Mainstream liberal advocates today for the most part side with the “pro-choice” view, though there are certainly exceptions across the political aisle. What is interesting to me is that the so-called freedom of choice they so dearly defend is really anything but . . . Ask these same “pro-choice” proponents how they feel about freedom for other choices beyond the choice to call a baby a fetus and then “terminate” (read: kill) it.

How about the choice to send one’s children to the best school available, if the local district school is not adequate academically or a good fit for a child? What about the choice to stand by a firm moral code, acknowledging that there is such a thing as right and wrong (whatever the ubiquitous post-modern rhetoric might claim to the contrary)?

Oh, no! It’s ok to talk about relativism, Buddhism, Humanism, and Hinduism, but don’t you dare talk about Christianity, or anything that Christianity stands for! That is one choice that can’t be recommended, not without inevitable consequences. Sure you can do it, but you’ll be sued, blackmailed, ridiculed, threatened, and abused if you do. Freedom to choose and freedom of expression is ok, as long as the expression is either meaningless, cruel, pornographic, violent or crude, or simply lines up with the predominant judicial and media political views (isn’t that a sad reality? So much for objectivity in the courts and the press…). But don’t you dare express your views that casual sex is dangerous, that it is psychologically and emotionally damaging, and that fulfilling, committed, permanent marriage leads to more satisfied, meaningful lives. Don’t you dare decide to tell a post-abortive mother that the feelings of guilt she is feeling are natural, and that there is a path to true healing (in fact, it’d be better if you didn’t say that she even needed healing in the first place – that empty, broken, depressed feeling she has is probably just a chemical imbalance – not because of her choice to kill her baby….)

You have the hard-earned, legal right to choose whatever makes you happy. “If it makes you happy,” the song says, “it can’t be that bad.” After all, this is America, where the people decide (if by “people,” you mean the aristocratic people in the black robes) what the law says. Just make sure your choice isn’t controversial (to the judges), genuine, or disagreeable to people that choose to live their lives however they want, regardless of the consequences to themselves or others. We might often forget about the next line of that song, where the singer asks why something that makes you so happy leaves you so sad. Wise words from a pretty forgettable pop song!

Finally, for the record, could you point out the section of the constitution where it talks about the “right to choose?” My copy must have been edited by the revisionist historians and textbook writers who have exercised their right to choose not to record the facts, unless the facts line up with their own personal political and social views and beliefs.

So go ahead, choose to disregard the comments I have made. Isn’t there a Right to Be Ignorant somewhere on the books? I wish I had chosen that a long time ago, because the truth about our current situation of agenda superseding reality is quite maddening.
-d.c.l.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 21st, 2007 at 6:30 am Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.