What-about-ism with abortion

Those of us who are pro-life are in a constant state of disbelief at the lawlessness not of just those who continue to (uselessly) protest the Dobbs decision, but especially of those in government who are supposed to enforce the law.

There is a clear federal statute that bars people from protesting in front of Supreme Court Justices’ homes, but yet it continues unabated, even after a would-be assassin tried to enter Judge Kavanaugh’s house.

The Biden administration’s silence on this issue speaks volumes and is a not-so-tacit approval of illegal protests and harassment of SCOTUS Justices.

I get that pro-abortion folks think the rules don’t apply to them and that “by any means necessary” is taken as a given, but I was naively hoping that the “grown-ups,” as Biden referred to his administration, would fulfill the executive branch’s mandate to enforce the law.

Guess that’s out the window, as we’ve seen also with the border fiasco and the general trend of Democrat district attornies not enforcing the law against criminals (unless it is the victim defending himself from a criminal). And, of course, we see this lawlesness with both the actual fire-bombing of pregnancy aid centers and its figurative version in the form of Elizabeth Warren’s attempts to shut them down.

Ah, says my imaginary pro-abortion, pro-Democrat interlocutor, but what about January 6th!? Wasn’t that lawlessness condoned by the President of the United States?

The unfortunate answer is yes, some people on my side of the aisle decided to riot and otherwise take illegal action to overturn the results of an election, however problematic the electoral process may have been. And, there is no doubt many supported their actions.

I won’t bother explaining or rationalizing their behavior in any way because we on the right are generally and principally supporters of law and order. We don’t believe in “by any means necessary,” and instead believe in “the ends do not justify the means.”

So we’ll take a hit for the actions of a few hundred overzealous actors. Granted. But let me put this in context.

First, the Vice President and 99% of the senators and representatives condemned the violence. The House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, even offered to participate in the January 6th Committee, but Nancy Pelosi rejected his choices and so denied legitimate opposition participation in the hearings, which was unprecedented (again, there’s that “any means necessary” thing) and served to undermine the validity of the investigation.

Second, no major or minor figure in the Republican party has advocated not enforcing the law on the books as have the Democrats, either in word or deed (or lack of deed). Whether it’s permitting a flood of illegal immigrants on the border, refusing to prosecute BLM rioters in 2020, refusing to prosecute smash-and-grab thieves or violent antifa protestors or the protestors who clearly violate federal law by protesting in front of justices’ homes, the Democrats have sent the clear signal that they do not believe in the rule of law.

Third, the January 6th riot was a one-off event, not part of a pattern of behavior by right wingers. It was an embarrassing case of protesting gone wrong, but it factually and principally does not represent the normal approach of conservatives or Republicans. In other words, it was an exception to the rule, whereas lawless protests, riots, and non-enforcement of the law are the rule for Democrats, sad to say.

In the height of irony, Democrats claim that the Dobbs decision is an “attack on democracy,” when in fact it un-did the actual anti-democratic damage wrought by Roe by restoring the issue to the states and the voters to decide. But, this charge comes from the Democrats who now routinely call for the end of the Electoral College, the packing of the Supreme Court, and the abolishment of the filibuster, all key pillars of our representative democracy. If anyone is attacking democracy, it is they.

Whatever freedoms we enjoy, whatever benefits we derive from this oldest incarnation of republican rule would be severely harmed if the Democrats and their friends in the media got their wish by destroying or perverting the various traditions and constitutional institutions in their sights. What is so painfully ironic and sad is that they are willing to do so to ensure women and physicians have the right to kill unborn human lives in the womb.

I think it’s safe to say that never has a nation faced its own destruction for the sake of something as heinous and depraved as the cause of abortion. It is by “any means necessary,” up to and including violence, that our friends and fellow Americans wish to tear down the country that has given them and their forebears an unequalled dispensation of liberty, prosperity and happiness.

All that we ask is that we extend those same gifts to the unborn and rally to defend, support, and succor those unfortunate women who find themselves with an unexpected pregnancy, and reject the use of violence against the most innocent as a legitimate resolution.

Trey Hoffman

Peachtree City, Ga.