Orthodoxies of Convenience – In its attempts to get what it wants politically and socially, progressives appear to have abandoned any discernible set of principles with the exception of the pursuit of what is convenient. In this context, convenience is characterized as that which provides the most gratification and/or the least discomfort, with minimal concern for the implications for the greater society, or for future generations. What makes this behavior pattern particularly troublesome is that what the Left finds to be most convenient for itself is usually in direct contravention of previously accepted societal mores. (In most cases, the Left appears to be recalcitrant as much in an effort to assert its own selfish countercultural prerogatives as to continue to usher in the creation of institutions that will reinforce its larger agenda.)

No more salient example of this exists than how progressives look at issues of life and death. Death Row inmates represent a chance to show the “barbarity” of America’s judicial system vis-à-vis European countries, so every effort is made to provide for each inmates due process, even to a fault. In defense of this behavior, the Left informs us of what a tragedy it would be to have an innocent prisoner be killed. The life of the inmate is therefore convenient for the Left’s purposes.

But this self-same Left looks at the most innocent of human life, that of an unborn child, and concludes, in a manner reminiscent of Dred Scott vs. Sanford, that it is not even human, certainly not more so than its mother. It is, in effect, the mother’s property and she is free to choose to discard it as she would a used Kleenex. A fetus has no expectation of due process from progressives; there is no ACLU attorney to serve as guardian ad litem for the unborn child. In situations regarding abortion, and in the case of Terri Schiavo, certain lives are inconvenient and not worth a moment’s defense. That progressives cannot draw a straight line between these positions in order to connect the dots of logic is not surprising; in reality, who could realistically do so. But that the Left feels no need to try to do so is simply reprehensible. All that today’s Left does is simply states what it believes, almost as a matter of faith, and moves on.

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