Posted on 04/27/2004 10:56:43 AM PDT by It's me
Our culture seems to be decaying from within. The recent “March for Women’s Lives” in Washington DC showed us a glimpse of what our culture has been becoming. Women holding signs about their genitals and screaming about their right to “choose” infiltrated Washington, flooded the streets and won the attention of the national media. But the rhetoric is tiresome. Signs wishing that George Bush’s mother had “choice” available to her and demanding the right to “choose” are worn out and frustrating. Has no one the courage to step forth and say that they want the right to have abortions, and abandon this silly “choice”? Even the “March for Women’s Lives” is a thinly veiled euphemism for what really was a March For Abortions. “Stop the War on Choice!” means “Give Me an Abortion, Now!” and everyone knows it. So few, though, have the courage to say what is really is they want. One report from the March tells of pro-life counter-protesters holding signs with pictures of fetuses at eight weeks. “This is what you are killing!” the pro-lifers shouted. “Lies, lies!” screamed the marchers.
Their position is one of denial, more than anything else. They pretend that they are not killing developing humans, but instead clamor for a right to “choose” without even considering both alternatives to that choice. They cannot entertain questions about their position, lest they be proved wrong.
Where is the courage? Pro-lifers confront the angry hordes, displaying courage in the faces of the angry women and the disbelieving media who refuse to acknowledge their existence.
We have what they lack. That is one of the marks of the conservative movement – courage. The world may come crashing down around us, and it may seem that all we hold dear is slipping out of our fingers and into the murky pools of the Publicly Derided and the Politically Incorrect. We will not, however, flinch at the attacks or back down from our beliefs. Some have; some cower in fear, appeasing what seems to be the majority with simpering compromises on basic moral issues or fundamental principles. Most, thankfully, do not.
The Middle East is torn with strife and wracked with war, but so many would ignore the problems and ignore the cries of the civilians and the threats of the tyrannical powers out of fear or cowardice. But America and its allies rose up against malice and evil, striking the enemy in its lair and inflicting a mortal wound. How many Americans now criticize the President – crying “murder” with their weak tongues, willing to appease the enemy with their treacherous condemnation of the troops and every military maneuver. They naturally have no deeds to add credibility to their words; quickly voicing their concern, they would not take up arms or action against evil.
Sometimes arms are necessary and force is required, and words will not suffice. We, those familiar with reality, understand that, where others do not.
That is a second mark of conservatism – a firm basis in reality. William F. Buckley Jr., calls conservatism “the politics of reality.” We are not grounded in wild-eyes assertions that every social problem can be solved by the government, while claiming that religion destroys social order. We do not act on bizarre assumptions about human nature while throwing millennia of human experience to the dogs. We do not operate on the flawed premise that men and women are exactly the same, defying what every observation of human nature has told us. We do not believe that men are the genesis and the greatest of all things, because we know that the hand of a supreme God gives us life and holds that life in existence. We do not expect too little of men, reducing ourselves to slaves of a sexual appetite, nor do we expect too much, suggesting that men have no need of moral instruction or religious guidance. This is reality.
Conservatives are marked by dignity. We respect all mankind for the dignity given to us by God, not by United Nations Human Rights Charters. We must uphold this dignity with reasonable laws, but this dignity does not arise from the laws we create. While radical feminists refer to themselves as nothing more than genitals, a peculiar synecdoche in which one oft-unmentioned organ personifies their whole, we honor women – and men – for their minds and, more importantly, their souls. Conservatives respect our fellow men, for we need to love God’s creatures as He commands, but this does not mean condoning their actions or valuing their erroneous opinions.
The fourth mark of conservatism is our commitment to truth. God has created a universe and we inhabit it. So we strive to recognize his natural law. The recent surge of enthusiasm for same-sex marriage defies thousands of years of precedent, and flings mud in the face of nature herself. Reasonable men have condemned this, and God clearly states that such actions will not be tolerated. While we love mankind, we cannot shrink from proclaiming truth. We must proclaim the damage cause by abortion, we must not pretend that attentive, loving motherhood is an impossible vocation, or that worshipping God is as valuable as loudly denying his existence while forcing others to be silent about their beliefs. Not all choice is equally valid; not every option is as worthy as another. As unpalatable as this is to our modern world, it is only the truth of our existence and should not be denied.
As Conservatives active in the world, we will vote for those who respect life because of its inherent dignity, we will support those who will limit the government from its intrusion into private lives, we support those who will defend our nation and our allies from the malicious and the evil, and those who will lead the country with fear of none but God.
The Conservative is not irrationally harking back to a former order out of nostalgia for bygone days. We are upholding a bastion of courage, reality, dignity, and truth that is under attack but will ultimately hold, and we cannot afford to lose our vigilance or relax our guard, because what we hold dear is precious beyond measure.
Please keep in mind that the author is a 19 year old college student.
Forget about the disturbing images in places in the mind where one ought not dare to tread. My bigger question about the lockbox is if she was advocating bringing back "chasity belts"?
You know, those would actually do a lot to prevent abortions, Ms. Manheim.
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