I was gratified to read an editorial of strong support for McCain in a newspaper I have been reading ever since I came to Arizona over 35 years ago. The newspaper has always been important in my family. I grew up reading a newspaper, and I believe that the daily newspaper should always exist to serve a number of purposes in a community. The Garfield County News in Utah was even an important weekly newspaper for me that often printed the most trenchent and to the point letters of any newspaper I have read. I did not know when I went to college whether I wanted to be a journalist or a playwright. I finally chose theater as my major, but I have never stopped reading the newspapers and writing my opinions about what they print. I think letters to the editor are a barometer of how the public is responding and should be encouraged by the editors.
I was absolutely determined to register letters of protest in the years after Roe vs Wade when I perceived a leftist swing in the editorial pages of the Republic which purported to be republican but did not put out an editorial page that supported that claim. Time and time again editors of the editorial page declared themselves to be 'pro choice,' following the examples of prominent republicans who came out as pro choice, notably Ronald Reagan. Reagan as you will remember began his political life as a democrat but switched to republican which might explain how he became president, by pleasing both parties with his ideology. In the beginning republicans were almost as nervous about declaring themselves pro life as democrats continue to be.
I voted for McCain because I have seen too much evidence of Obama accepting the hard line on abortion of some democratic leaders like Pelosi and Hillary, mainly that abortion should remain a woman's right to choose, meaning its nobody else's business if she chooses to conceive and then destroy her own fetus. It's not a baby yet! Semantics. Semantics.
It can be said that abortion is a woman's issue since it is primarily affecting her. It's pretty hard for a man to make a woman have an abortion. So I understand why the Viewpoints editor barely mentioned the abortion issue in passing in his editorial this morning, but I don't approve of it I think everyone is going to have to get a lot more passionate about the subject before we can do anything about the astomomical number of abortions each year in this country, over a million and .2 to .3 and .4.
My main reason for voting for McCain is because he courageously discussed the issue whenever it was brought up, which was not often by a defensive pro choice media. Who do you know in the media who comes out forthrightly against legalized abortion? Practically nobody. McCain also picked a pro life running mate. Unfortunately I think republican advisors muzzled her so severely on this subject she could not show her full strength. I hear she has thrown off some of their restraints and they are calling her a 'rogue'! A rogue? They are the ones who do not understand that constantly telling another how to talk, think, present themselves, is taking away their rights. This kind of muzzling is what has turned so many male politicians safe, predictable, boring, and ultimately powerless.
Readers have said I am obsessed with fighting legalized abortion, but every one of the issues that the Viewpoints editorial mentions is being worked on by hundreds of problem solvers--taxes, mortgages, economy, the war, but the important issue that is always ignored is legalized abortion, showing we still have a big capacity in this country to ignore a terrible law if we do not think it affects us personally. That's how we ignore over a million deaths a year of the unborn. Women need to run for president. Men don't seem to be able to get a handle on this subject. I believe that Sarah Palin will inspire a whole lot of other young women to enter politics, who will grasp what is so important about this issue, which is to save lives and convince women that no child should ever be conceived if aborting it for birth control reasons is going to be an option. Untrammeled sex is irresponsible and self indulgent if that is the result.
McCain we know does not accept muzzling, so he sometimes comes across as a forever dissatisfied and angry man. But he is his own man. I know he will stand by Palin no matter what others say about her. He has given her a wonderful opportunity to develop as a great woman politician, and I believe that no matter the outcome of the election she has no where to go but up. She is a welcome presence on the political scene, and we owe her emergence to John McCain who did not feel as threatened by her lack of experiences as her distractors.
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