Abortion in Europe

EUROPE IS MUCH
MORE CONSERVATIVE
THAN PEOPLE THINK
Abortion laws in European countries are often
more restrictive than those in the United States.

Andorra, Malta and San Marino do not allow abortion at all. Monaco and Liechtenstein allow it only when a woman’s health or life is at risk.

Fifteen European countries, including Italy and Spain, require a mandatory waiting period. In 12 countries, including Hungary and Germany, women must undergo mandatory counselling or receive mandatory information from their doctors before the abortion.

In Germany, abortion can only be done within 12 weeks of conception.

Conservatism is a balance between individual freedom & the social order, says Barry AuH20.

Barry’s Conscience

Conservatism
is
“the art
of achieving the maximum amount of
freedom for individuals
that is consistent with the maintenance of
the social order.”

That’s what Barry Goldwater said in his book The Conscience of a Conservative. Today, I happened upon a copy of it, which was first published in 1960.

As is typical of modern liberalism, this edition wouldn’t be complete without an afterword by a leftist. In this case, it is RFK Jr. who is awarded the job of praising Goldwater while also smearing the modern conservative movement. It is standard practice, the standard talking points that conservatives today are so mean-spirited and whatnot.

It is unfortunate that America did not have the opportunity to witness Goldwater and JFK engage in a series of Lincoln-Douglas style debates during the 1964 presidential campaign. Instead, we were stuck with LBJ and his campaign’s character assassination of Goldwater as a dangerous crazy man who threatened to unleash a nuclear war, likely leading to World War III.

ajh

The Disengaged

Why don’t more people #vote? Part of the answer is why #Trump is winning.@mcweekly #politics https://t.co/CXAgV0yGuo pic.twitter.com/fPs9eumhWS

— Ƹ◔_◔Ʒ ∂ªΓºƞ ن (@aaronjhill) March 10, 2016

Of course, this is a big concern for society in general. I don’t know when the last time my younger brother voted. He told me a few years back that he wasn’t registered, which came as a surprise. I just don’t understand why more Americans don’t take it seriously.

Yes, my voting record is wonkish, because I am a political wonk. I was labeled as such by a reporter once. I’d never heard the word before that. It was 1994, the year after I had graduated from high school.

I haven’t watched C-SPAN in years, but would if it was more readily available. I don’t have cable. In fact, I don’t even own a TV. Streaming video-on-demand is where it’s at. I suppose I should check-in more often.

There’s American History TV, Q&A, and Book TV. One of my favorite C-SPAN shows was Booknotes. And it’s always fun to watch British Parliament in action, during Prime Minster’s Questions, and often very entertaining.

Even I have become disengaged, however. Life often has more pressing concerns than politics. But I still find the time to vote, researching the issues and candidates, sometimes hurriedly so.

The Republican Party, long my home in the political realm, hasn’t been for a long time. I am a conservative, and many Republican politicians abandoned their conservative principles, if they had any, long ago.

And I am far from the only way who feels abandoned by the system. One of the reasons for the Donald Trump phenomenon is because the two primary political parties, represented by the Establishment, have ignored the will of the American people for decades.

This gave rise to the Tea Party movement, and now Trump. It will continue to find an outlet, until there is some progress, until someone listens to the voice of the people, and acts on it.

ajh

No Compromise

Bill Buckley taking on Gore Vidal during coverage on ABC of the Democratic National Convention in 1968. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out on YouTube.

News that a reality TV series has been picked up by HGTV caught my attention because of two factors: the two primary stars have been labeled as “anti-gay” and one of them cited an interview with Ken Hutcherson, former pro football player and pastor, who died in December.²

Of course, in today’s anything goes world, refusing to endorse homosexuality is anti-gay. Not going along with gay marriage makes you a bigot.

Hutch was a man who stood on principle, no matter the fallout. We should heed his advice. It is never right to compromise on core values.

Sure, I lose friends and cousins because I take unpopular stands. I write about it, and some don’t like it. So be it.

As Bill Buckley so aptly put it, we are the fellows who stand athwart history yelling ‘Stop!’ Unfortunately, many are not heeding the repeated warnings.

ajh

1. Vidal vs. Buckley on ABC while at the Dem Convention, 1968
2. Of course, minutes after finishing this post, I learned that the feckless cowards at HGTV have pulled the plug on the series. The gay mafia strikes again.