The political landscape these days is very a interesting thing to observe. Recently, I haven’t been extraordinarily confident that either candidate for president is going to do much to affect the issues that I am concerned about. Just to be clear, the things I think are important (in no particular order) are:
- Energy independence
- Freedom of information (including net neutrality)
- Some sort of solution to the credit crisis that doesn’t use $700 billion of tax-payer money
- A modern health-care system
- A dismantling of a good portion of our foreign military power and a stop to indiscriminate military action
- Getting spending under control and, if possible, removing or greatly altering the role of the Federal Reserve
I care about other things, but these are the issues I feel cause us the most headaches. I am honestly leaning towards Obama, but I’m not sold on either candidate (and may never be) at this point.
You’ll notice that abortion isn’t on my list. In fact, it’s not even on my radar.
It’s amazing to me to watch how well the Republican party has used this issue for the last few decades to garner support and shore up political power. I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but Roe v. Wade is going to be with us for a long time. We recently had the most “conservative” three branches of government we’ve ever had. Nothing has changed.
Abortion is a problem, but not in and of itself. From my perspective, abortion is indicative of an overall commoditization of human life specifically and life as a whole in general. The amazing amount of double-standard on the side of the religious right, which by and large fails to grasp this connection, is increasingly annoying and counter-productive to the debate. How can you be ok with capital punishment and using increasingly graphic language about how to deal with terrorism and then turn around and say you have this fundamental and deep respect for life?
I believe that life is life regardless of our like or dislike of a particular person or action. It’s time that section of the Republican base begins to find some consistency. As such, if you are demanding an end to government-sactioned abortion than you should also be advocating an end to government-sactioned killing (of any kind).
For some interesting perspectives on the value of life, much which I am inclined to agree with, see:
