Sincerely, Rich Lowry

» NatRev: Who Cares About Abortion? (Rich Lowry)

Rich Lowry makes his peace over the fact that there are no solidly pro-life Republicans running for President (sorry, but nobody takes Ron Paul seriously) ...

Politicians aren’t like you and me. Most of them consider (to the extent they must — they’d prefer not to think about it) one of the most profound moral issues of the day and see primarily a potential obstacle or boon to their ambitions. That’s just a fact of life. Sincerity would be nice, but on abortion, it often has to be optional.

Maybe that explains why the party that views itself as the "Pro-life" party hasn't effectively accomplished a single thing to make America one iota more pro-life than it was in the immediate wake of Roe v Wade. As it stands, the entire Republican and cultural conservative movement is now engaged in fighting the wrong war - thinking that they're just one more judge away from Utopia.

In reality - pesky bit of geography, that - they're one vote of "conviction" away from being cast into the realm of permanent minority. Hence, you'll never see a significant reduction in the number of abortions in a period of unified Republican rule. Remind me again what there was to prevent George W. Bush, during his first six years in office, from outlawing abortion in any capacity more than allowable pre-2000. Anything? Anything at all? Well ... only the untidy judgement of a few hundred million voters.

The operative meme on the part of modern-era Republicans has been that they will cede the fight for the time being and go about changing minds on the issue. Fine, let's go back to reality and locate one example of doing so. Granted, Reagan wrote a book on the topic. Last I checked, it didn't light up the best-seller lists. But is that all we're left with on this front? ... a poorly-selling small booklet penned in the early 80s? Beyond that ... nothing.

That leaves us with Lowry's thesis, which is astonishingly honest. In short: it's just fine to talk a good game in an election year ... we'll understand if you don't really do anything about the issue.

It's one thing to realize that pols aren't anywhere near as sincere as activists or opinion columnists ... but by all means tell me how Lowry's own sentiment is sincerely pro-life.