Month: March 2005

The world we live in is a bizarre, inconsistent place where you seem to never know what to expect. As with life, politics reflects our vacillating minds with flair unrivaled in any other human endeavor. Following are some issues that seem to not fit with political ideology in the parties that support them.

Abortion And Environmental Activism

Let us begin by defining the environment. Miriam-Webster defines the environment as: “the complex of physical, chemical, and biotic factors (as climate, soil, and living things) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival.” Environmental Activism is the active involvement of an individual to preserve the environment. This environment includes such things as flowers, trees, horned owls, humans, etc.

Which political party is the “Party of the Environment”? Traditionally, Democrats (especially liberal Democrats) have been strong on environmental protection issues – or, at least they have that reputation. Just like Republicans have a reputation for supporting Big Business (this is often extrapolated as not supporting the environment since the needs of industry often cause pollution in the local environment). However, there are inconsistencies rampant in our politics that cloud the issues.

Liberals and now some Conservatives use rhetoric laced with references to environmental conservation and protection. What this means is that at the cost of some personal freedoms, we can join together and preserve what nature is left to us and pass it on to our children to keep our world healthy. A wonderful idea I think. Unfortunately, this idea seems to be applied at whim and not to the environment as a whole.

For example, people think timber companies are evil for chopping trees down and despoiling a natural environment. Those same people ignore the fact that the lumber companies also replant as they move through the land. It would be environmentally and economically unsound to do so – they would work themselves out of a job. We also have more trees now than we did 100 years ago – after all, we strive hard to put out forest fires which usually occur naturally. Yet these same people who harp on the timber companies as “killing the environment” turn right back around and say that it is perfectly acceptable to kill a human baby while it’s gestating.

Wait. Wasn’t I talking about the environment and what does Abortion have to do with that? Well, if you recall what the environment is, you will recall that it includes all living things contained therein. This includes any unborn child as well as all existing humans on the planet. We are a large part of the environment. We interact with it on a daily basis. So why does conserving a few owls in a woodland area take precedence over saving of human lives? Why do people see “saving the whales” as a worthy cause when they turn their backs on their own species?

Personal Liberty. Remember what I wrote earlier: at the cost of some personal freedoms, we can join together and preserve what nature is left to us. No one in the upper echelons of the Democratic party, no matter how inconsistent it is, wishes to “take away a personal choice” from a woman who has already made a poor choice to engage in the behavior that brought about her current state. Life doesn’t have an “undo” button. What has been done will stay done – killing the child of an unwise union is not an easy way out.

Why is it the case that an “unintentional” killing of an unborn baby can carry the murder verdict (as in the case against Terry Nichols who was found guilty on 161 counts of murder: 160 people killed and one unborn child killed when its mother died) while an intentional killing is considered an acceptable “choice”?

This one issue galvanizes me to never vote for any Democratic candidate. This is unfortunate as some issues that the Democratic Party stands for, I favor. However, to be a Democrat, one must support the platform and Abortion is a key issue supported by the Democratic platform. The implications of this for me is that I’m forced to vote for whoever the alternative choice is – not always a pleasant one.