I remember listening to Dennis Kucinich during the 2004 campaign. He liked to talk about establishing a new cabinet office for a Department of Peace. (He’s still calling for this). I thought that was an extreme position. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the underlying rationale of his argument was sound. But I thought it was wacky to suggest a whole new federal bureaucracy to do what the State Department should be doing on its own. And, in a real time of war, what would a Department of Peace do that was distinct from the State Department? (The answer to that lies within their proposed domestic responsibilities).
The press treated it like a fringe-left proposal, and I didn’t really disagree. It seemed like a nice rhetorical device but a pretty unworkable idea. But it was based on some very heartfelt moral principles, a lot of them solidly rooted in Kucinich’s religious faith.
Yesterday, John McCain told a South Carolina audience:
“I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”
That is what I would term a fringe-right position that is based on some very heartfelt moral princples, a lot of them solidly rooted in some people’s religious faith. But the press doesn’t treat this as a fringe-right position.
One explanation is that it has become more and more a mainstream Republican position. Most Republicans now profess a desire to overturn Roe v. Wade. But, when you look at polls of public opinion, it is supported by a very small amount of people.
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. Jan. 19-21, 2007. N=1,008 adults nationwide. MoE; 3
“Would
you like to see the Supreme Court overturn its 1973 Roe versus Wade decision
concerning abortion, or not?Would: 29
Would Not: 62
Not Sure: 9
I can’t find any polling on a proposed Department of Peace. I doubt, however, that it polls much worse than 29%. I think both opposition to legal abortion and support for a Department of Peace share something in common. They are both based on some very fine principles, including religiously inspired principles. But they both break down when you start thinking seriously about implementing those principles in the real world. I don’t know that you have to insult people that support these things by calling them ideologues, fanatics, or radicals. I think it is enough to point out that their ideals, however noble, are trumping their judgment.
Of course, that is where the comparison ends. Anti-abortion supporters would impose their moral principles on people that do not share them and then take away the liberties of half our population. Department of Peace supporters would merely take away people’s tax dollars and perhaps muddle up our ability to conduct a coherent foreign policy. Most of the time they would be doing something useful like trying to ‘reduce the levels of domestic and gang violence, child abuse, and various other forms of societal discord.’ I encourage people to look into the Peace Alliance’s ideas on what the Department would do.
What I am getting at is that the GOP has become a fringe-right party on the issue of abortion even though they recently controlled all the levers of government. John McCain feels like he has to have a fringe-right position on abortion to win the Republican nomination. And the press just gives him a pass on it, while they treat Kucinich like a pariah for wanting a more peaceful world.
That’s the problem with both the press and the modern GOP. It’s high time for a rigorous center-right third-party challenge. I hope someone takes up the banner.
