Goon Squads Part 3
By Judson Cox (01/08/04)
Last January, a newspaper syndicate based in Virginia, dropped my column. Following, "There Is Hope", hate mail flowed in from angry liberals across the nation, even from states such as Ohio and Illinois, where the syndicate owned no papers. They were vitriolic, often threatening, and obviously scripted. Nothing in the history of the newspaper syndicate had ever garnered so much negative mail. My editor told me that "powerful Democrats" were demanding I be fired. He went to bat for me, but the publisher caved. This was an organized attack by the Goon Squads.
I am disgusted by the invective and dribble put forth by the likes of Paul Krugman, John Carroll, Maureen Dowd, etc. However, nothing they write would cause me to demand they be fired. I will not buy their books, or even buy the papers they are carried in, but I would view any attempt to silence their idiocy and hate speech as injurious to the freedoms our nation stands for. That is the difference between a conservative exercising his conscience, and the liberal Goon Squads conservatives object and debate, liberals destroy through smears and threats.
Readers may wonder what I wrote that could garner so much hate mail. It is true that I am often tough on liberals and frankly, down right mean sometimes, but in this instance I was innocent of any ill intent. The following is the column that raised the ire of the Goon Squads; it is a simple and optimistic criticism of abortion. As Ann Coulter says, liberals only really believe in one thing: abortion. In remembrance of the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and in further explanation of the Goon Squads, I offer you the column of so much controversy.
There Is Hope
In July of 2002, America reaffirmed her humanity. Nine miners became trapped in a shaft filled with water, hundreds of feet below ground, in a coal mine located in a remote area of Pennsylvania. There was little hope for survival. Tapping sounds were heard which may have indicated that one of more survived the initial cave in, but the conditions beneath the earth made it unlikely. If the men had not been crushed or drowned, it was likely they would freeze to death before rescue equipment could be shipped to them from West Virginia. Immediately, the community and much of the country went in to action. The nation pulled together in prayer and hope that the miners would be saved. We watched our televisions in apprehension as attempts were made, failed, and tried again, until a miracle occurred. Against the odds, all nine miners emerged from the murky depths of what should have been a watery grave.
This was an amazing event but how did it affirm America's humanity? Have not similar attempts been made to rescue victims ranging from a baby down a well to those killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks? Yes, but this rescue was special. Since the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973 it has been argued that human life can be destroyed if it cannot speak for itself, is not visible, is inconvenient, or costly to save. By means of abortion, millions of innocent lives have been taken because Americans have convinced themselves that a fetus is not a living being. Yet these miners showed fewer signs of life, and had less of a chance for survival, than a baby at even the earliest stages of conception. Yes, these miners were grown men, with families to support, and people who knew them. And, they were seen going in to the mine and were known to have been down there at the time of the accident. However, the only sign of survival was tapping. An unborn child exhibits similar signs of life, and more. The child is known to be in the womb, as a pregnancy test confirms. The child has family, as genetics confirm. Early in pregnancy a discernible heartbeat can be heard separate from the mother. More over, sonograms and the swelling of the mother's stomach, show clear signs of growth. Kicks and movements can be felt even by those other than the mother. Are these not clearly signs of life?
Medical tests can validate myriad signs of life of a baby within its mother's womb that could not be used to verify that the miners were alive within the mine. Yet, where were the moral relativists to argue that the miners were not really alive, because no one could validate it? Where were those who reasoned that, if rescued, the miners may have been badly injured or deformed, unable to work, to function the way a healthy human being should, better off dead? Where were those to argue that their injuries would cause strain and inconvenience on their families? Where were the radical feminists to claim that wives and children would be better off without husbands and fathers because men are potential rapists and abusers? Where were the ones who argued that it would just be too expensive, take too much time, and be too inconvenient to justify trying to save them? Where were the radical environmentalists to argue that the earth would be better off with a few less humans (especially miners)? They were nowhere to be found.
Americans united to save the lives of their countrymen simply because there was the slightest possibility that they may emerge alive. Americans reaffirmed the value of human life. Even those who argue against cutting trees in a rainforest because one might prove to be the cure for cancer (while approving the killing of an unborn child who might prove to be the scientist who discovers that very cure) followed their hearts to save nine lives. Americans reaffirmed that the potential of human life is valuable and not to be discounted because of inconvenience, expense, or ambiguity. There is hope for America.
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