Fresh perspectives by: Whymrhymer
This weeks spectacle of hundreds of thousands of “Religious Conservatives” and “Social Conservatives” descending upon Washington to March against a woman’s right to choose, should be repulsive to “genuine” Conservatives. Not, however, because these activists are speaking out! They have that right!
They have the absolute right, these anti-abortion activists, to speak out against those who do not share their values and the absolute right to encourage everyone else to join them in their value system and to scorn those who do not.
Let us, however, be clear about one thing: the purpose of this “March for Life” was NOT to ‘discourage’ abortions or speak out against them, the sole purpose of the march was to (again) attempt to force Federal legislation that would, in the majority of cases, take the abortion option away from all Americans and THAT is what should be repulsive to genuine Conservatives.
A law that dictates what medical procedure a woman can and cannot have, when that law is based solely on a religious belief system and not on the state of medical technology or on the safety of the woman, is a law that blesses the de facto marriage of religion and government; a law that, in cruder terms, spits in the face of anyone who believes in personal freedom and in the Constitution.
Abortion (along with the other ’cause celebre,’ same sex marriage) is wrong in the eyes, hearts and minds of a majority of Americans because the majority of Americans have been steeped in religious doctrine that teaches that these things are wrong. I certainly do not intend to tell anyone that his or her religious beliefs are wrong (as long as they are legal) but to mandate those religious beliefs as the law of the land corrupts the founding documents that earned America its reputation as the ‘land of the free.”
In this country everyone has the right and the freedom to live their lives with their own traditional or non-traditional values, raise their children with their values, choose friends who share their values and speak out for their values. It is not the “right” however of any American or any legislative body to force a set of social values on every American citizen — that is not the intent or function of our government.
A true Conservative cherishes and defends the documents that were created to guide the American Republic: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and its Bill of Rights. As I see it, Social and Religious Conservatives (and other Conservatives with prefixes) are moral elitists who are intent upon shredding our founding documents in the name of self-aggrandizement.
Links:
ABC News: Bush Hails Abortion Foes at Annual Rally
TomPaine.com(mon sense): Blog For Choice, A Day Late And A Dollar Short
From the blogosphere:
(Pro-Choice) Taming Estella: Blogging for Choice
(Opposing Choice) Time Immortal: Those tired old pro-choice arguments
Whymrhymer’s fresh perspectives on today’s news, as published here, also appear at My View from the Center and at The American Chronicle Family of Journals. Your visit is always welcome!
1 user commented in " Conservatism With a Prefix . . . Isn’t "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI am really glad to see that you understand what you mean when you talk about being a ‘conservative’; that is, you appreciate what this word basically means as a political philosophy and not as a piece of rhetoric. Many people see me as anti-conservative, but that is not true in the strict sense, basically the sense you use it. I read many conservative and libertarian economists, philosophers, etc. and think their work is often brilliant and useful, even if I might hold different positions. But the words and actions of many conservative politicians and pundits are disturbing to me, and I tend to share more commonalities and intuitions with the so-called ‘liberals’, although that is not by any means constant. Of course, in political rhetoric these words have no clear meaning. A lot of people just seem to use ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ to mean whatever they don’t like or fear. It’s the same for the abortion debate…any kind of nuanced, thoughtful discussion is almost impossible…you are either ‘pro-choice’ or ‘pro-life’, nevermind that everyone on earth is both…you have to choose. Nonsense. If I have to give myself a label, I call myself a discussant. What’s a discussant, you ask? Well, let’s talk about that…
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