And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

– Rudyard Kipling The Jeffersonian.com

There are certain things you should never be willing to do just to get ahead. In the end, the short-term gains never justify the cost of having sold out your ethics and principles. Yes, this diary is about another reason not to support Mitt Romney in the GOP Primaries this year. No, it has nothing to do with his business career or his tenure at Bain Capital. I think it addresses an issue that ultimately matters a whole lot more.

As Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney kept a close relationship with Planned Parenthood. In the course of keeping this relationship, he signed away any possible Pro-Life convictions he would later attempt to lay claim to. Like Faust signing his soul over to Mephistopheles, Romney signed a document pledging strong support for almost all agenda points that Planned Parenthood wanted him to pursue as Governor of Massachusetts. Buzzfeed.com has a copy of the questionnaire Governor Romney prepared for Planned Parenthood.

Now every Republican and every Democrat in DC can claim that they value human life. Perhaps the silver lining to the evil organization known as Planned Parenthood consists of the fact that their political lobbying activities give us a measure of exactly how much each politician values life. Planned Parenthood will pursue unabated nihilism and will pay what it needs to buy off political support. In order to pay a Danegeld of sorts to Pro-Abortion Movement in Massachusetts, Romney was willing to do the following:

1) Support the Roe v. Wade USSC decision.
2) Favor the use of Medicaid dollars to fund abortions for low income women.
3) Favor “safety zones” to keep protestors away from abortuaries.
4) Support emergency contraception via the morning after pill.

Of course, even Mitt Romney had his limits.
1) He wouldn’t favor government funding for contraceptive pills until he had studied the legislation.
2) He would not fight bans against partial birth abortions.
3) He didn’t sign on to support abortions for minors without parental consent.

This suggests to me that Romney has some Pro-Life tendencies when they are favored under political cost/benefit analysis. This is an issue he would rather either ignore, or buy himself silence on. In responding favorably to so much of Planned Parenthood’s 2002 abortion rights questionnaire, he showed himself willing to pay a significant Danegeld to pro-Abortion groups in order to avoid having to fight against them for the lives of unborn children.

Mitch Daniels talked of a truce on social issues. He was accused of being a traitor to the right and it ended any chance he had at running for President. Mitt Romney actually signed on to pay a Danegeld. He has sold out his principles and avoided a fight over abortion. This validates and perpetuates the continued existence of abortion on demand. Cowardice always serves the ends of evil. You cannot claim to be a Pro-Life political figure if you are too frightened of Planned Parenthood to actually fight abortion.

Suing for peace with Planned Parenthood has availed Mitt Romney very little. It was as if he had signed away his right to have morals and ethics in a deal with the devil. And when one of Rick Santorum’s campaign workers passed around copies of Mitt Romney’s Planned Parenthood questionnaire, it was like Mephistopheles reminding Faust that in the end, Old Scratch would always show up and collect.