(8:31 PM) | Adam Kotsko:

My Political Manifesto, vol. II

1. Abortion. I really wish abortion didn't have to happen. I wish that every potential life in the world could be welcomed into a loving home, or at least into an environment that would provide the person with the proper nourishment, shelter, and education they need to flourish as a human being. We do not live in such a world. As such, if abortion is made illegal, it will still happen regardless -- in fact, I've read statistics that abortion rates are actually higher in many Latin American countries where abortion is illegal than in the Netherlands, where sexual libertinism reigns. If it was illegal, there would be no standards of safety for the mother, and opportunities for unscrupulous doctors to take advantage of vulnerable women would be increased. Making abortion illegal would be morally irresponsible. More generally, women should not be compelled to have a child if they do not want to; mandatory childbearing has been the cornerstone of the oppression of women for all of history, and creating a society in which childbearing is optional for women is necessary for minimum standards of justice. I do not, however, oppose making late-term abortions illegal except in cases of medical necessity, because five or six months should be adequate time to discern whether one wants to have the child.
   
2. Gay rights. I don't understand why gays are in such a hurry to get married, and I'm not sure it's the best strategy for the gay community to use all of its political clout to gain legal recognition for a living arrangement that most in the gay community would not find appealling. Still, granting legal protections for those persons who choose to live in a monogamous homosexual relationship and to raise children in that context seem to me to be the decent human thing to do. More broadly, I believe that people should be able to arrange their sex lives as they see fit, excluding pedophilia and violent coercion, and I oppose any laws that attempt to criminalize sexual relationships freely entered into by adults, or to deny people rights due to the genders of the partners involved in such relationships.
   
3. Stem cell research. This seems so obvious to me that it's not even worth considering: just allow it. If we stand a good chance of curing Alzheimer's and spinal cord injuries and other such incurable diseases through stem cell research, it is ridiculous not to give scientists access to the resources they need to do so.
   
4. The war on terror. We should not allow the tragic loss of 3000 lives in one day to trap us in an unnecessary "generational conflict." Those who view "Islamofascism" as an existential threat to the West seem to me to be vastly overreacting -- especially since we spent nearly half a century under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation. There are many other more pressing issues that we could be addressing with the manpower and resources devoted to the war on terror: world hunger, AIDS, etc., etc., etc. We should not be having a war on terror. (Please note, however, that due to the infinite wisdom of the Democratic Party, this is basically not at issue in the current election -- we get a choice between a stupid war on terror and a smart war on terror.)
   
5. Health care. Kerry's proposal is very sensible and practical. It is also ultimately inadequate. Single-payer health systems work. The empirical evidence is so overwhelming as to be irrefutable. The fact that we allow the financial interests of insurance and pharmaceutical companies to trap millions of our fellow-citizens in a situation in which they may face the choice between foregoing necessary medical care and financial ruin is a shameful testimony to our nation's enduring moral blindness.
   
6. Taxes. Tax the rich hard. For those who say that will discourage people from getting rich, I answer: (a) good, because amassing wealth is an anti-social and destructive activity and (b) since when do people need encouragement to try to get rich, anyway?
   
7. Crime. Prisons produce criminals. In addition, no matter what their stated purpose, objectively, the police exist to extract fines from basically law-abiding citizens and to entrap individuals in the criminal-producing prison system. They don't protect the people who need it most. The most vulnerable people in our society are poor minorities whose neighborhoods are wracked by gang violence, and judging from the behavior of our government, we as a society have made a tacit agreement to abandon those areas to the arbitrary rule of heavily-armed thugs. Instead of helping people in those disadvantaged groups, the police routinely brutalize and harass them, contributing to our society's demonization of minorities as criminals. Our criminal justice system is in fact an affront to justice. (As such, I would like to repeat that no phone solicitor asking me to donate funds to retired police officers will receive any money from me, and I would also like to say that the recent monument to the police erected in Kankakee is an insult to the residents of that city.)
   
8. Personal responsibility. American politics is fundamentally based on the principle that social problems should be solved by heavily punishing non-conforming individuals rather than making structural changes. This is incredibly stupid.
   

| permalink | Main Page