Some unknowns in life are easy to discover. All you have to do is pay attention and remember what you see. This is called “experiential education,” and it is widely considered the best way to learn. Thanks to experiential education, I never buy any processed food with the word “delight” on the label. I tend to avoid eateries named after any part of a chicken and businesses which have the words “and more” attached to their names.
Some of life’s questions are arguably a complete waste of time and resources. Consider the recent media spectacle around the big question of whether a famous ball bouncer would play his game in this city or that. I saw the governor of Ohio singing an embarassing song of praise to this minor deity in a creepy video one morning before I had taken my first sip of coffee…and although I believe I should be able to eventually leave the disgusting memory behind without therapy, this spectacle which might otherwise be funny still leaves me saddened for what it says about our society and our pitiful and fawning worship of celebrity.
Some questions are extremely difficult to answer. Is capital punishment just or even effective? When is war justified? Is abortion “right” or “wrong?” I want to touch for a moment on the last question, and not because I think I can answer it. As a male, I’m not one hundred percent sure I even have a right to address it. It is a question of faith that we attempt to address in terms of science, even though we lack the science to completely answer it. Does human life begin at conception? How exactly do we define “human?” Does the soul enter the body at conception or when the body takes its first breath? What is a soul?
As a society we may never agree on these questions simply because, like all questions of faith, they exist beyond the reach of our science, beyond the reach of logic itself. This does not mean that we do not have the right to choose what we believe and to create customs and laws which reflect those beliefs. The problem is, what do we do when we need to make choices about issues upon which we strongly disagree? We have a system designed to do just that; a system where popular opinion begets legislation which is then filtered through the courts to become law. On the question of abortion our system has barely been able to handle such a polarizing issue, but it has been able to produce laws, though highly unpopular with many.
Which brings us to the point of this week’s discussion. This is an election year and the polarizing issue of abortion will once again be used as a litmus test by candidates who know that they can guarantee themselves a number of votes simply by stating a position on the issue. In Georgia’s governor’s race this year the “pro-life” or “pro-choice” position is at the top of the list of many candidates’ alleged qualifications for the job. At the risk of deeply offending some on either side of the issue, I must in all sincerity suggest to you that, in the context of impending economic disaster, with soldiers continuing to die in two wars often forgotten by the starry eyed public, and in the face of continuing environmental catastrophe – the issue of abortion is a red herring.
For many voters a candidate’s position on this single issue is enough to guarantee a vote without any further investigation of the candidate’s ideas or her past performance. Nevertheless I must continue to assert that voting for a pro-choice or pro-life governor, or president, will not change the law of the land. Millions of Americans voted for George Bush simply because he claimed to be a Christian and a pro-life candidate. After eight years of the Bush Administration, however, abortion was still legal and you would be hard pressed to demonstrate conclusively a single instance where the former president’s avowed religious beliefs affected the events which occurred during those years.
The business of politics divides to conquer. Yet after years of undermining and through the continuing assault on our Republic, the mechanism for change is still within our grasp. I challenge you, I beg you…in the upcoming elections please set aside the “litmus” positions and examine logically and dispassionately what the candidates are presenting. Set aside the façade of political party and try to assess who you think would be the best manager as opposed to the best figurehead, the best icon, or the best celebrity. Managers are what we need and the need is becoming desperate.
Every president in my lifetime and every governor has claimed to be a “Christian.” Let’s assume then that all the candidates are, and set aside this consideration. Most candidates choose to run as a democrat or a republican. Barak Obama ran as a democrat, yet if you put politics aside, some of his decisions would make any republican happy. Obama is a corporatist, as are many candidates wearing the democrat or the republican label. Set these labels aside. They mean very little when it comes to how a candidate will perform in office.
As for the issue of abortion, this is a question that will not be decided in a governor’s race or even a presidential election. This is a “bottom up,” not a “top down” issue. Laws on this issue change when society changes. Society becomes more educated, more mature and wiser – and it becomes less so. Laws will follow.
