Why Materialist 'Conservatives' are WrongIt's always surprising to me when I hear people calling themselves "conservatives" or tea party members, but they say only care about "economic issues," not "social issues." First of all, as I've explained before, all political issues are "social issues" because they are about people. I suspect what these folks really mean is that they are not concerned about "moral issues." But once again, all political issues, whether you're talking about taxes or welfare or socialized medicine, are "moral issues" — because there is always a right way of doing things and a wrong way of doing things. Morality is about right and wrong. Aren't those of us opposed to socialized medicine or confiscatory tax policy against those things because they are immoral? A better label for these so-called "economic conservatives" would be "materialists" — in that their concerns are limited to the material world. However, the real irony is that what we think of as mere "social issues" — like abortion and same-sex marriage — have very real consequences, even on our economy. The Founding Fathers recognized that the spiritual and moral condition of a country has a direct bearing on its ability to be a prosperous and self-governing nation. We need to understand that as well today. But let's get even more specific with a look at the mother of all "social issues" — abortion. Largely because of the impact of Roe v. Wade over the last 37 years and into the future, we as a nation are about to see the ugly economic ramifications of wholesale population manipulation. The baby boomer generation is giving way to the baby busters generation. With that transition — which is taking place now but will begin to escalate in another year or two — comes the end of the good economic times we have generally experienced for 30 years.
But there's more than consumer spending at stake. We've all heard about the looming crisis of Social Security and Medicare insolvency. What do you think is causing that? Same phenomenon. If you don't take this seriously, it's about time you should. Right now, the national debt is past $12 trillion — that's $177,575 for every man, woman and child in America. But when you project ahead to include the future liabilities Social Security and Medicare, you're talking about $88 trillion, more than $347,564 per person. This is what happens when you eliminate the existence of about 50 million people as abortion in America has. There are consequences. It's not just a question of the sanctity of life, if that's not important to you. It's not just a question of being virtuous and moral in our public policy, if that's not enough for you. It's not just a question of protecting the most innocent form of human life, if that's not enough for you. It's also a question of self-interest. It's a question of economics. It's a question of sheer materialism. There's no escaping decisions of right and wrong. There's no evading moral questions. There's no pretending that we can all just do our own thing without consequences for everyone. Even if killing babies in the womb wasn't an abomination to the God of the universe, it would still be bad social policy for a nation trying to remain free and prosperous. You can't just fix a nation's economics with tax cuts any more than you can fix a nation's economics with tax increases. Tax cuts help, but they do not represent the societal panacea some "conservatives" and tea party activists believe they do. You can't escape that we live in more than a material world. Socialists make that mistake. "Conservatives" and tea party activists need to make sure they don't make the same mistake. To find out more about Joseph Farah and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM
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