According to the author of this quite amazingly readable work, that is, if you broadly support
his views, the Left has committed itself to waging a cultural war on life, marriage and gender. The Left does this
by consistently promoting abortion, "gay marriage" and transgenderism. In contrast, conservatives are
deeply divided: many prefer not to venture into these areas if at all possible. Walsh argues that all three issues
have to do with core conservative and Christian values. The stakes are high: if the Left continues winning, and
it is doing a pretty good job at present, Western civilization will come to an end. Leftism entails the rejection of objective truth: relativism becomes law. So the objective fact that the foetus is an innocent human being who deserves protection is thrown out.Everything depends on whether the mother wants the child or not: if she feels she can support the child, the pregnancy continues. If she feels she cannot, she has recourse to abortion. Both choices must be considered equally good. Given the large numbers of abortions currently taking place, the Left is currently winning on this issue. On marriage, Walsh contends that there is no such thing as traditional marriage. There is only marriage, a union of one man and one woman. Walsh rightly argues that the culture war against marriage had been won well before "gay marriage" became an issue: we lost this one when we said yes to easy divorce and when marriage was severed from procreation thanks to the widespread use of contraception. Walsh notes that conservatives who continue to campaign against abortion are far more ambivalent on "gay marriage." I heard a Catholic bishop who is regarded in some circles as a conservative say that "gay marriage" is no longer much of an issue. We need to cut our losses and move on to other things is what he seemed to be saying. In a certain sense, he has a point: on the issue of abortion, there are some signs of hope: the rates of abortion continue to decline in many parts of the world as more and more people become aware of the sheer humanity of the unborn child, thanks to advances in medical technology, among other things. Sally Sheldon, the pro-abortion campaigner, consistently refers to the unborn child as a baby. This would have been unheard of a few decades ago. In contrast, there is little hope to stop the on-going campaign to re-define marriage as long as we continue to sever marriage from procreation. The vast majority of Catholics continue to ignore Church teaching on contraception. It would be illogical for them not to endorse "gay marriage." Walsh is clearly aware of this when he says that the conservatives are unlikely to make significant gains any time soon. I once believed that after "gay marriage," the next campaign would have been the abolition
of the age of consent. However, widespread reports of child sexual abuse and the terrible consequences for the
victims seem to have put a stop to this. Who would have thought that transgenderism would have become such a big
issue just a few years ago? But it is a logical enough outcome following "gay marriage." Walsh writes
that one of the better known transgender children in the US is a girl who is thought of as a boy named Ryland who
transitioned at the age of five. This was after her parents noted her preference for not wearing girly outfits
and wanting to have her bedroom walls painted pink. In saner times, says Walsh, she would have been called a tomboy
and be allowed to develop in her own time without outside intervention. The suicide rates in the transgender community
is extremely high. Some say that this is because of bullying and harassment. Walsh notes that the rate remains
high even in nations where they appear to be fully accepted such as in Sweden. For the Left, tolerance is not enough. What is required is total acceptance and this will continue to be done by court rulings, presumably. So what can be done? Walsh suggests that we need to prioritize these issues and continue our campaign against abortion and the other issues. We also need to raise our children in the truth, so that some future generation will re-discover the beauty of Western (Christian) civilization. My main criticism is the tone that is found in this otherwise hugely informative work: you are
unlikely to win over many Democrats when you write that if the devil were to come to earth, "he'd apply to become an abortion doctor at Planned Parenthood. That is unless the Democrats
moved to elect him president first." Perhaps Walsh has learned that being nice to
Democrats does not work. Certainly, his columns on "The Blaze" are read by millions of people every
month. |