
Notice that todayโs political discourse no longer consists much of rational argument, attempts at persuasion, or intellectual analysis.ย Instead, it consists largely of social pressure,ย attempts to make people want to belong to a socially-approved group, appealing to social status, shaming non-conformists, and signaling in-group attitudes.
As an example, here is the response of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) when asked about her promise, if elected president, to approve of no judges who would question the Roe v. Wade decision.ย From Philip Klein,ย Kirsten Gillibrand compares judges who donโt agree Roe is settled law to racists and anti-Semite,, in theย Washington Examiner:
โI think thereโs some issues that have such moral clarity that we have as a society have decided that the other side is not acceptable,โ she explained. โImagine saying that itโs okay to appoint a judge who is racist, or anti-Semitic, or homophobic. Asking someone to appoint someone who takes away basic human rights of any group of people in America I think that we have โ I donโt think that those are political issues anymore.โ
She concluded, โI believe that for all of these issues, they are not issues that there is a fair other side.โ
So being pro-life is โnot acceptable.โย Opposing the killing of unborn children is the moral equivalent of racism.ย A position that should not even be stated, like anti-Semitism.ย Another socially unacceptable belief is not accepting homosexuality; that is, being โhomophobic.โย On these issues, she says, there is no โother side.โย ย The rightness of the killing of unborn children has been completely settled and is a matter of the utmost โmoral clarity.โ
I appreciate how her colleague Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NB) responded:
Slandering pro-life Americans as, in effect, Klan members and Nazis is a way of crushing debate. Itโs a way of saying that these people โ people like my mom, who prays outside abortion clinics; people like my daughters and my wife, whoโve spent a lot of hours volunteering at a crisis-pregnancy centers; and people like the overwhelming majority of the Nebraskans that I get to represent โ . . . are so morally repugnant that they donโt deserve a voice. They donโt deserve to be treated like human beings. They donโt deserve to be engaged in debate. Theyโre not people that you could possibly have reasonable conversation with them.
Pro-lifers, are you ready to live in the world that Sen. Gillibrand would preside over?ย (It would be a good question to ask the other Democratic candidates if they agree with her.)ย ย Can you handle being socially ostracized?ย Being demonized?ย Are you willing to keep your opposition to abortion to yourself and not say it out loud?
Photo:ย Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, official portrait,ย Congress [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons.