Last night, I read this Freedom Of Choice Act article from the National Catholic Reporter.
I disagree with this article. I’m not so sure complacency is the right attitude towards this act. I understand the realities he’s expressing, but I also understand the current political environment and that although unlikely, the coming administration is one of the most likely times for a bill like this to pass.
With executive support, it’s possible that they could sway moderate-conservatives with deal sweeteners to override filibuster. Dems are likely to pick up seats in the committees that would need to ratify and reconcile the bill. Also, without a line-item veto, bills often get attached to important pieces of legislation that are “must-haves” for the opposition. For example, Demint has a bill pending to “Drill here, Drill now” that would limit drilling litigation andaccelerate drilling to the second half of 2009 instead of the 5 year horizon we always hear about, it would also radically change the leasing-system for oil companies drilling off-shore. This is good legislation for republicans, tacking on FOCA would give democrats a reason to vote for it, and fiscal conservatives (as opposed to social…) would be able to self-justify a vote for that bill, if abortion wasn’t high on their political radar.
There’s also a ludicrous notion that the Right should moderate as a result of the election (which is silly since we sent a moderate and he didn’t put up much of a fight). If enough of them believe that moderating will get them re-elected, it could change the voting dynamic to something unpredictable…it only has to be a handful of republicans to swing the senate…and the house can’t filibuster (I don’t think).
It’s an interesting viewpoint, but there’s this big call for the right to reel back and gear up quietly for the next cycle…for the conservatives to quiet down a little bit, but I worry about that. Democrats didn’t quiet down over the past 8 years, the vehemently and venomously rabble-roused their base from day 1 of GWB. I don’t agree with the tone of their demagoguery, but the method worked. They got someone elected who shouldn’t have had a chance. They got someone elected over a much more viable candidate (in my opinion Hillary is a much better option, strategically speaking) and they did so by painting the conservative as an icon of evil.
If the conservatives give up their voice now, they won’t get it back. This has been displayed throughout the past century. The Christians have given ground in the public forum, moderating in small ways on small issues. Since that time, Christianity has been weeded out of the public forum on almost every major issue, they gave ground, and the secular ran with it, and established their message of equality as paramount. If Conservatives moderate themselves on this issue, they will lose their voice, and the FOCA will pass. It may not be next year, but it will pass if the opposition quiets down.
Moderating is not the avenue for conservatives. Conservative extremism is a comical notion, and really deserves to be looked at. Conservative extremists are people who believe in preserving the family. They spread hate by defending the bonds of marriage between a man and a woman. Never mind that Marriage is an institution of God, not of man, never mind that secular and non-Christian societies have historically defined marriage as man and woman.
Conservative extremists plague the world by attempting to grant life to unborn children. They blanket the world with the ridiculous notion that a completely innocent child has a right to emerge from its mother’s womb and live.
They further their offensive, oppressive, vengeful agenda by insisting that we teach children that NOT having sex is the only way to guarantee they don’t get pregnant or get STDs. They even go so far as to insist that contraceptives are not an ideal method of birth control. This extremism is patently absurd, as you can see.
Conservative extremism is bent on preserving the family, strengthening marriages, promoting life, procreating (pro create…weird). Conservative extremists tendto reject this notion that people are beyond help, and so they need rescue instead of direction. Conservative extremists believe that you should steer people toward success, not give them the medicine to cope with their inevitable failure.
If you want to get biblical, teach a man to fish. Moderates and liberals don’t see how tooling people to fail will steer them toward failure. If you give up on teenagers and say “Well, they will have sex, not matter what, so just throw a bag of condoms at them…” Then of course they will.
We will not have 100%, but the saying is “aim for the stars.” I’ve never seen an inspirational poster that tells me to dig a hole because I’m going to die. If we assume people will never get a job, and pay them not to work, they won’t work. If we assume teenagers are going to copulate, so we tell them how to do it “safely” then they will copulate, copiously.
As a conservative “extremist” it’s my duty to get out there and push the hate by preserving human life. It’s my job to say that God created everyone with the ability to succeed, but not the ability to do it without Him. People have crosses to bear, struggles to overcome, and a path to follow. It doesn’t always mesh with what they plan, but if they submit to the idea that God’s plan is made for them, specifically, then they will find a happiness they didn’t know.
The LAST thing we should do is concede ground on core issues. If conservatives are the only people defending the unborn, and we suddenly quiet down, or weaken our defense, why WOULDN’T they legislate? If the defense of the unborn is their only support, and that defense wanes, then the unborn will lose. Once we lose them, we won’t be going back. Christians have not regained the ground they’ve given up. Giving up ground allowed their opponents to use precedent to further alienate Christians.
God never says to back down in the face of adversity. Jesus didn’t tell us to blind ourselves to evil because it was “unlikely.” We are told to spread the truth of God, not to fall into political complacency.
-Demablogue
