A few days back, I commented on the fact that both sides in the abortion debate tend to “think the worst” about their adversaries, and that this is counterproductive for those of us who are seeking to dramatically reduce (eventually to zero) the number of abortions performed in the United States and the world. It didn’t take too long, of course, as always happens in this discussion, for the “M” word - murder - to come out.
This is yet another example of what I was saying - rather than respecting the folks who do not agree with us on the issue, both sides tend to label their opponents the most hideous things - in this case, at best enablers of murder, and at worse, murderers themselves.
A commenter mentioned that there was no middle ground in this debate - and, if you call your opponents murderers (or, on the other side, oppressors), he’s right. You have bombed the middle ground into nonexistence.
But I would argue that raising the rhetoric to these levels makes the cause of reducing the number of abortions performed in this country impossible, as it demonizes the half (or more) of the population who support the option of having abortions on some level.
Those of us who are pro-life would be much better served focusing our energies on creating a society where “unplanned” pregnancies occur less frequently and when they do occur are no longer a life sentence to poverty for most single mothers. This is an issue where both pro-choice and pro-life individuals can work together, with the end result being a dramatic reduction in the number of abortions performed each year.
More press conference fun…
The President said today something along the lines of democracy being the world’s best hope for peace.
I won’t even get into the theological problems of this statement coming from the mouth of a professed born again Christian.
But, looking at the history of the United States, his statement simply doesn’t add up. For example, here are some of the wars that the world’s first democracy has engaged in since its birth:
- The Revolutionary War.
- The War of 1812.
- The Mexican-American War.
- The Civil War.
- The Spanish-American War.
- World War I.
- World War II.
- The Korean War.
- The Vietnam War.
- Gulf War I.
- Gulf War II.
This, of course, leaves out the numerous “police actions” we have undertaken in places such as Panama, Grenada, and Kosovo, and the large number of proxy wars we have fought in places such as Central America.
If that’s peace, I’d hate to see his definition of war!
I heard a few minutes of President Bush’s press conference this morning. Apparently, we are on the cusp of armageddon because social security payroll taxes may increase to 18 PERCENT!
Sounds pretty bad, right? Except for the fact that the taxes are currently 12.4 percent, and most likely that 18 percent figure would only occur if we did nothing for 40 years, the trust fund ran out, and we were forced to fully fund social security from payroll taxes alone. Oh, and the fact that it really amounts to an increase of 2.8 percent of income (remember, payroll taxes are split between the employer and the employee, so that 18 percent is really 9). Which amounts to $2500 per year in today’s dollars even if you made enough to hit the cap of $90,000 in income.
So, in other words, if we do absolutely nothing to adjust the system slowly over the course of 40 years, AND the projections which have been consistently pessimistic hold true, we will need to pay an extra 3 percent of our income to make sure everyone can get fully-funded social security benefits.
Some crisis.
