Abortion and Politics
Lately, I have been following US presidential politics quite closely. I don’t blog about it much because everyone at St Blogs is pretty much in awe of George Bush and I am not. In fact, I am not impressed by many politicians in either party. I do see Obama as being a game changer. That is I think he will win and I think his winning will change the country and the world quite dramatically. Most of the changes will be positive.
I do think the game of politics has to be changed. It seems to be stifling rational thought. One party comes to the conclusion that proposition A is good and the other immediately jumps to the other side saying A is bad. Then the first party find every reason to embrace A and dismisses every reason to reject A. The other party finds every reason to destroy A and dismisses any reason why A might be good. This is done with backwards reasoning. That is when you start with your conclusion and then try and create an argument that gets you there.
This sort of thing is what you would expect from the less intelligent participants of the debate. The really smart guys would be the ones who could rise above that. But that isn’t so. Even the most brilliant conservatives and the most brilliant liberals fall into this trap. They argue very intelligently but only within the box of their ideology. They see nothing but evil and stupidity on the other side.
The trouble comes when the issues that get caught up in this debate are very important. Abortion is one such issue. From the conservative side it is often used to write people off as simply evil. Not because the person is evil but because they are liberal (a distinction few conservatives make). Not because they care about the unborn but because they care about the Republican party. So the goal is not to convince but to demonize.
From the liberal side there is no openness to the prolife arguments. Why? Because they are conservative arguments. They just want to turn back the clock on the sexual revolution. Why is that bad? It is a question that need not be addressed. Few conservatives and no liberals ask it. It is a closed question because all questions are closed. You don’t question your school of thought. It is just not done.
Americans change religions more frequently than they change political parties. They see the irrational clinging to tradition in the other party but they cannot see it in their own. They see their own position as being totally based on reason. Neither side changes very often. When an issue like abortion gets into the liberal/conservative dynamic then it becomes almost impossible to discuss. The politics overpowers the voice of reason every time.
The goal is to convince both sides that abortion is wrong. How do you get there? Just winning the political battles is not good enough. Republicans have won 7 out of the last 10 presidential elections and that has accomplished exactly zero in terms of legally recognizing the life of the unborn. Is it realistic to think one party is going to win a lot more than 70% of the time? I don’t think so. So we need to get to a point where the Democrats don’t automatically just undo the little bit of progress a Republican may have made. They need to buy into the prolife arguments as well. But how do we get there?
I think part of the answer is to not demonize the other side. Catholics believe in invincible ignorance when it come to dealing with protestants. We need to believe in it when dealing with Democrats. We need to charitably assume they are trying to do the right thing. That was hard to do with Clinton because he was such a sleaze bucket. It should be easier with Obama. He does have a fairly Christian mindset. He reminds me of my way of thinking before I came to fully experience Christ. I was a liberal evangelical. I was comfortable thinking like a Christian. Still I didn’t really understand the depth of my sin and the power of God to change my heart and make me holy. Obama seems to me like he is in that space. He is comfortable in church and believes it is true but he does not really understand the gospel.
I do think the vast majority of the stuff you read about him is crap. He is either the messiah or the antichrist. Christians have fallen mostly in the ladder camp. Mostly we have failed to speak the truth in love. Often we have disregarded both truth and love in order to try and win. That is problematic when you win and it is even more problematic when you lose. It gives Democrats absolutely zero reason to take what we say seriously. We have called them every nasty thing we can think of and have assured them that we are speaking with the mind of Christ.
What we need to do is rise above politics. This is easier said than done. The Catholic church has always been very strong on the idea of not associating the church with a political cause. They have made that mistake many times so they know the dangers very well. You can see it quite clearly now. There is so much confusion between what is Christian and what is conservative. The abortion issue is just one more issue thrown into the mess. We need to separate it out and talk about it in a way all political camps can understand.
“I do see Obama as being a game changer. That is I think he will win and I think his winning will change the country and the world quite dramatically. Most of the changes will be positive.”
Is the following one of the positive things Obama will be doing once President that you’re referring here as well?
Obama’s Abortion Bombshell: Unrestricted Abortion Over Wishes of Individual States a Priority for Presidency
“The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act,” Obama said in his July speech to abortion advocates worried about the increase of pro-life legislation at the state level.
June 20th, 2008 at 5:06 pmThe Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is legislation Obama has co-sponsored along with 18 other senators that would annihilate every single state law limiting or regulating abortion, including the federal ban on partial birth abortion.
Did you read the whole post? I do know he is pro choice and I am not suggesting we ignore that. I am not even encouraging people to vote for him. If he was pro life I might do that.I am just wanting to make the pro life case to the Democratic party since they are in power every now and then and one such time is likely to be soon.
How many abortions occur every year in the US? I know it is over a million. That is with a Republican in the White House. Is what president Obama does in the short term likely to change that? Not much.
June 21st, 2008 at 11:06 amRandy, I have followed your blog for some time and commented occasionally. I read your earlier post months ago that indicated you thought well of Senator Obama.
I agree with you that we need to think the best of Sen. Obama and Democrats in general, especially when engaging with them in discussions on important topics like abortion, marriage, stem-cell research, etc. We need to make sure we do not demonize them because the vast majority of them are indeed acting in what they think is the best way.
