The last time Democrats controlled the federal government, Christians who took their faith into public found out how much power Washington had over them.

The FBI wrote up Catholics as potential domestic terrorists. The Justice Department turned a law meant to protect clinic entrances into a weapon against people praying on sidewalks. A pro-life father of seven had federal agents at his door.

As Americans vote today, the question is whether that government comes back.

Start with the FBI. In 2023, an internal memo from the bureau's Richmond field office flagged "radical-traditionalist Catholics" as potential domestic threats. That included Americans whose offense was attending the Latin Mass. The FBI pulled the memo after it leaked, but it had already been written and circulated.

Then there's the FACE Act. Congress passed it to stop people from physically blocking abortion clinics. Under Biden, it turned into a tool for prosecuting peaceful pro-life demonstrators. Twenty-three of them were charged and spent months, some of them years, in legal limbo. It took a presidential pardon from Donald Trump to end it.

And there's Mark Houck. In 2022, FBI agents showed up at his Pennsylvania home early in the morning, in front of his wife and seven children. Houck, a Catholic pro-life activist, had shoved a clinic escort who, according to his family, was harassing his 12-year-old son on the sidewalk. Local authorities had already let it go. The Biden Justice Department charged him anyway and wanted him locked up for as long as 11 years. A jury acquitted him in a matter of hours.

None of that has been taken back. The memo was pulled, but the people who wrote it never apologized. The FACE Act is still on the books. And the Democrats asking for your vote today are telling you plainly what they'd do with power.

If Democrats win the House, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut is in line to chair the Appropriations Committee, which controls federal spending. She's spent years trying to kill the Hyde Amendment, the decades-old rule that keeps tax dollars from paying for abortions. "It is a discriminatory policy that makes access to basic reproductive health care based on your income," she has said. "That is simply wrong, and I oppose it."

The Hyde Amendment has survived Democratic and Republican Congresses for nearly 50 years. Even Democrats used to agree that Christians shouldn't be forced to pay for something their faith teaches is the taking of a life. DeLauro wants to end that.

In Texas, Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico has told voters the Bible is "silent" on abortion and that God is "nonbinary." He's not running to be a pastor. He's running for the U.S. Senate, and he wants Christians' votes while telling them what their own faith teaches.

Compare that to the last two years. Trump pardoned the 23 pro-life activists. He created the White House Faith Office to fight anti-Christian, antisemitic and other religious bias. He signed an executive order to root out anti-Christian bias in the federal government, saying the previous administration had "engaged in an egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses." He ended federal funding for gender transition procedures on minors. In his first term, he created a division inside HHS to protect doctors and nurses who refuse to take part in procedures that violate their conscience.

Every one of those protections depends on who's in charge. A Democratic Congress controls the money. A future Democratic Justice Department decides who gets investigated and who gets charged. The FACE Act is still there, waiting for someone to use it again.

Mark Houck's family had armed agents at their door over a shove on a sidewalk. Twenty-three people needed a presidential pardon for praying in public. It happened once, and the people who did it want their power back.

The polls are open today.