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Jewish World Review /Jan. 25,1999 /8 Shevat, 5759
Don Feder
Whose choice?
(JWR) --- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com) THE LEFT IS PRO-CHOICE on abortion (except for the unborn child, who has no
say at all in the matter) and nearly nowhere else.
As the rest of their agenda illustratespro-choice
is a euphemism. Driven by a zeal to limit population, liberate women from
maternity and separate sex from procreation, they are pro-abortion.
Last week, the Christian Coalition of Maine submitted 70,000 signatures for
a ballot question to ban partial-birth abortions. The initiative is opposed
by a group that styles itself The Maine Coalition for Choice.
Choice. A woman's right to choose. It sounds so all-American. After all, is
not individual freedom our defining national characteristic, that which
makes us unique?
Given their professed attachment to choice, one would expect liberals to
extend the concept to the furthest horizons. One would be mistaken.
Many parents consider the ability to decide where and how to educate their
children significantly more important than whether or not to kill them in
the womb.
To frustrate this legitimate desire, teachers unions have deployed their
Praetorian Guard, the Democratic Party and William Jefferson Clinton, to
block all exits from a clearly dysfunctional public school system.
Last year, the president vetoed opportunity scholarships, worth up to
$3,200 annually for 2,000 poor children in the District of Columbia, for
fear their families would use the grants to flee public schools that
resemble free-fire zones.
The middle class is staggering under the property-tax burden, much of which
goes to public education. For the left, giving these families a choice in
educating their children, through tuition tax credits, is simply
unthinkable.
Education aside, liberals would limit parental discretion through mandatory
sex education and the misapplication of child-abuse laws, and by harassing
mothers who leave a toddler in a car for 5 minutes to grab a gallon of milk.
Choice in retirement plans is as elusive as educational choice.
Most Gen-Xers and not a few Boomers believe their chances of actually
collecting Social Security benefits to be slightly less than their prospects
of winning an Olympic gold medal for figure skating with both of their legs
in a cast.
Here is a choice with profound consequences for our golden years (it could
spell the difference between dining out occasionally and eating dog food).
Clinton's answer to the looming Social Security crisis? Use 60 percent of
the budget surplus to shore-up a structure with a "condemned" sign out
front.
While he'll generously allow us to invest in some sort of
government-subsidized 401(k)-type account, we still will have no choice on
how our Social Security taxes are invested. Three-quarters of Americans pay
more in Social Security than in federal income taxes.
Taxes themselves are another way liberals limit choice. The average
family's combined tax burden has climbed from 21.8 percent of its income in
1983 to 24.9 percent today.
Bill Clinton would cut off his right arm before cutting your taxes. The
deficit was the excuse in years past. Now it's saving Social Security. Who
knows what it will be tomorrow?
Liberals are afraid that if you get to keep more of your income, you'll
choose to spend it frivolously. They have it earmarked for socially
responsible projects like child care, arts funding and fighting suburban
sprawl.
On an issue as vital as self-defense, liberals again are intent on
foreclosing options. Los Angeles is one of a growing number of
municipalities weighing a liability suit against gun manufacturers for
supposedly facilitating crime.
The plan is to put firearm companies out of business, sharply reducing
supply and making it harder to exercise the Second Amendment right to keep
and bear arms, and the basic human right of self-defense.
Even with something as mundane as transportation, liberalism's penchant for
coercion is conspicuous -- witness the war on sport-utility vehicles, the
latest greenhouse-gas culprit. Al Gore would raise their cost by subjecting
them to the emissions standards of cars, instead of trucks, putting them
beyond the means of most consumers.
Significantly, the alternatives liberals would allow us are all lethal --
abortion, assisted suicide, drug legalization (death by addiction) and
access to child pornography on the Internet (you know what that spawns).
Where choice really matters to those with their faculties intact -- how to
educate your children, plan for your retirement, spend your income, defend
your home and family, commute -- liberals want you to do it their way and
have a sumo wrestler in their corner to see that you do.
1/21/99: Censure worse than nothing
1/18/99: Words can`t dignify a dishonored presidency
1/13/99: Conservatism "with a heart" is conservatism without a head
1/11/99: If he isn't removed, watch out for Bill!
1/07/99: We can learn a lot from Teddy
1/05/99: Monica and a call to modesty
12/30/98: Will Bubba get away with it again?
12/28/98: Zionist dream alive and well on West Bank
12/18/98: Impeach or abandon the Rule of Law
12/16/98: Clinton moves Middle East closer to war
12/14/98: Why we lost interest in the homeless
12/10/98: No place at table for conservatives
12/07/98: The day America lost its innocence
12/02/98: Pilgrims Pilloried in streets of Plymouth
11/30/98: Caribbean dogpatch not a good candidate for statehood
11/25/98: Will Vermont force gay marriage on the nation?
