The March for life is happening today, the 24th of January 2020. Wednesday, the 22nd was Celebration of Life day. President Trump will be speaking at the March for Life, which is a big deal and people are very excited about. Because of that intersection of Catholic doctrine, Politics, and social mores, I’d like to muse on the subject.
The Declaration of Independence started the Freedom Doxology with their proclamation of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness“. The constitution amended this, surely in recognition of the indefensible language of the latter clause, to say “life, liberty, and property”.
I say again, this enumeration of rights is fallacious. Only Life is granted to us by God. Liberty cannot come at the expense of obedience to God, and no one is entitled to property but we may keep the property we happen to have or lawfully acquire.
So of those three, Life is the greater responsibility of Government–indeed of all people. The other two are privileges allowed to us by government, promises the government makes to us, not without qualification.
The commitment to Life, the source of which is the highest possible authority, our Lord God, is absolute. One might even call the focus of opposition to abortion as “narrow” in scope, though it is absolutely the top priority in terms of urgency.
The promise of life extends to all aspects of human existence. I recall a few years ago when a politician expanded on their opposition to drugs as a “pro life” measure. Truly, opposition to war could be said to be the same. Economic prosperity is “pro life”, as is a prudent and just legal system. If the unnatural death of even one life was considered abhorrent, we would view the world very differently.
Empathy is the root of a broad view of Life. Our society is angry and divided because we have tried to supplant “Life” with happiness–I might even say pleasure. If pleasure were the chief focus, then drugs would be a virtue, not a vice. A death by overdose would be the absolute pinnacle of our sad, short lives: going out in euphoric stupor. But its not enough to maximize individual pleasures, but rather the focus is on stacking pleasures over the course of ones life. A man who jealously guards his happiness is successful, while any kind of suffering diminishes the maximum lifetime accumulation of pleasure. At the end of life, if you have a big stack of happiness, you “win” and then get absorbed into the ethereal life force of a loving and benevolent cosmos.
This is gluttony. But what is unique about it is that it is gluttony born from “good intentions”. This creates what i have previously called the soft vices of excess. It is acidic, and eats away at our conscience. It makes us lazy, because we have “everything we need”.
We are gluttons for pleasure, as a society. As gluttons for pleasure, the needs of our fellow humans are subordinated to the almighty demands of “me” and “now”. Practices contrary to this are diligence, asceticism, and temperance. What does that look like on a social scale?
Diligence: Actively, consistently, practicing what we preach, caring for those lives which are in need of help, especially unborn children in danger of abortion. Asceticism: What things do we have and not need? An Ascetic society practices self-denial. Perhaps not engaging in risky behaviors can deepen intimacy and prevent any consideration of abortion in the first place. Perhaps denying ourselves an extra this or that, rejecting a “treat yo self” mentality, and fasting before we feast would help us appreciate the little pleasures of life? Temperance: More than self denial, but moderation in all things. Having an even hand and applying it to all things in your life inspires simplicity. On a social scale, a temperate society is a society that values well rounded citizens, capable of understanding values and differentiating between too much and too little.
The March for life isn’t a march for life: it’s a march for a society that isn’t gluttonous and self centered. It’s a March for civilization.
Times-Dispatch of Vichy Earth 