President Reagan Changed Me

Alzheimer’s had done what many feminist leaders fantasized about doing themselves, if only they could get away with it.

Today, I am still pro-choice, and I still support fetal tissue research. But I now realize that those who disagree with me also have good points. I hope they reflect on their position as often as I do on mine, because both camps are on the razor’s edge. I have made my commitment to women and reproductive freedom, while my compatriots on the other side of the fence, mostly because of their religious faith, have made a pact with what they call “the unborn.”

We will have to agree to disagree, but only now do I consider those on that other side decent people — as decent as I, but with a different focus. —Tammy Bruce —President Reagan Changed Me (FrontPage Magazine)

I have a policy of not permitting freshman to write academic research papers on abortion, because I’ve never seen such a paper move beyond one-sided rhetoric… students turn in papers full of slogans taken from activist websites on whatever side of the issue the authors already aligned themselves with before they started writing. (Next year, I’m probably going to add same-sex marriage to the list.)

Regardless of what you think of Bruce’s opinion, this is a good example of an argument worth making. The author treats her ideological opponents with respect. A footsoldier who hates the footsoldiers on the other side is efficient and formidable; but leaders who simply hate, without understanding and respecting intellectual differences, end up losing, becuase they fool themselves into believing their own rhetoric.