Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Time to read
3 minutes
Read so far

On removing right/wrong from debate

February 13, 2019 - 00:00
Posted in:
  • Article Image Alt Text

In the supposedly more sophisticated America envisioned by such elected socialist officials as Sen Bernie Sanders of Vermont and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issues of right and wrong would be removed from any debate.

Babies born with any type of birth defects would be eliminated before – or even after – birth.

Ever bigger government with increasing control over citizens’ lives, which would result in ever bigger deficits leading to national bankruptcy (yes, it can happen) would be justified in the name of “fairness.”

And don’t forget that once the policy of removing imperfect babies from the population becomes established, it’s a “baby step” to euthanizing elderly people who are no longer as productive as they once were, or people who develop health conditions that place additional strain on government-provided “free health for all” programs leftists champion.

Christian precepts centered around the Ten Commandments would no longer be a stumbling block for such “advanced” thinkers.

Of course, if the proposers should fall into the unproductive class, they can easily change the rules for themselves, but would not others.

Such proposals as the Leftists are forwarding today would not have been given a second thought by a majority of Americans a generation ago.

Government actions reducing the influence of Judeo-Christian precepts on national policy should be of concern to every citizen.

The idea that flawed children should be destroyed overlooks the potential every human being has to contribute to society in meaningful ways.

Joseph J. Horton, columnist for Vision and Values, a service of Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich., discusses such issues in a recent column, “When everybody plays, we all win!”

We’re turning the rest of this discussion over to Horton:

When everybody plays, we all win

The most joy-filled people I saw during the Super Bowl were in a Microsoft commercial titled “When Everybody Plays We All Win.” We were introduced to six kids who love to play video games with their friends. Each of these beautiful kids has a physical limitation that makes using standard video-game controllers quite difficult.

One says, “When I am playing with a regular controller, there are some things that don’t work for me.” Another bravely says, “I never thought it was unfair. I just thought this is the way it is and it’s not going to change.”

But an adaptive controller brought change! The adaptive controller allows these kids to play video games with skill just like their friends. Ten functional fingers are no longer required. Now these kids can focus on their friends and the action on screen. “I don’t even have to look at the controller!” said one happy girl.

The joy I had watching these kids is in stark contrast to the shock and sadness I felt reading that Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurologist of all things, would publicly support legislation allowing not only for abortion right up to the moment of birth, but also for babies to be left to die after birth. These are his words:

“When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physicians—more than one physician, by the way—and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that’s non-viable. So in this particular example, if a mother’s in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated, if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

After saying these words in an interview, Governor Northam would later explain that his comments were taken somewhat out of context. He did not mean that any baby might be left to die; only those with Down Syndrome or some deformity might be left to die, and only after consultation between the mother and physicians. Only those with deformities—perhaps like the joyful kids in the Microsoft commercial?

We hear so much about the need to be inclusive. Yet some political leaders do not want to promise inclusion to the most innocent among us. The fundamental rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness will be denied to those who are deemed to be lacking perfection. Some will not get to play.

At Christianitytoday.com I recently read More Than Material Minds by Dr. Michael Egnor, a neuroscientist. Near the beginning of the article were these lines:

Katie looked like a normal newborn, but she had little chance at a normal life. She had a fraternal-twin sister in the incubator next to her. But Katie only had a third of the brain that her sister had. I explained all of this to her family, trying to keep alive a flicker of hope for their daughter. I cared for Katie as she grew up. At every stage of Katie’s life so far, she has excelled. She sat and talked and walked earlier than her sister. She’s made the honor roll. She will soon graduate high school. I’ve had other patients whose brains fell far short of their minds. Maria had only two-thirds of a brain. … She just finished her master’s degree in English literature, and is a published musician. Jesse was born with a head shaped like a football and half-full of water—doctors told his mother to let him die at birth. She disobeyed. He is a normal happy middle-schooler, loves sports, and wears his hair long.

Thankfully, Dr. Egnor is one of many physicians who still take seriously the Hippocratic Oath, and these children were given their chance at life. He notes that not all stories like these include such startling outcomes, but he never suggests, nor should we, that giving each child the chance to live his or her story should be in question.

Watch the extended version of the Microsoft commercial. It is well worth two minutes of your time. See and hear the joy of these kids who say things like “whenever I play I feel happy,” and describe “the fun that you have when you are connecting with your friends.” One of the boys sums up the situation well, “No matter how your body is, or how fast you are, you can play! And that’s a great thing to have in this world.”

May it be that every child gets a chance to play.