Sep
15
Not just abortion
September 15, 2008 | 2 Comments
Jay Anderson is rightfully outraged at one of John McCain’s latest radio ads.
They’re the original mavericks. Leaders. Reformers. Fighting for real change. John McCain will lead his Congressional allies to improve America’s health.
- Stem cell research to unlock the mystery of cancer, diabetes, heart disease.
- Stem cell research to help free families from the fear and devastation of illness.
- Stem cell research to help doctors repair spinal cord damage, knee injuries, serious burns.
- Stem cell research to help stroke victims.
And, John McCain and his Congressional allies will invest millions more in new NIH medical research to prevent disease. Medical breakthroughs to help you get better, faster. Change is coming.
McCain-Palin and Congressional allies. The leadership and experience to really change Washington and improve your health.
This is, at best, a cynical ad meant to assuage pro-embryonic stem cell research supporters and convince them that McCain is “on the side of science” after all. At the same time, by not mentioning embryonic stem cell research specifically, he avoids angering the base. And a McCain spokesperson emphasizes that they are including ESCR under the general stem cell banner.
This is upsetting for any number of reasons, but then again, we know nothing now that we did know yesterday. Despite statements put out by McCain that made it seem as though he were starting to move away from supporting ESCR, he never fully repudiated his support for it. And as excited as most conservatives have been by his selection of Sarah Palin to be his running mate, I did not see the pick as a signal that he had fully gone over into the anti-ESCR camp.
So does this mean one ought to repudiate McCain? Again, we have to compare and contrast his record with that of B’rack Ob’ma. McCain supports federal funding for stem cell research on “discarded” embryos. Ob’ma supports this as well AND he favors research that would allow future embryos be created and destroyed for research purposes AND he favors abortion on demand AND he blocked a bill in the Illinois state legislature that would have afforded protection to infants born alive after a failed abortion AND he would allocate federal funds towards abortion AND he would undoubtedly appoint Justices to the Court who would re-affirm the central holding in Roe v. Wade.
We have to make a choice in this election between a candidate who holds a position that is in direct conflict with one of the Church’s core teachings and a candidate who holds MULTIPLE positions in conflict with Church teachings, and who is a firm supporter far more numerous evils than the other candidate. I fully appreciate that some people feel that they cannot support any candidate that does not fully uphold their values, but you also have to understand that there is no third choice in this election. And as I said in an earlier post, even the third party candidates do not offer a fully acceptable alternative from a moral standpoint.
What’s more, I think it is time to look past just the abortion issue, and no, I am not about the make the same argument that left-wing Catholics make. The fact of the matter is that B’rack Ob’ma is morally unacceptable from any standpoint, including social justice issues.
I am tired of conceding the social justice issues to the left. There is an almost unspoken assumption that the Democratic Party in general would be a-ok if we looked past abortion. Wrong. The Democratic Party’s economic platform is also reprehensible. No, there is no specific platform that is contrary to Church teaching, and I will not even attempt to make that argument. But taken as a whole, the leftist economic program has done irreperable harm to this country, especially the people it has most tried to help. Ob’ma’s quasi-socialistic agenda is a complete abandonment of the concept of subsidiarity.
Last week, at a forum at Columbia University, Ob’ma claimed that the concept of voluntarism has been completely ennervated in this country, and he was right. But the reason that partial associations and charitable organizations have been weakened (though certainly not completely erased) is precisely because of the progressive-left advancement over the past century. The growth of the federal government in the aftermath of the New Deal and the Great Society had done much damage to these local institutions. Though conservative and Republican administrations have tried to hault the growth of government, people continue to rely far too much on a distant and ineffective goverrnment for help. Local institutions still exist, but their importance has been greatly diminished. Partial associations, the essential ingredient for a healthy republic, have been badly battered thanks to the non-stop growth of the federal government.
B’rack wants to complete the process begun a century ago. He is the apotheosis of the progressive agenda. He wants to make mincemeat of the remaining barriers guarding us against the leviathan state. If he is allowed to have his agenda implemented, it would do much to make matters worse for those that he is trying to help. That is why people like Doug Kmiec are more than just useful idiots. Indeed, they are arguing against their own interests, because not only would Ob’ma solidify the abortion regime, he would do much to increase, not alleviate the factors that lead to abortion.
Moreover, Democrat victory in November would lead to a greater role for the secular left in all aspects of government, especially the Courts. Not all Democrats are godless atheists, but a hell of a lot of them are. If you are comfortable letting leftist jurists run riot at all levels of the justice system, then allowing B’rack to win this Fall is really no big deal after all. And we can all glibly go “ho hum” when the last vestiges of traditional values are slowly peeled away by the left-wing Courts.
On the most important social issues of our day, B’rack Ob’ma is completely unacceptable. But even on secondary issues, he is also an abomination. We need to keep that in mind when we enter the voting booth this November.
Comments
2 Comments so far
I am voting against Obama and for Palin. McCain is merely a necessary evil to accomplish those two goals.
And here I was thinking he was going to change his position.
This is disheartening.