Heidi Simmons, the wife of our former Congressman, penned a letter to the Day, which I reproduce in full below:
Gov. Sarah Palin is a good choice and she makes good choices. Male politicians have been dictating areas unfamiliar to them a little bit too long.
I am writing about pregnancy. And I am writing about choices. Woman’s reproduction and a woman’s inherent lifelong responsibility to her child is really not anyone’s business but her own.
Let’s apply this philosophy to Sen. John McCain’s new vice presidential choice, Sarah Palin. She knew her baby had Down syndrome and she made a choice to have the baby. She believed her family unit could carry this lifelong responsibility. Good choice, Gov. Palin.
But, we are a country of labels. So instead of labeling her, Sarah Palin, pro-choice, we label her pro-life. We need to work on those bumper stickers. And we need a government that stays out of our home and our personal lives.
Let’s put aside the fact that Sarah Palin is a firm believer in a government that does not “[stay] out of our home and our personal lives”. That’s like shooting fish in a barrel.
Ms. Simmon’s argument rests on the premise that we should never criticize someone for the manner in which they exercise their rights, because to do so calls those rights into question. But in fact, that is not the case. We protect individual rights because we recognize that there are certain areas in which the government should not intrude, while at the same time recognizing that individuals will often abuse those rights. It is perfectly legitimate to draw conclusions about people by examining the way in which they use or abuse their rights. I am as close to a free speech absolutist as they come, but that doesn’t mean I’m not prepared to criticize people for the content of their speech or for choosing to speak in situations where they would best remain silent. I just don’t want the government telling that person what he or she can say, or when they can say it. I believe that a woman should have the ultimate right to decide whether or not to have an abortion or bear a baby, but that doesn’t mean I can’t criticize that decision in individual instances.
In this particular case Ms. Simmons makes a peculiar argument. According to her Palin made the right choice by bringing a Down Syndrome child into the world because Palin decided that “her family unit could carry this lifelong responsibility”. Apparently that family unit included her 17 year old daughter, on whom the child was dumped three days after it was born, and who herself is now pregnant (perhaps, who knows, due to an act of rebellion at the approaching prospect of being saddled with caring for a special needs child not her own). I have always believed that it was the responsibility of the parents, not the “family unit” to raise a child. Put another way, it is the height of irresponsibility for Palin to decide, most likely without meaningful input from her children, to impose child rearing responsibilities on them. That would be the case even if the child were normal, but it is doubly the case for a child with special needs. With rights come responsibilities. Sarah Palin has exercised her rights, but has outsourced her responsibilities.
This tells me a lot about the kind of person she is, and I have a perfect right to draw conclusions, even if I am a male.
It’s an odd thing about Republicans. They are always more than ready to intrude into the lives of others (remember Terri Schiavo?) but when their own moral decisions are in question, suddenly discussion is off limits. Terri Schiavo and her husband were not running for anything, and their affairs really were private affairs. We are being asked to put Sarah Palin in line for the presidency, so she has made herself an issue. Since we apparently won’t be hearing much from her that’s unscripted, we can only draw conclusions from the data we have, including the choices she has made in an area in which she wishes to deny us choices.