrats fear her because she alone is the candidate who can defeat President Obama because she is the only one with no skeletons; no surprises.

Several thousand years ago, a young shepherd was overlooked in the search for a great warrior to defeat the giant Goliath. Nobody was capable of the challenge, and when the young shepherd came forward, he was ridiculed. But he was persistent because he knew he was the one who could do this. Five smooth stones later, Goliath was dead and the young shepherd eventually became the leader of the nation. (1 Samuel 17). Today, we have another “shepherd/warrior” — Michele Bachmann. She is the one who can defeat our “Goliath” of anti-Christian, socialistic, big-government intrusion on private families.

This election is too important to pick the wrong warrior. We don’t have to settle for less when we can gain the most. Remember the test of leadership:

If we fear man, we will act strategically; if we fear God, we will act Biblically.