Hope, Loyalty, and Standing Up for the Littlest Men

Some people will remember Robert P. Casey, Sr.as the 42^nd governor of Pennsylvania, others as a leader of the pro-life wing of the Democratic Party of his day and defendant in the landmark lawsuit Planned Parenthood vs. Casey. However, the really remarkable about Bob Casey, is that he stood his ground and followed his convictions on a very polarizing but important subject, the right to life, and that he did so even as his party espoused the pro-choice movement. In spite of the ridicule he received from fellow Democrats, Casey did not abandon the party that otherwise represented his ideals of helping the poor and disenfranchised. Like a faithful husband, he clung to his party, always hoping and believing that she would see the error of her ways and return to her stance of compassion for all, even the weakest, even the unborn.

Casey was a compassionate man. The son of a coal miner, who had worked his way up to become a lawyer, Casey had a deep empathy for the little man, the weak, and the helpless. His convictions are clearly traceable in his actions as a politician. He believed that the place of government was to protect those persons and things most vulnerable to exploitation—children families, workers, businesses, and the environment. His first cause as a junior Pennsylvania state senator in 1962 was to pass a law to have all newborns undergo a simple test for phenylketonuria (PKU), which can cause mental retardation if left untreated. He continued his work during his tenure as governor of Pennsylvania from 1987 to 1995. He did away with the electric chair in favor of the more humane process of lethal injection as the state method of capital punishment. He slashed business taxes and personal income taxes. He worked to stop the expansion of gambling so workingmen would not fritter away wages that ought to be used to support their families. He enacted CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) to provide healthcare for families too poor to purchase health insurance but that made too much money to be eligible for public aid. And, notably, he was a strong leader of the pro-life sector of the Democratic Party. He passed legislation in Pennsylvania that banned partial-birth and gender-selection abortions, required a 24-hour waiting period before obtaining an abortion, and required that spouses (and in the case of minors, parents) be notified before a woman procured an abortion. In 1992 these laws (except for spousal notification) were upheld by the Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey; a lawsuit that nearly led to the overturn of Roe vs. Wade.

The Democratic Party did not appreciate Casey’s attempt to curtail the abortion industry in Pennsylvania. Although he was a very prominent Democratic leader and, had he not been very inconveniently opposed to abortion, would have been an obvious choice for the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 1992. But because of his stance the Democratic Party refused to allow him to speak. Casey had wanted to give a voice to his fellow pro-life Democrats and “offer a strong dissent based on the party’s historical commitment to protecting the powerless.” He believed that the alliance Democrats had formed with the abortion industry was a mistake that went against the party’s long-standing commitment to helping the helpless, the little guy. He wanted to engage Democrats in an open-minded discussion about this new alliance, but DNC chairman Ron Brown simply told Casey, “your views are out of line with most Americans.” This was an odd comment coming from the leader of a convention purportedly focused on friendship and inclusion. Shushing a man who wanted to voice his views is hardly inclusive. Handing out pins of Casey dressed as the pope, a further jab at a man the Democrats had already publicly humiliated, was hardly friendly. An official statement declared that Casey was not permitted to speak because he had not endorsed Clinton, who would be nominated at the convention; however, neither had some of the other speakers. Just days after the convention, Casey would publicly back Clinton. The real reason Casey was denied was that the party did not want to hear what he had to say, did not want to give publicity to a man whose victory in the Casey ruling was just a few years old, and did not want a ripple of disunity in the pool they decided everyone must swim in. They selected a pro-choice Republican to speak at the convention instead. Yet Casey remained loyal to his party.

Casey’s fidelity is remarkable, given the abuse he received from the Democrats. In 1974, after two unsuccessful campaigns to win governorship of Pennsylvania as a Democrat, he was offered a chance to run for governor as a Republican. He refused, saying, “All Caseys have always been Democrats.” Was he blindly adhering to the political affiliations of his forebears? Casey saw his party as the workingman’s party, and his father had been a blue collar laborer, a coal miner, before becoming a lawyer; a classic, home-grown, rags to riches story.  Yet his connection with the Democratic Party was due to more than warm family memories. Casey felt that the Republican Party was all business, and did not have enough compassion for the workingman who made those businesses possible. His loyalty was to helping the common man realize the American Dream and to protecting those who had no one to protect them.

In embracing the pro-abortion stance, Casey felt that Democrats were the ones who had lost touch with what the people wanted. While still proud to be a Democrat, Casey looked at the abortion industry with utter contempt, and pitied his fellow party-members who had been sucked into an alliance that betrayed American values and miserably failed in answering the call to protect the helpless. Yet he never lost hope. Casey believed that party members had caved in out of what they felt was necessity and that they would one day regret this decision. He always hoped that the Democratic Party would see its mistake, would change, would come back. This was the root of Casey’s loyalty--his constant hope in a brighter future in which the Democrats, and all people, would work to defend the most helpless or persons, the unborn. 

Sources:    
Casey, Edward. (2008). Caseys of Carbondale, Pennsylvania: Retrieved from:  http://caseyhistory.com/p96.htm

Chaput, Charles J. (2008). Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life. New York: Doubleday. 

McHale, Elizabeth. (2008). Casey, Robert Patrick, Sr. (Bob). http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Casey__Robert_Sr.html 

Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission: Robert P.Casey. Retrieved from:  http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/1951-present/4285/robert_p__casey/471869 
Powell, Albrecht. Pennsylvania Death Penalty: History & Statistics of the Death Penalty in PA. Retrieved from: http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/pennsylvania/a/death_penalty.htm
(2008). The Truth about Gov. Bob Casey and the 1992 DNC Convention. The Media Report. Retrieved from: http://www.themediareport.com/2008/11/01/the-truth-about-gov-bob-casey-and-the-1992-dnc-convention/