Wingnut politics in America has staked it's chances for survival on the abortion issue. It's interesting that they are doing that, because it's not a pressing issue but one which has been more or less in stasis for 35 years. What's even more interesting is that the Roman Catholic Church has staked it's credibility as a relevant institution in America on the same issue. Most Catholics do not support the Wingnut abortion line or any of their other positions. The only explanation for this can be that the Church fears the kind of marginalization, as a quaint cultural relic, with no real influence, that is their current role in most of Europe.
Abortion is going to be the major point of contention in domestic politics during the Obama administration between the right and left. This will be fun to watch because as strident as anti abortion voices have been and continue to be, Obama refuses to engage. Unlike politicians on the Right, Obama apparently faces no lefty litmus test on support of the issue, upon which support for him depends.
The Right has a much higher hill to climb on abortion than the Left. The Left doesn't have to convince you that abortion is a good thing. It only has to convince you that it is a decision that women; your mother, sister, girlfriend, or wife, have the right and the faculties to make. The Right must convince you that abortion be punished with criminal penalties and that none of the women you know, are responsible enough to decide whether or not to have one, when the situation arises. That's harsh.
I had been thinking that the Republicans might want to put the social issues on the back burner and go with issues of fiscal responsibility. It doesn't look like that will be the case.
The Catholic Church seems to be preparing to force its members to either accept a more Orthodox religion and the lifestyle that goes with it, or formally separate from the Church.
These two organizations, the Republican party and the Roman Catholic Church are like cornered, injured predators, unused to being the hunted and preparing to fight to the death for continued existence.
If there is going to be a time for reactionary societal forces to make a final stand, it is now. It may already be too late. The demographics of the non elderly do not favor their positions.
1 comment:
I don't think you understand the Chruch's position on abortion and why it will never waver from it, even if every layperson left. That's because it's the Truth.
Sadly, you are right that a vast number of Catholics do not agree with the Church's teachings on abortion. They think the Church's teachings are negotiable. Nonetheless, the Church is not a democracy, and it's policies are not open to debate. You can't debate the Truth. The Culture of Life will always be relevant because the dignity of the person is always relevant. When you believe you have the right to dispose of a human being for matters of convenience, you destroy the dignity each person is entitled to. A person is not garbage to be dismembered and disposed of in a garbage can.
That, despite the it's cry of "Civil rights! civil rights!" is what the Left fails to understand - that a person has a right to life regardless of it's stage of development. They ignore, obfuscate, and disdain the most fundamental civil right - the right to life. If the Left truly cared about a person's rights, they would fight for children to live. After all, they have rights, too.
Legally, there is nothing in the Constitution that says woman have right to choose whether or not to kill her baby. It is a made-up right from sick-minded activist judges. Legally, there is plenty of precedent that one cannot do with their body's what they will. It is illegal to commit suicide. It is illegal to sell your body for sex (in most places). It is illegal to put certain substances into your body. So, in reality, a woman doesn't have a right to her body, and certainly doesn't have one over someone else's body - namely the child.
Our hill is higher - because the moral ground always is. Eventually, we'll get there.
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