Lagos — As Professor Robert P. George rightly argues, all America 's greatest founding fathers and statesmen, from Thomas Jefferson to Abraham Lincoln down to Martin Luther King Jr., had always argued that the foundation of the American civil rights movement was the natural law. The words of Declaration of American Independence 1776: "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and pursuit of happiness", attest that American democracy is built on the high ground of perennial values, rooted in natural law. George Washington was the greatest political leader of his time. He was also the greatest intellectual and moral force of American revolutionary period. In his farewell address, he said, inter alia: "of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable support. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness "

Natural rights and moral values are great pillars of human happiness ingrained in American democracy. Natural law existed before the origin of government. It is discovered, not invented through human ingenuity or rationalization. No conservative or liberal democracy can annul it or re-interpret it to suit its fancy. Infanticide or chopping off the head of a baby on the day it is born is against natural law. Virtually all American civil rights activists subscribed to the tenets of natural law which Jefferson said was based on the common sense of both the ancients and moderns. The American civil rights movement would have been incomprehensible without respect for the life of a baby. Standing up for what he thought was the best American dream in his epic letter entitled: Letter from Birmingham Jail, April, 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr, referred to what he conceived as the "most sacred values in our Judaeo-Christian heritage". In the same letter he also distinguished between two types of laws-just and unjust laws. He said that while just laws should be obeyed, unjust laws should not be obeyed.

After the death of Martin Luther and a few other civil rights activists, the civil rights movement in America not only lost its moral compass, but suffered from certain arcane deconstruction in the hands of radical feminists, free-thinkers, nihilists, anti-life liberals and cultural elites. Robbed of natural law philosophy, the civil rights movement with its relativist and nihilist baggage became an empty sing-song of rights without responsibility; rights without purpose; license for mere satisfaction of lower instincts of man and license for liberation of women from common sense to nonsense.

Murder, whether it is homicide or infanticide, violates the natural law. If there is a great outcry against slavery and racial segregation, why not the same outcry against the chopping off the head of a baby on the day of its birth. Slavery and racial segregation have since been abolished in America . With the election of Obama as the first-American President the coffin of racial segregation in America was finally nailed. Why can't we equally abolish the murder of black children in abortion clinics? too. After all, infanticide is worst than slavery and racial segregation. Sponsored infanticide has reduced the potentials of the black race.

In paying tribute to Richard John Neuhaus, the Economic Magazine noted that he was one of the highly-influential American intellectuals that ever lived. Precisely in 2001 Neuhaus stated that in any civilized society murder is a wrongful act. That the issue of rightness or wrongness of murder ought not to be thrown open for public debate. But in America , the public debate on the rights and wrongs of murder has been going on. America is even importing this debate to other countries. According to Neuhuas the right question everybody should be asking is: Should the private use of lethal weapon or lethal force in taking the life of a child by legalized?

President Obama answered the above question in the affirmative on his third day as the occupier of the most-exalted and revered office in the world. President Obama has promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) which will have the effect of annulling all pro-life legislations in the US .

I think President Obama has started badly. Agreed, President Obama may be the long-awaited messiah to redeem mankind. President Obama is very intelligent. His oratorical power, in reminiscent of the oratorical power of Cicero , knows no bounds. He is clever. He is a bridge builder. Above all, Obama personifies change. He will bring change to a world that is resistance to change. If Obama's liberation will lead to restoring the American character which the French historian, Alexis de Tocqueville, eloquently spoke about, well and good. If Obama will give the black man a pride of place in a world where he is only seen and not heard, long live President Obama!

But if President Obama's Presidency will snuff life off innocent children, then there is a cause for great concern. Those who think that President Obama's pro-abortion mentality is an inconsequential issue which must not detract from his intimidating leadership qualities are mistaken. Black genocide is not a small issue. Maggie Sanger wanted to exterminate the whole black race with it. Now the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is continuing where Sanger stopped.

So President Obama's presidential act of 23rd January, 2009 approving the funding of infanticide throughout the world runs counter to the great dream of Martin Luther King Jr and the legacy of Abraham Lincoln whom President Obama greatly admires. On the 20th of January, 2009 Obama was sworn in as the first African-American President with the same Bible with which American Lincoln was sworn in as American President. Consequent upon that act President Obama joined Lincoln and other American founding Fathers in upholding the truth that American democracy is rooted in strong moral tradition that respects the dignity and intrinsic worth of every human being. But by lifting the ban on abortion funding on the 23rd January, 2009 President Obama had veered off the glorious path which the great Luther and Lincoln treaded.

While applauding the inauguration of Obama as the first black American President of the United States , Rev. Luke Robinson has pleaded with Obama not to preside over the genocide of African-Americans. Robinson echoed: "We are calling on the President of change, President Barack Obama, to be an agent of change as it relates to the lives of over one million children who will be slaughtered in the first year as President by a horrible practice called abortion and woman's right to choose We need change Mr. President because everyday about 4,000 babies die by abortion. Every day Mr. President People with your ethnic background and my ethnic background die in astounding number. Abortion is the number one killer of Africans and Americans in this country. We make up of about of 12% of the population and about 34% of all abortions done... In the last 36 years over 17 million African-Americans babies have died by abortion done. We need to change this picture. We need to stop this slaughter of innocent pre-born".

Robinson is right. The change expected from President Obama is a true change that relates to life, not death. Obama was once an embryo before he was born. If his mother had exercised her "right to make a choice" and terminated embryonic Obama, there would not have been President Obama today. One of the pillars upon which a decent society rests is respect for human dignity. President Obama may succeed in solving America 's economy problems. But so long as he impedes human flourishing; so long as he subscribes to Sanger's eugenic war against the black race, he impedes true change and true progress. Human progress transcends economic prosperity: human progress should uplift the whole human person. With the extinction of human beings, in vain does a President labour to build the city. With the great pillars of happiness taken away from America, what is America if not sorrows?