Pax On Both Your Houses

As the Presidential primary season matures the defining partisan issues will emerge for the upcoming Presidential election. Character, leadership ability, saving Social Security and what to do with anticipated budget surpluses appear to be the "blue plate" specials on the electoral menu. However, the President's constitutional power to nominate justices for the Supreme Court engages both parties into the abortion debate. Each debate echoes with affirmations of pro-choice or pro-life credentials, discussions of the employment of judicial litmus tests, moments of unguarded expressions of emotions and the struggle over absolute prohibition versus conditional prohibition versus free choice. I am seriously beginning to doubt whether these issues belong in the cauldron of Presidential politics.[ Lycos Guide to Politics-issues-abortion-http://www.lycos.com/wguide/network/net_... ]

A productive discussion of the moral complexities inherent in the abortion issue requires quiet, reflective, rational give and take between people searching for a bridge between them. When cast into the electoral arena, it becomes a demographic factor in the fifty state battles for the Presidency.[ The politics of morality--http://www.sat.net/~mschuste/rant.htm }I propose that we remove it from the political battlefield and that we defuse the rhetoric and attempt to construct a bridge. I am fully aware that both sides will automatically reject this proposal and immediately resume their highly charged rhetorical assaults. The end result will be no change in anyone's perspective, violence undertaken by lunatic fringe groups and a reaffirmation of the reality that two adults can communicate at deafening levels and not exchange any ideas.

Despite the reality of the current warfare, I am going to take a leap into the fantasy world of a real discussion of the issues. The first need is to defuse the rhetoric and calm everyone down. The political labels Pro-life and Pro-Choice have to be cast aside during this daydream. Their natural opponent pairings (Pro-Death and Anti-Choice) are catalysts for a good shouting match and therefore deported from my discussion realm. It is not going to be a simple task to replace these terms, because most labels carry some sort of pejorative contextual meaning to someone. [ Conflict Resolution Survey---http://www.qvctc.commnet.edu/classes/con... ]

With careful thought, tempered by trepidation, I propose the following group identities: 1. Those who favor keeping abortion available as a family planning option, and 2: Those opposed to the use of abortion and abortifacient birth control prescriptions. The preceding classifications are not an attempt to avoid the troubling questions, but rather, a way to lower our collective voices, cool the emotions and allow logic and dialogue to reign.

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