Two Things I Particularly Hated about this Election

1) The utter lack of empathy offered by Republicans.

In offering their considered political positions (here I'm thinking especially of the position on abortion), Republicans seemed to have the idea that if their position is messy, that it can't be true: they seem to think that if people really do get pregnant from rape or if sometimes saving the life of the baby will lead to the death of the mother, then their position might not be valid. The truth of the matter is that sometimes there are tragic situations, for instance cases of incest with young girls that result in pregnancy. I've seen it, and it is awful and evil. You can't just write an article about how the child that resulted from the rape helps heal the pain of the rape. Sometimes evil is more complicated than that.

I think that the Republican position would be better served by expressing some empathy. By acknowledging that tragedies occur. And by admitting that it isn't always easy and pink and butterflies to act virtuously.

The strongest arguments against legalized abortion are not ones that maintain that if abortion is made illegal the world will be perfect--that there will be no problems with regard to reproduction. The truth is, there would still be rape and incest and illegal abortions. Changing the laws won't solve all of the problems. The strongest arguments against legalized abortion are ones that argue for the importance of defending the right to life of the weakest members of society.

2) This claim that you can't make a moral claim about reproductive issues if you aren't a woman that Democrats are pushing.

I was talking to a man in a bar the other night, and he told me that while he is persuaded by pro-life rhetoric, he would never presume to tell women what to do. 

I guess I understand on the one hand, when a society is based on the consent of its members, that when making a policy you would want to defer to the ones most impacted by a decision.

But the problems are that, first, reproductive issues do not only impact women; they also impact men. Children are never conceived alone. They are conceived as part of a partnership. Of course, women carrying the child for nine months does impact women more than it does men. In addition, women often end up raising the child.

Second, at times, women who disagree with Democrats on reproductive issues are written off as deserting their sex. The implication is that there's only one acceptable position to take as a woman. If you take a contrasting position, then you're not aware of your own interests. You've been brainwashed by the patriarchy.

Third, it just doesn't seem to me that laws concerning morality and immorality should be primarily determined by those who are interested in having the right to practice the debated action. Why should one side have more of a say than the other? This position denies the point that a society as a whole is affected by the actions of its members.