September 14-20, 2008 Issue |
Posted 9/9/08 at 10:18 AM
Last night I
had a dream in which I was trapped in an elevator with one other person, none
other than Barack Obama. As best as I can recall, our conversation went as
follows:
BO: “Looks like the elevator is
stuck. I can’t be stuck in an elevator at a time like this.”
DD: “We could be here for a while.
Let me introduce myself since you need no
introduction. I write for the National Catholic Register, am a U.S. citizen and
live, most of the year, in Canada.”
BO: “Canada’s a great country.”
DD: “Well, we have our problems.”
BO: “Will you be voting in the
upcoming election?”
DD: “I hope you don’t think I am a
poor citizen, but I am deeply troubled about the candidates’ positions on
abortion and am wondering whether I should vote at all.”
BO: “Well, I believe that every
responsible citizen should vote. My position on abortion is balanced. I am
pro-choice and believe in Roe v. Wade, but if
elected, I will bring opposing sides together in an effort to reduce the number
of abortions.”
DD: “Personally, I don’t believe in Roe
v. Wade. It was an act of ‘raw judicial power.’ If anybody thinks
that a woman’s ‘right’ to an abortion is ‘implied in the penumbra of the
Constitution,’ that person will believe anything. No wonder that no one saw
that ‘right’ for 200 years. It is simply not there.”
BO: “We must honor a Supreme Court
decision.”
DD: “Do you honor the Dred
Scott decision?”
BO: “That was different and was
eventually overturned. Roe v. Wade is still
on the books after 35 years.”
DD: “If it hasn’t been overturned,
it should be. How can anyone really believe that the U.S. Constitution gives a
mother the right to kill her child in the womb and denies that that child has a
right to live?”
BO: “Ah, but the fetus in the womb
is not a person and therefore has no rights. How long are we going to be stuck
here? Hellooooooo ... is anyone up there?”
DD: “Do you think I have a right to
live?”
BO: “Don’t be silly. Of course you
have a right to live.”
DD: “I’m not being silly. When do
you thing I acquired that right? Was it before or after birth?”
BO: “Well, as I have stated before,
trying to answer that question is ‘above my pay grade.’”
DD: “But you are running for
president of the United States! If knowing when human beings acquire rights is
‘above your pay grade,’ I think you should be trying to figure this out rather
than running for the nation’s highest office.”
BO: “What’s wrong with this
elevator?”
DD: “I know that politicians are
adept at not answering questions. Too much candor can destroy a political
career. But let me ask you this: As an Illinois senator, you voted to kill a
bill that would have stopped Christ Medical Center and other medical facilities
from abandoning live infants from unsuccessful abortions so that they would die
of neglect. If you don’t know when human beings acquire human rights, how can
you be so sure that an infant outside the womb does not have a right to live? Roe
v. Wade did not imply that a woman has a right to a dead baby.”
BO: “I have been misrepresented by
right-to-lifers. I don’t believe in infanticide, of course.”
DD: “Nonetheless, as your critics
point out, ‘facts are facts.’ How can you deny your own record?”
BO: “Look, abortion is a complex
issue. The American people are divided on it. It is contentious, controversial,
contorted ...”
DD: “Excuse me; I thought we were
talking about infanticide.”
BO:
“No, we were talking about abortion.”
DD: “Call me a simpleton, but the
abortion issue is simple enough for me — you either have a live or dead baby.
That is the rock-bottom reality that makes everything else peripheral, though
certainly not unimportant.”
BO: “Ah, finally, thank God, the
elevator is moving!”
DD: “At least we won’t be here for 9
months.”
BO: “What do you mean by that?”
DD: “I’m grateful we had this
exchange, but I wouldn’t vote for you.”
BO: “Well, that is your choice.
That’s what makes democracy in this country so great.”
DD: “But you hope that voters will
choose you as their next president. Obviously, you believe that some choices
are better than others. I believe that choosing life is better than choosing
death.”
BO:
“Well, here we are, ground zero and out into the fresh air, and ... to more
press conferences. Let me just say as we part company that a great American
once spoke of his dream that all people would be judged not by the color of
their skin but by the content of their character.”
DD:
“That’s true. That is why a candidate for America’s highest office
should be informed about human rights, have integrity, a coherent moral vision,
and not think that knowing when human beings acquire human rights is ‘above his
pay grade’.”
Donald
DeMarco is adjunct
professor
at Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Connecticut.
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