A Fatal Indifference

Years ago, while still a Democrat, I received one of those mass mailings that political parties periodically send to their mailing lists enclosing a questionnaire asking for input on various issues. I recall Democratic consultant James Carville's name on the request for voter opinion.

I also recall responding to the questionnaire with a very succinct message warning the Democratic Party that it would pay dearly at the polls for being pro-abortion. Obviously, Carville didn't see or take my advice. And, on Election Day, we saw Carville on cable TV stunned by the Bush victory in spite of lost jobs in Ohio, in spite of Kerry supposedly winning three debates, and in spite of the highly distorted media coverage of the Iraq war.

If the Democratic Party had become pro-life, it would have remained the dominant party it was for decades before 1994 when the Republicans captured the House. That historic capture of the House remains the biggest achievement, although obviously unintended, of former President Clinton. Most of us thought that the Republicans would never control the House of Representatives in our lifetime. It has now been ten years and counting since that historic takeover.

Why does it seem absolutely impossible for the Democratic Party to become pro-life? Kerry flip flopped on every issue under the sun. But he never compromised his full throttle support for abortion on demand. Why such radical and consistent support for abortion? That question is worth a book.

But we do fortunately have a pro-life party, the Republican Party. Without that pro-life stance, Bush would not have won on Tuesday. So how can ambitious pro-abortion Republicans like Schwarzenegger and Giuliani maintain their pro-abortion stance? The Republican Party will not nominate a pro-abortion candidate unless the party wishes to self-destruct.

If pro-abortion Republicans want to run for President, they had better become Democrats or change their stripes. I predict that they will likely change their stripes, given the recent fortunes of the Democratic Party. The ensuing problem is then whether pro-life voters will find such a political conversion credible enough to entrust that person with appointments to the Supreme Court. If pro-abortion Republicans want to convert to the pro-life side, they had better figure out how to do it credibly, or else they will merely repeat James Carville's fatal indifference to the abortion issue.