However, Senator Obama believes and has promised to act in ways that will most decidedly affect our country in negative ways. I won’t go into detail on these issues as I have already done so on my blog and this information is freely available everywhere, but here is the short list:
1. Liberal activist judges (you’ve seen the recent examples in Canada of this type of judge (12 year old suing her father, the HRC, etc.), except in the U.S. these justices will also support abortion for the next X decades.
2. Federally funded embryonic stem cell research and cloning. Human lives created and destroyed for the purpose of “science”.
3. The promotion and establishment of same-sex unions, shortly becoming same-sex “marriage”.
Pro-life politicians at the state and national level have done tremendous good over the past decades since Roe v. Wade. You probably have not heard of the struggles in every state to protect women and help them know they truly do have a choice with their unborn babies: Parental notification acts, partial birth abortion bans, ultrasounds and 24-hour waiting periods, and so on–all of which Senator Obama wants to wipe out in one fell swoop, as Terah pointed out above.
At least one former Republican president appointed a Supreme Court Justice who is virulently pro-abortion–how different would things be with just one different Justice. The next President will likely get to appoint at least one, possibly two, who will serve for the rest of their lives. The good that President Bush has done in appointing Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts will be seen over the next 20 years.
President Bush also vetoed funding for embryonic stem cell research and signed the partial birth abortion ban (which Clinton vetoed twice and of course Obama supports this horrific procedure).
President Bush is not perfect; there are many things he has done I don’t agree with, but on the most important issues affecting the sanctity of human life and defense of the family, he has acted superbly and should be justly commended for it.
Senator Obama will not bring positive change. Do you know that his voting record is 96% partisan (of course toward Democrat)? He talks about compromise and change and bringing people together, but his record says the exact opposite.
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June 23rd, 2008 at 9:06 amRandy says: “How many abortions occur every year in the US? I know it is over a million. That is with a Republican in the White House. Is what president Obama does in the short term likely to change that? Not much.”
I guess that more than justifies Obama’s anticipated presidential act of the signing of the FOCA, which would ultimately annihilate every single state law limiting or regulating abortion, including the federal ban on partial birth abortion.
It’s like saying in WWII Europe, “Hey, since Jews are being killed anyway, let’s give all of Europe an Official license to kill with no restraints whatsoever!”
Amazing how people are quick to rationalize murder (esp. considering this is essentially rationalizing the murder of babies!)!
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:17 pmThis is a textbook example of how to shur down debate. Just go around calling people baby murderers. That is much better than rational argument.
I didn’t say this FOCA thing was good. I said that basically the US has abortion on demand during all 9 months. That is a reality under a pro life president. That will be the reality no matter who wins in 2008. So you are talking about matters that don’t really address the central question of the humanity of the unborn.
Would a McCain presidency mean fewer abortions? I don’t think that is at all clear. It might. It might not. I am hopeful that an Obama presidency will make a difference especially with blacks. One side effect of inspiring many blacks could be fewer abortions.
Either way the number is going to be very high. The problem goes deeper than politics. People just don’t get it. They don’t see why it is a good thing that sex and procreation are connected. They are not aware of the basic facts that force us to admit that the unborn are human. What we need is not so much political action as evangelism. We need people to open their hearts, minds, and souls to the love of God.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:29 pmI am hopeful that an Obama presidency will make a difference especially with blacks.
This, I agree with. It’s nice having a black candidate for president; in fact, if it weren’t for the abortion issue (though there are others, but those are minor compared to this one), I would more than advocate his candidacy for president simply because of what his win would entail as far as minorities go.
One side effect of inspiring many blacks could be fewer abortions.
That’s where we diverge; think about it — do you really believe this given FOCA (not only his anticipated presidential signing of it but, mind you, he co-authored it!)?
It’s obvious that, if anything, people will see this as a blatant endorsement of it and, therefore, they can be just as for it.
The problem goes deeper than politics. People just don’t get it. They don’t see why it is a good thing that sex and procreation are connected. They are not aware of the basic facts that force us to admit that the unborn are human. What we need is not so much political action as evangelism. We need people to open their hearts, minds, and souls to the love of God.
As true as that might be in one respect, preaching about how wrong abortion is will not stop the holocaust.
If the government gives people the right to kill; as past and current history has proven and continues to prove, they will proceed to taking advantage of that awful “right”.
What will only effectively put an end to this is affecting change on the governmental level.
Unfortunately, it will be one that may drag on for decades, not unlike that of slavery when it was too such a “right”.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:23 pmGreat post.
I agree completely. The “Catholic-Right” has somewhat blindly allied itself the the Evangelical Right and the Republican Party. Abortion is a huge issue. Obama is very bad on abortion legislation, but his social policies and charisma may actually lower the incidence of abortion. But I digress.
We need to stop demonizing the other. Abortion is much bigger than politics. America’s moral problems cannot be fixed by legislation. We need to evangelize the culture. Evangelization requires love, patience, forgiveness. It requires treating the other as a person, not demonizing the other. I believe this failure to truly evangelize is why the pro-live cause has not been more successful.
June 25th, 2008 at 7:04 pmThere is now a movement in the Democratic party to make abortion reduction part of the platform. Jim Wallis and Tony Compola are trying to get that done. I would support it only if it explicitly includes education as a way to reduce the number of abortions. If you educate young women as to what a fetus looks like and what abortion does then you will see the numbers drop big time. It might also start people asking a lot more questions. But if you seriously want to make abortion safe legal and rare then education needs to be something we want to make happen.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:15 pm