Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Party Line

I am a dyed in the wool liberal. All those things Rush Limbaugh hates, I am:

Socialist
Queer
Feminist
Tree-hugger
Pantheist
Bleeding-Heart
Pacifist

And proud of it, thank you very much.

But there is one part of the liberal platform that I don't get: Embryonic Stem Cell research. I haven't decided how I feel about this. It seems awash with ethical issues that should be carefully considered, and this is what concerns me. When something becomes "party line" there is no room for a circumspect discussion of ethical implications. You are either with the party or against it. I'm thrilled that our new president wants scientists to have the freedom to do science unfettered by politics. But even though I'm a pro-choice feminist, I am not prepared to say for sure when life begins, and am ignorant about what ethical model is being used for embryonic research, and how I feel about it.

As a card carrying liberal (I've got a GreenStar Co-op card, a UU Minister's Association card, and a World Wildlife Fund card in my wallet right now), I just want the freedom to say "I don't know, can we talk about this one?"

1 comment:

lou jones said...

been thinking about one word at the top of your list: queer. what exactly is she talking about? what part of queer? are there parts? then i heard margaret cho say, "i describe myself as queer, but it has more to do with politics than sexual orientation." i said to guy, is that what c-n-g means? and he said, TOTALLY.

?