11/23/98: The ACLU wants your kids to get a love life
11/18/98: Why liberals hate tobacco and guns more than drugs and crime
11/16/98: "Pleasantville" a countercultural morality play
11/13/98: Ads are a tough sell for abortion
11/09/98: Why gutless Republicans lost
11/06/98: Historians against the Constitution
11/02/98: Loving response to a hateful conference
10/28/98: Professor Death will fit right in at Princeton
10/26/98: Plymouth caves to Pilgrim foes
10/21/98: On '98 election, keep a critical eye on polls
10/19/98: Clinton could yet be 'prosperity president'
10/16/98: Working families -- Dems love 'em (stuffed)
10/09/98: Majoring in 'weirdness'
10/07/98: Friends of Billy Clinton
9/29/98: Letter from ex-soldier highlights defense peril
9/28/98: Answering arguments against impeachment
9/18/98: The nation that doesn't exist
9/14/98: Bubba isn't the only one who should be ashamed
9/11/98: Resolution of Clinton crisis will define national character
9/09/98: We're still just wild about Harry
9/07/98: Mexican banditry didn't end with Pancho Villa
9/02/98: Clinton forgives us!
8/31/98: Ashcroft's plain talking touches responsive chord
8/26/98: Public opinion be damned
8/24/98: Why liberals condone Clinton's lies
8/20/98: Time to move on -- to impeachment
8/12/98: With Bubba in the sexual privacy zone
8/10/98: The truth won't set Clinton free
8/06/98: Truth about Hiroshima is incontrovertible
8/04/98: Clinton not the first hollow president
7/30/98: "Small Soldiers" -- a fractured Vietnam allegory
7/27/98: Crime wave hits hometown
7/22/98: Love in an Internet fishbowl
7/20/98: Ads bring ex-gay movement out of closet
7/15/98: Brian and Amy -- the children of Roe
7/13/98: Why are we scared of obnoxious 'activists?'
7/6/98: Fonda still resists reality
7/1/98: New York blesses domestic partnerships
6/29/98: Teddy and Calvin stood for virtue
6/24/98: Will Clinton betray Taiwan?
6/22/98: Big tobacco? What about big casinos?
6/15/98: Religion -- God for what ails you
6/10/98: Planning Clinton's China itinery
6/8/98: Republicans' Custer offers advice
6/4/98: Oh, Dems Christian-bashers!
6/2/98: Goldwater did conservatives more harm than good
5/27/98: A Clinton-hater confesses
5/15/98: Giuliani's assault on marriage
5/13/98: Hillary knows what's best for everyone
5/11/98: To honor her would not be honorable
5/6/98: Conservative chasm: pragmatism vs. worship of marketplace
5/4/98: Anglo-saxon me
4/29/98:
Needle exchange programs are assisted-suicide
4/27/98: Chretien's mission of mercy to Fidel
4/22/98: School-choice is a religious freedom issue
4/20/98: Corporate execs deliver body parts to Beijing
4/14/98: National sales tax --- looks better all the time
4/13/98: The U.N. sinister? Hey, where did that idea come from?
4/8/98: Unions fight workers rights in 226 campaign
3/30/98: Africa's leaders should apologize
3/25/98: GOP shouldn't look to media for advice
3/22/98: You should care about Clinton's 'private life'
3/19/98: Color-coded reading, product of obsessive minds
3/16/98: Amendment will end exile of G-d from our public lives
3/9/98: Havana will break your heart
3/2/98: Vouchers Terrify Teachers' Union
2/25/98: Presidential politics starts at a resort hotel
2/23/98: Hillary's support comes at a price
2/18/98: How many times must we say "no" to gay rights?
2/16/98: Enoch Powell spoke the truth on immigration
2/11/98: Bubba behaving badly
2/9/98: A conservative dissent on the flag-burning amendment
2/5/98: We get the leaders we deserve
2/2/98: Send a signal that could penetrate boardroom doors
1/27/98: State of the president: hollow rhetoric
1/25/98: For Monica's playmate, we have no one to blame but ourselves
1/22/98: At Yale, bet on yarmulke over gown
1/19/98: Commission tackles America's fastest-growing addiction, gambling
1/15/98: Capital punishment and the hard case: no exceptions for Karla Faye Tucker
1/12/98: Partial-birth abortion and the GOP's future: the "big tent" meets truth in advertising
1/8/98: IOLTA: the Left's latest scam to crawl into our pockets
1/5/98: Connect the dots to create a terrorist state
1/1/98: The Unacceptables of 1997: Long may they rave
12/28/97: Hypocrisy is a liberal survival mechanism
12/23/97: Chanukah is no laughing matter
12/22/97: No merry Christmas for persecuted Christians around the world
12/18/97: Bosnia, Haiti, and how not to conduct a foreign policy