I was in a twitter (of all places) argument recently with a friend
of mine over the issue of abortion, I wanted to consolidate my arguments and
organize a little bit more, so here it is: Why I vote Pro-Life/Anti-Abortion
I need to preface
it by saying I do not support a party, I have a fundamental set of ideas that
shape the way I vote, and the core tenants of those revolve around the issue of
life.
1. “Singe-Issue
voting is bad”
I don't vote because I only
care about one issue, I vote because one issue is more important than others.
The slavery example is perfect: If a candidate (during the Civil War era) had
fantastic economic policy, foreign policy, and was a nice guy... but supported
slavery, would you vote for him? No, because the issue of slavery far outweighs
the other issues. I vote pro-life because the magnitude of the issue
outweighs other issues.
2 "But the GOP supports the death penalty, war, and no social
services to the poor"
First of all. That sucks. It seems like a terrible thing
to say, but honestly, it straight up sucks that there is not a party that can
respect life at all stages, but at what point to we realize that there is more
at stake than food stamps. The right to life is a fundamental right! It comes
before all other rights, which means it turns into an A Priori issue. A Priori
means “First priority” so you have to analyze the issue of abortion before you
can even look at anything else. If you’re pro-choice, that’s cool, but you have
to decide that before you can look at other issues.
Second of all, I don’t need the government to provide
me with anything. The government exists to protect my rights as a citizen first
and foremost. The beautiful thing about being Catholic (and any religious affiliation
really) is that we as religious people like to give. There are countless
organizations who would love to provide the impoverished with necessities.
3. “What about cases of rape and to save the life
of the Mother?”
First of all, those instances are extremely rare, less
than 1% of women for rape, and 12% for medical reasons (not necessarily to save
mothers life). Those are low statistics for the 1.21 Million babies aborted in
2008. (http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/)
My case is not for everyone
to vote the same way as I do, but to know that you can’t look at everything on
an equal playing field. Foreign policy can’t be weighed the same as Social
Services, and the economy can’t be equated to infrastructure policy. Our
government is so large that in an attempt to make sure everyone is taken care
of, we lose sight of the most basic rights: the right to live.
In the words of the Solemn Blessing “Our help comes from the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth”
In the words of the Solemn Blessing “Our help comes from the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth”
First of all, I have to guess who you voted for, since it's not (exactly) clear. I'm going to assume you did not vote for Gary Johnson, because he ok's abortion during the first trimester. I'm also going to assume you did not vote for Obama; this one is clear.
ReplyDeleteOn our ballot, that leaves Virgil Goode and Mitt Romney. I'd now LIKE to assume that you voted for neither of these two because as a pro-life supporter, you would never approve of a vote for inclusion in any war, but even an unnecessary war, namely Iraq. In your post, you blatantly ignore the issues of the death penalty and war there is mention of them, but there is no rebuttal to the point. How do you address the fact that everyone in society has a right to life?
But now, impact calculus:
First, in war, people die. If you happen to vote for the candidate who would more likely pull the trigger on war, many people die. Your vote now counts as a vote for life and against it.
My second point comes from this, "If a candidate (during the Civil War era) had fantastic economic policy, foreign policy, and was a nice guy... but supported slavery, would you vote for him?" Let's assume everyone was like you and voted no. Let's do what you do the impossible and weigh the magnitude of slavery. How does slavery outweigh the magnitude of a now tanked economy and a nation that is going to war with it's enemies? In a poor economy, more moral atrocities will occur every day. More poverty, more death, more abortion. If foreign policy is horrid and we're going to war left and right, our government won't be able to protect it's citizens' rights, which according to you is it's most important job.
You state that you do not need the government to provide you with anything. So I have this question: As a college student, are you receiving financial aid to attend school? Is it aid provided by the federal or state government. If so, then you ARE getting help from the government. If you don't need that help, great. But don't take it and then say you don't need help.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually not receiving any financial aid.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONN-0uoTHI
ReplyDeleteThat's all I have to say about that, have a nice day. :)