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Brett Kavanaugh’s Position On Roe V. Wade Is Just As Indefensible As Modern Conservatism Itself
I don't want to spend an inordinate amount of readers' time here discussing something that's better left to legal experts and journalists who have spent their careers covering the Supreme Court.
That said, I'd be remiss not to at least print the confidential e-mails that came to light on Thursday amid the ongoing Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court.
Regular readers know that my main criticism of what counts as
I probably hate religion more than you do, but I don’t share your confidence that belief will retreat any time soon or that many believers will acknowledge the need for political secularism. For adherents, the fairy tale so thoroughly defines reality and identity that even slight threats to it provoke powerful cognitive defense mechanisms. Those mechanisms both sustain the fairy tale and help to foment the ideological rabidity we see in that group (racism and propaganda are also big players, which I know you know, but they’re woven together into a durable narrative in a way that wasn’t explicitly addressed here). And for adherents, our notion of secularism is antithetical to their beliefs; ethics and political theory are products not of rationalism but of divine decree, bestowed by holy revelation, and revelation provides no room for compromise. Theists cannot acknowledge even that they might be wrong, because to do so is to open the flood gates to their own doubts.
At its core, this dispute is really ontological and epistemological rather than political, which I think you recognize, but there is a piece that I think you’re missing: some people simply aren’t equipped to deal with the existential ramifications of recognizing the fairy tale for what it is. For many, “Jesus loves me” is easier. And ultimately, even if they don’t truly believe it deep down, they still believe in believing it – which makes the need for cognitive defense mechanisms and stridently zealous behavior even stronger.
Without religion, without racism, all that’s left of the American right is an inconsistent version of libertarian economics, which is more assailable on rational terms. As you say, modern conservatism is indefensible. But that doesn’t mean it’s going anywhere any time soon.
As a conservative who absolutely hates modern conservatives, that has been left behind by the modern so called conservatives, I wholeheartedly disagree with (i) I can believe whatever the #$%^ I want to believe and if you do not like it tough @#$&ing &@#$. The second part of (i) chops your normally solid ethos off at the knees; who are you; a profit of the believe as i do God? However I do agree wholeheartedly with (ii), and (iii).
As for Chris’s statements that reeks of stereotypical mumbo jumbo, and smell of elitist candyass-ism; seek out some independent thought for your own sustenance. Find some nourishment in a variety of forms it is a survival strategy after all.
Ooooh, the old ad hominem attack. Nicely done.
I attacked your statements not you. Afterwards I offered select real advice. Eat what is good and you will delight in the richest of fair. Or just keep consuming the same old unchanging drivel.
LOL
Don Meghan, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, all buddies, all active Catholics. Are they the conservative type or the liberal type?
Kavanaugh seems like the typical (it’s all perfectly legal type) modern cheating conservative, to me. I have not delved deeply into his legal background. If trump is for him; I am against him.
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Lee Salisbury | Stillwater Mn
Do our Supreme Court Justices believe theology or objective science-based evidence should be the basis of legal decisions? Tragically, the conservative judges think life begins at conception. This is theology and not an objective science based conclusion. Fetal homicide laws now in 38 states are based on this fallacious theological presumption. The result: 100s of 100s of young minority girls and women are incarcerated after having a miscarriage or coerced into cesarian surgery because some ambitious prosecutor arrested them. Is this America or the Salem witch trials?
Life begins when the baby takes its first breath. Further, Jesus never once voiced opposition to abortion. Abortion is legal and normal in Europe, Israel, Canada, and Japan. Pro-Life is a scam extraordinaire and judges throughout the land must be informed. Kavanaugh, Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch must be admonished to protect church/state separation and the 1st Amendment, not tear it down with flaky decisions like Hobby Lobby and phony religious liberty decisions.