Robert George: Democracy is Terrorism

(By Andrew MacKie-Mason)

I usually don't link to thinks just because they're pathetically amusing. But every once in a while, something's just too bad to pass up. Such is this WSJ opinion piece by extreme right-wing culture warrior Robert George and law professor O. Carter Snead. In it, they take on the unenviable task of trying to spin the Susan G. Komen Foundation's catastrophic attempt to insert itself into the abortion debate.

I guess they did as well as they possibly could have with the material they were given, but their choice of topic does lead one to question their sanity a bit. The ridiculousness of their core claim — that Komen defunded Planned Parenthood in an effort to "extricate itself from the culture wars" and "be neutral in the controversy over abortion" — make it clear how much they're grasping at straws. One doesn't remain "neutral" on abortion by making crucial cancer funding dependent on unrelated political views. Using an issue like breast cancer research to push the anti-choice agenda is diving headfirst into the culture wars, not extricating oneself from them.

Much of the rest of George and Snead's article consists in the repitition of trite right-wing memes about Planned Parenthood that aren't worth getting into here. But there is one more thing worth pointing out: George and Snead hate democracy — at least when liberals use it.

In a screed reminiscient of virulent anti-Semites who suggest that there's a Jewish conspiracy to control the world, George and Snead bemoan the Planned Parenthood 'machine' that instantly rose up to defend the organization, that "took breast-cancer victims as hostages," and that apparently used other terrible, terrible methods to extort money out of the poor, defenseless charity. As further evidence of these terrorism tactics, George and Snead did their best to dredge up every instance in which Planned Parenthood has had an influence on politics. But what are those tactics they're objecting to? Ordinary Americans tweeting, posting on Facebook, making calls...and most of it spontaneous. We're the terrorists, folks. Us and our keyboards.

Gentlemen, I know it's uncomfortable to realize that a large swath of America disagrees with you. I know it's easier to demonize your opponents: to imagine that they're a small, powerful, evil, liberal machine that manipulates the power structure to defeat your virtuous ideals. But the thing you're really scared of? It's called democracy.