Dear Abby’s dilemma reflects America’s dilemma
By Tom Quiner
Did you read Dear Abby on Saturday?
Read it here: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/21/1962299/dear-abby-couples-polar-politics.html#ixzz0onsfxhFQ
In a nutshell, a young couple are experiencing difficulties in their relationship due to significant political differences. The writer poses this question: “How can we learn to have a mutual respect for our political opinions while not compromising what each believes?”
The question reflects a deeper problem facing America. Political differences were manageable as long as both sides share some basic values. Those values were stated in the Declaration of Independence: that each person has God-given fundamental rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Both political parties agreed on this value system until this generation.
Today’s Democratic Party has moved away from the value system that served America so well. Instead, today’s Democrats pointedly reject the notion that a person has a fundamental right to life.
Their position on that issue today is certainly reminiscent of their position in 1860 when they rejected the notion that certain human beings had a right to freedom, a right to their own life. President Lincoln’s famous warning is relevant today: “a nation divided against itself cannot stand.”
What a chilling thought.
There’s hope. Polling data shows America is becoming more pro life. Technology lets us see into the womb in wondrous way. Anyone willing to look sees the beauty of humanity unfold from the moment of conception.
The spark of creation is dazzling. One peek and the case for Life becomes compelling and the case for abortion becomes sickening.
Just as the couple in Dear Abby are having a tough time, America is faced with a huge challenge as long as one political party wishes to impose their radical vision on the rest of us.
Neither side has any respect for the other’s view. We’re at war with each other. None expressed the dilemma more eloquently than a famous Senator: “While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion-on-demand is not in accordance with the values our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life even at its earliest stages has certain rights which must be recognized. The right to be born; the right to love; the right to grow old.”
The late Senator, Teddy Kennedy, said it so well. Yes, you read correctly. Senator Kennedy later changed his mind for political reasons. My hope is that Democrats will change their mind again for political reasons as a growing number of Americans realize what is actually in the womb: a person.
The Democrats were on the wrong side in 1860. They are again in 2010.