President Barack Obama will deliver his last State of the Union Address tonight. That’s something we can applaud. The Obama era is coming to an end!

Obama is expected to trumpet the “progress” his administration has made over the past seven years. In keeping with modern tradition, the White House has invited several guests who are emblematic of that progress to sit with the first lady during the address.

Among those selected for this honor are advocates of Obamacare, the president’s immigration amnesty policies and same-sex marriage.

But the president has added a special, symbolic twist to this year’s address. There will be an empty seat in the first lady’s box representing “the victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice.”

Perhaps President Obama’s empty seat will inaugurate a new tradition, one that opens a number of possibilities for the next conservative president. For example:

How about an empty seat representing all the babies lost to the violence of abortion who never had a voice?

How about an empty seat for men and women of faith and religious business owners who are rapidly losing the right to voice an opinion in America?

How about an empty seat for police officers killed in the line of duty?

How about empty seat representing the allies around the world that we used to have?

How about an empty seat for the Christian victims of genocide that is taking place in the Middle East?

Ultimately, the seat we want to avoid seeing empty is one representing a dying Judeo-Christian civilization, which is in danger abroad and here at home.

Gary L. Bauer served in President Ronald Reagan’s administration for eight years, as Under Secretary of Education and as President Reagan’s Chief Domestic Policy Advisor.