I want to be the first to break the news to the world. The liberal left in this country is no longer pro-choice! That's right! Since the national debate has shifted from abortion to Social Security and Education reform, we now find liberals firmly enscounced behind the bullworks of an anti-choice position on both issues.
Consider the current debate over Social Security. Liberals are quick to embrace any fix that includes raising taxes and the retirement age while lowering paid out benefits. This approach is popular I believe because it keeps the government in charge of the choices we have regarding Social Security. It keeps the people who currently receive Social Security dependant on the largessof their representatives in Washington and it prevents younger voters from actually learning to provide for their own retirement, thus keeping the following generations chained to political dependancy. In short, the government retains control over a big part of individual lives.
In "liberal world" private accounts for Social Security are a "risky scheme" because liberals believe the great unwashed masses cannot possibly be smart enough to make their own choices when it comes to investment. They would rather have people chained to a 1 to 1.5% rate of return on their retirement money, rather than freeing them up to receive perhaps as high as a 7% to 9% return from their own investments. All we are talking about here is choice. Under the President's plan, no one would be forced into the private sector but would simply have the opportunity to decide where they would like part of their retirement package to come from.
Now consider the state by state school voucher and tax credit debate. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has put forth a plan called "Putting Parents in Charge." The plan would allow families who make $80,000 per year or less to receive a tax credit (this is NOT a voucher program) of up to $4000 which could be used by parents to pay home school or private school costs. The money could also be used by parents who simply want to move their children from a one public school to another. It is an innovative, workable plan that would inject competition into a state school system which consistently ranks last or next to last in education.
It would also give parents a much larger say in the education of their children and that my friends, is the rub. Governor Sanford would garner more support from liberals if he would just change the name of his plan to "Putting Educrats in Charge" because the very idea that parents might ultimately be responsible for the education of their own children makes liberals shake like a hula skirt in a hurricane.
Are liberals pro-choice? Only when it advances the cause of ultimately limiting the personal choice of citizens and increasing their dependency on government. Only when the choice made supports the liberal worldview.