Mad Analysis: Our Hypocritical Vice President

In the recent Vice Presidential debate, the moderator pointed out the historic nature of two Roman Catholics running for VP in the United States and followed this up by asking each of the candidates how their Catholic faith influences them on the issue of abortion. Congressman Paul Ryan, as most know, is pro-Life and opposes abortion while Vice President Joe Biden is pro-Choice and supports abortion being legal and readily available. Congressman Ryan said that he finds it impossible to separate your faith and your private life from your public life and that he believes abortion to be wrong both because his Church teaches that it is wrong but also because of, as he said, science and reason tell him life begins at conception and thus abortion is the taking of an innocent life. Joe Biden, on the other hand, answered that he believes you most certainly can separate your faith and private life from your public life. Biden said that he is a faithful, practicing Catholic and that he accepts the teaching of his Church that life begins at conception but that he still supports the legality of abortion because to do otherwise would be to impose his private religious views on the public at large. This, it should also be said, is the standard answer given by most Catholics in the Democratic Party which has in its platform the official position that abortion should be legal at all times, in all instances, for all people.

There is, however, a glaring, blatant problem with the position of Joe Biden and those like him. The problem is; why do these same Catholic politicians have no problem imposing their own moral views on the public at large on issues other than abortion? For example, Biden and many other Catholic Democrats have said over and over again that their support for a social safety net, for welfare programs, for higher taxes on the wealthy to support such programs aimed at benefiting the less fortunate all stem from their Catholic faith which teaches them to help the poor. So, why do they have no problem forcing, for example, certain people to pay more to the government to help the poor because of their faith but that they do have a problem with forcing people to either raise or give up for adoption a child they conceived? If a rich atheist does not believe in the morality of helping the poor, why does Biden force his Catholic belief in that regard on the wealthy atheist but he will not force his Catholic belief in the sanctity of life on an expectant mother? I presume that Biden also believes it is wrong to steal. The Church says it is wrong. So, why does he not call for the repeal of all laws against theft so as not to impose his view on the immorality of thievery on those people who may be communists or something, rejecting the very concept of ownership, who see nothing wrong with stealing?

Obviously, this is a position that makes no sense whatsoever. As some have also pointed out, the Obama-Biden administration obviously has no problem forcing religious institutions to cover artificial birth control in their healthcare plans even though Catholic institutions believe that the use of artificial birth control is immoral. In regards to the HHS mandate, Biden is supporting the use of government force to compel institutions to do something their faith and the faith he himself claims to hold says is wrong and immoral. The truth is, of course, that any government in existence passes laws and those laws apply to everyone, even those who may disagree with them. Democracy is no different, hence we have such terms as the “tyranny of the majority”. In the old days, the United States was somewhat limited in this regard because the country was a union of sovereign or at least semi-sovereign states. Many pro-Life Americans who see little hope in the complete criminalization of abortion or those who simply believe in the principle of states’ rights do not want the federal government to make abortion illegal across the whole country but simply wish that power to be returned to the states so that each state could decide for itself whether to permit abortion within its borders or not. Biden, and the rest of the pro-Choice Democrats, do not support this view. They want abortion to be legal in every state whether the people in each of the states like it or not. In other words, they support forcing their view on the goodness of abortion on those who believe it is wrong.

The same view holds true on a number of other issues as well. Congressman Ryan, made a limited statement in this direction during that very exchange, saying that the Romney-Ryan administration would prefer that the people decide on whether they want abortion to be legal or illegal rather than an unelected judge. This, of course, referred to the Democrats getting laws in individual states and across the whole country overturned by state supreme courts or the federal Supreme Court to legalize numerous things, including abortion. Finally, it is also evident that Biden is holding to a very blatant double-standard, as are those like him, because of their voting record. After all, if he truly believed abortion was wrong but did not wish to impose his views on others, he and those like him could simply abstain from voting on any legislation involving abortion. Personally, I would still think them cowardly for doing so, but that would allow their actions to match their words. President Obama voted “present” often enough in his brief career in the state and national legislatures. However, they do not. They vote in favor of abortion, not “no” and not “present” but a very clear and unequivocal “yes” to abortion. So, in effect, what Biden is saying is that he will not vote to impose a belief he holds on others but he will vote to impose a belief he claims NOT to hold on others.

Does that make sense to absolutely anyone? Can absolutely anyone say that is a clear and consistent position to hold? I think not. However, I am obviously not so morally developed as the Vice President as I could never believe that something is intrinsically evil and still cast a vote that would allow it to be carried out. So what do I know?