Abortion is one of those issues tailor made for campaigning and demagoguery. It is an issue with profound moral issues and a shocking lack of change in the law. Coupled with a distinct two sided-ness divided by a line over which most people cannot cross, abortion makes great political theater since the chances of any change being made in the law is relatively remote.
As we have watched the GOP debates and the candidates running, each one of them is trying to claim the mantle of the "next Reagan," that they are the real conservative. Unlike the Democratic candidates though, at least we are beginning to see some differentiation among the GOP field. Nowhere is that differentiation more apparent than on the issue of abortion.
The odd thing is that each candidate, save Rudy Giuliani, is claiming that their position is the real conservative position, that being pro-life makes them conservatives, when in fact it does not--it makes them pro-life and that is all. Rudy Giuliani's position is truly based on a conservative principal--that government should strive to stay out of the lives of individuals.
I am a proud Republican and a conservative. One of the bedrock principals of conservatism, at least as I see it explained over and over again, is that individual freedom should be preserved and government invervention in our lives limited to the bare necessity. In general, anything that increases individual freedom is a good thing and anything that increases governmental intrustion in our lives, while not necessarily a bad thing, but should be viewed with a very healthy dose of skepticism.
Giuliani's approach to abortion is based on the principal of individual freedom. That we as a government and a nation should not stand in the way of a woman making a choice for herself is based on the idea of individual freedom and autonomy and that while government can place restricts on the range of choices, we can't eliminate all choices just to satisfy our vision of morality. The rest of the GOP field is guilty of hypocrisy on this issue-just as Ronal Reagan was.
For all I know, Rudy Giuliani is like me. I could never counsel a woman to get an abortion unless it was absolutely necessary to save her life. I find the idea of abortion morally repugnant, particularly when the procedure is used as a means of birth control--which the overwhelming number of abortions are.
I believe that we as a nation should be making it easier for unwanted babies to be adopted (as opposed to everyone adoping babies from overseas). I believe the government can insist on parental consent laws for minors seeking abortions. I believe the government can regulate the means by which a abortion is performed.
Like Rudy though, I don't believe we as Republicans have the right to force our view of morality upon the entire country. That would make us just as hypocritical as Democrats. Let's face it, on the issue of life, a great many Republicans are conflicted. Many Republicans, including the GOP canddiates, would probably support teh death penalty, but object to abortion on the grounds that it is a killing. The Democrats are just as hypocritical, but in the opposite direction.
But I find the larger moral crime to be the imposition of one view of morality upon an entire nation.
Rightly or wrongly, the pro-life stance of most Republicans has been deemed a conservative position. This is an accident of identification rather than a position based upon actual conservative principles. Claiming to be pro-life might make you a Republican, but it does not make you a conservative. On this issue, only Rudy Giuliani can claim his position is conservative.
2 comments:
I think you are mixing up Conservativism with Libertarianism (a.k.a. classic liberalism). Conservatives tend to only be fiscally libertarian. When it comes to social issues (such as abortion, drugs, sex, marriage, etc.) conservativism is very authoritarian, supporting the involvement of government to make decisions for everyone rather than allowing each individual person to make their own choice.
Anyway, I agree with keeping the government out of abortion. You might like anti-abortion.info.
Abortion is part of the decay inflicted by the gods in the latter half of the 20th century as we approach the Apocalypse::::
- Free sex
- Explosion in gay sex
- Abortion
- Legalized greed/immorality
- The internet. Whereas TV was a phenominally destructive new temptation on the landscape it doesn't hold a candle to the internet. Some people will waste their whole lives.
So many people don't care about global warming. They don't care about the Federal deficit/debt (outside of partisanship) and they don't care earning $400k for an $80,000/year job will eventually bankrupt the country. They have awarded themselves $400k pay and retirement packages, loading up their friends on the payroll during the boom 90s through the real estate bust while all services which the program were intended to fund now get cut to pay for it.
These people are often common public university labor. Not Ivy League, not private university.
This labor isn't good enough to command the salaries they are earning. And they understood this when they applied to the public university they settled on.
You can't expect a top-tier salary with a second-rate education.
They think they are going sometime during/at the end of this life, and disregard the poor souls who are left behind.
These are the people who will be here in the United States when bankruptcy is declared and society deteriorates into chaos. And they will deserve the anarchy which ensues.
Continuing the push for privatization, reinforced and supported recently with enormous public sector salaries and retirement packages.
Once achieved the gods will utilize the corruptive predisposition of the private sector economy, as seen with the sub-prime/bailout fiasco, to initiate economic catastrophy and initiate the bankruptcy proceedings of the United States.
Whether the cure for cancer/diseases or the permanant resolution of economic misery, before the gods remove these motivations to pray we will experience an inordinate deluge of each element, with economic misery being perhaps the dissallusion of the united States with bankruptcy.
The gods used the Italians to ruin life in the 20th century.
The gods used the Italians to ruin life in A.D. with The Church.
The Church controlled Western Civilization. As the largest land owner in Europe they controlled the monarchies. They were responsbile for slavery, revenge for African invasion and rape of Italy. They created religious discontent, ultimately leading to the disfavored dumping ground known as the United States.
And each generation of these Italians were sold on "earning", only to be reincarnated as a lesser life form subsequently, punishment for their evil.
"The West Bank, where the end of the world will begin." With xtianity.
A good example of societal decay and how the gods manage their culpability is birth defects. In the past the gods occassionally punished people by divinely creating birth defects in the womb. Now, with the advent of biotechnology, they tempt the mother with "earning" and compell her to take a substance in utero which deforms the fetus, dispelling the gods of blame and future obligation to the victim. Incidentally, they use liberal policies to pay for these individuals, ensuring a lifetime wasted, for they have no hope for progress. Too often in the past they were mercifully killed immediately and brought back without this handicap, allowing them opportunity to resume their journey of ascention into heaven.
The gods are washing their hands of culpability. The gods are washing their hands of Planet Earth.
You don't want to get involved in the abortion battle. You're not "earning". The gods will use this tool to cast people into Damnation. Nothing will save them. Stop wasting your time on others and work on fixing your own problems. If you don't make enough progress to be granted good parents when reincarnated you will waste your next life too.
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