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The funny thing is, I agree. Stack the traditional definition of ''conservative'' alongside the events of the last few years, and it's hard not to. It is, for example, difficult to find evidence of government getting out of people's way in the Terri Schiavo affair. Or evidence of lean, mean government efficiency in the Hurricane Katrina debacle. Or evidence of fiscal restraint in a projected $500 billion budget deficit. Or evidence of foreign policy pragmatism in the invasion of a country that had not attacked us and did not threaten to. Or evidence of accountability in the eagerness to duck blame for all the above.
Conservatism, an ideology once driven by principle, has shrunk until its purview can be, and often is, delineated in three syllables: God, guns, gays. Worse, it has embraced a win-at-all-costs ethos and intellectual dishonesty that are, even by the seamy standards of modern politics, astonishing....
Pitts: Principled conservatives sat silent while their party was hijacked
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Nevertheless, the abortion wars have been rekindled in this presidential campaign — the same battle lines drawn and the same fighting words uttered. What is this really about? Why do we keep yelling past each other?
For years now, polls have shown consistently that most Americans believe abortion laws should remain as they are; the sensitive issue of terminating a pregnancy, most of us agree, should be left to a woman, her physician and her conscience. As admirable as Gov. Sarah Palin’s decision was to bear her fifth child, Trig, after she and her husband learned he had Down syndrome, most of us wouldn’t want the government to force all other families to make the same decision. It’s not the business of any outsiders — any more than the difficult issues surrounding the case of Terri Schiavo were the business of Congress.....
Get onboard campaign for contraception
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