In 1984 Mario Cuomo pioneered the argument that one may be personally opposed to abortion while supporting abortion rights.
Ever since this convenient locution has become a staple for countless Democratic politicians particularly Catholic ones. It is Vice President Joe Bidens view and was Senator John Kerrys stance when he ran for president in 2004.
Cuomos argument was a mess. For instance in order to buttress his argument he touted the (alleged) refusal of American Catholic bishops to forcefully denounce slavery. The bishops werent hypocrites; they were realists Cuomo explained. They offered a measured attempt to balance moral truths against political realities.
As Ramesh Ponnuru writes in The Party of Death: It is a mark of the strength of contemporary liberalisms commitment to abortion that one of its leading lights should have been willing to support temporizing on slavery in order to defend it.
I bring this up because according to the logic of Democrats these days all of these politicians want to ban abortion. It doesnt matter that they support abortion rights in word and deed. It doesnt matter that theyre willing to forgive tolerance for slavery to defend the distinction. They are personally opposed to abortion usually as a matter of faith and so they must favor banning it.
Thats the upshot of the shockingly dishonest propaganda being peddled by leading Democrats and media outlets about the Republican push to ban contraception.
Part of the problem is simply psychological projection. Since many liberals believe theres no valid limiting principle on governments ability to do good they assume that conservatives believe theres no valid limiting principle to do bad.
Rick Santorum who unproductively helped inject birth control into the GOP primaries nonetheless explained the flaw in this thinking. Heres the difference between me and the Left and they dont get this. Just because Im talking about it doesnt mean I want a government program to fix it. Thats what they do. Thats not what we do.
But dont tell that to the Democrats who are desperate to accuse the Republicans of Comstockery.
Lets admit what this debate is really and what Republicans really want to take away from American women. It is contraception Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) outrageously claimed while opposing the Blunt Amendment. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said the GOP was yearning to return to the Dark Ages ... when women were property that you could easily control even trade if you wanted to.
The Obama campaign insists that if Mitt Romney and a few Republican senators get their way employers could be making womens health care decisions for them and require that women seek a permission slip to obtain birth control.
Its all so breathtakingly dishonest. Rather than transport us to President Franklin Pierces America never mind Charlemagnes Europe the Blunt Amendment would send America hurtling back to January 2012. In that Handmaids Tale of an America women were free to buy birth control from their local grocery store or Walmart pharmacy and religious employers could opt not to subsidize the purchase. What a terrifying time that must have been for Americas women.
To be sure Republicans invited some of this madness upon themselves. But it was Barack Obama who started this mess by breaking his vow to religious institutions to allow them to keep the same conscience protections that even Hillary Rodham Clintons proposed health-care reforms in 1994 recognized as essential.
The lying demonization of Republicans isnt nearly so offensive or at least surprising as the extremist policy assumptions liberals are now using to defend Obamas accommodation of religious institutions. They argue in short that if employers and the government -- using taxpayer money -- do not provide birth control (and some abortifacients) for free then they are banning birth control. Taking them seriously -- no easy task -- Democrats are saying that theres no legitimate realm outside of government.
In other words theres no room for anybody to be personally opposed to paying for someone elses birth control. That means the people who want birth control to be a personal matter and no one elses business are demagogically fighting for a policy in which your birth control is in fact everyones business starting with the governments.
Jonah Goldberg is editor-at-large of National Review Onlineand the author of the forthcoming book The Tyranny of Clichs. You can reach him via Twitter @JonahNRO.
In 1984 Mario Cuomo pioneered the argument that one may be personally opposed to abortion while supporting abortion rights.
Ever since this convenient locution has become a staple for countless Democratic politicians particularly Catholic ones. It is Vice President Joe Bidens view and was Senator John Kerrys stance when he ran for president in 2004.
Cuomos argument was a mess. For instance in order to buttress his argument he touted the (alleged) refusal of American Catholic bishops to forcefully denounce slavery. The bishops werent hypocrites; they were realists Cuomo explained. They offered a measured attempt to balance moral truths against political realities.
As Ramesh Ponnuru writes in The Party of Death: It is a mark of the strength of contemporary liberalisms commitment to abortion that one of its leading lights should have been willing to support temporizing on slavery in order to defend it.
I bring this up because according to the logic of Democrats these days all of these politicians want to ban abortion. It doesnt matter that they support abortion rights in word and deed. It doesnt matter that theyre willing to forgive tolerance for slavery to defend the distinction. They are personally opposed to abortion usually as a matter of faith and so they must favor banning it.
Thats the upshot of the shockingly dishonest propaganda being peddled by leading Democrats and media outlets about the Republican push to ban contraception.
Part of the problem is simply psychological projection. Since many liberals believe theres no valid limiting principle on governments ability to do good they assume that conservatives believe theres no valid limiting principle to do bad.
Rick Santorum who unproductively helped inject birth control into the GOP primaries nonetheless explained the flaw in this thinking. Heres the difference between me and the Left and they dont get this. Just because Im talking about it doesnt mean I want a government program to fix it. Thats what they do. Thats not what we do.
But dont tell that to the Democrats who are desperate to accuse the Republicans of Comstockery.
Lets admit what this debate is really and what Republicans really want to take away from American women. It is contraception Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) outrageously claimed while opposing the Blunt Amendment. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said the GOP was yearning to return to the Dark Ages ... when women were property that you could easily control even trade if you wanted to.
The Obama campaign insists that if Mitt Romney and a few Republican senators get their way employers could be making womens health care decisions for them and require that women seek a permission slip to obtain birth control.
Its all so breathtakingly dishonest. Rather than transport us to President Franklin Pierces America never mind Charlemagnes Europe the Blunt Amendment would send America hurtling back to January 2012. In that Handmaids Tale of an America women were free to buy birth control from their local grocery store or Walmart pharmacy and religious employers could opt not to subsidize the purchase. What a terrifying time that must have been for Americas women.
To be sure Republicans invited some of this madness upon themselves. But it was Barack Obama who started this mess by breaking his vow to religious institutions to allow them to keep the same conscience protections that even Hillary Rodham Clintons proposed health-care reforms in 1994 recognized as essential.
The lying demonization of Republicans isnt nearly so offensive or at least surprising as the extremist policy assumptions liberals are now using to defend Obamas accommodation of religious institutions. They argue in short that if employers and the government -- using taxpayer money -- do not provide birth control (and some abortifacients) for free then they are banning birth control. Taking them seriously -- no easy task -- Democrats are saying that theres no legitimate realm outside of government.
In other words theres no room for anybody to be personally opposed to paying for someone elses birth control. That means the people who want birth control to be a personal matter and no one elses business are demagogically fighting for a policy in which your birth control is in fact everyones business starting with the governments.
Jonah Goldberg is editor-at-large of National Review Onlineand the author of the forthcoming book The Tyranny of Clichs. You can reach him via Twitter @JonahNRO.
