The White House made an unforced error this week, picking a fight with the Catholic Church that it could not win. Now it is in full damage control mode, looking for some kind of face saving compromise as it backs away from demands that would have forced Catholic schools and hospitals, among others, to offer insurance plans that cover birth control at no cost to employees.
It was the worst kind of political error: it makes the administration look like a bully and a coward. It united its enemies and divided its friends; the current rapid retreat will embitter its feminist allies much more than if the issue had never been raised.
Our health system and our education system benefit enormously from the Catholic Church’s longtime commitment to these fields. Having many participants with many different points of view and operating philosophies makes both our health and educational systems stronger and more flexible. And Catholic support for these institutions represents a net subsidy from the Church to the rest of the society, rather than the other way round.
Figuring out how to accommodate the special needs of Catholic and other faith based institutions so that they can make their fullest contribution to the common good is not a matter of political expediency. It’s a question of sound policy. A country with vibrant schools, hospitals, eldercare facilities and other social service institutions maintained and operated by religious groups is a stronger and better place than one in which all these responsibilities fall to the state.
The alarming thing about this week’s stumble isn’t the amateurism with which the whole miserable mess was handled; it’s the realization that a lot of people in the administration don’t understand the broader policy point.
Respecting the views of the bishops isn’t just about politics in November; it’s about good health care and good schools all year round. Let’s hope the White House keeps this in mind.
What’s fascinating is that the political error made by the White House is a mirror image of the political error made by the Susan G. Komen Foundation when it barred Planned Parenthood from applying for grants.
Like the White House action on contraception, the Komen Foundation’s behavior towards Planned Parenthood stirred up a hornets nest that threatened to emasculate Komen’s ability to get its message out.
It made the Komen Foundation look like a bully and a coward. It united its enemies and divided its friends; the current rapid retreat will embitter its pro-life allies much more than if the issue had never been raised.
It reminds me of the old adage, “what goes around, comes around.”
Figuring out how to accommodate the special needs of Catholic and other faith based institutions so that they can make their fullest contribution to the common good is not a matter of political expediency.
There doesn’t need to be an accommodation. The mestastisizing government needs to stop entering and attempting to take over areas of society that are not part of its limited delegation of powers. If the government wants to provide assistance to citizens it should do so directly as it did with the GI bill. Funds went through the the individual being aided to the institution of the individual’s choice. The government didn’t tell Notre Dame what or how to teach any more than it did Purdue.
And while they’re exiting unnecessary and constitutionally unauthorized segments, the government should get out of the insurance business. They screwed up the mortgage business enough for a lifetime.
Exit enough unprofitable lines of business and they could run a surplus. Or lower taxes.
…it’s a question of sound policy. A country with vibrant schools, hospitals, eldercare facilities and other social service institutions maintained and operated by religious groups is a stronger and better place than one in which all these responsibilities fall to the state.” You distilled it from public policy point of view WRM (implication being both civic responsibility – with religious underpinning – and paying for civilization cooperatively).
Freedom of Conscience will not be re-established in this country until the law is structured to allow Catholic Charities back into the adoption services again, and when online dating sites are allowed to offer only those services they can in good conscience offer.
We will fight until this is the case, and any politician who gets in the way will feel it at the ballot box.
Now here are some thoughts and comments with which I can totally agree!
This Government does not want any competition, offering different choices that may be freely offered and freely chosen.
It does not want the people to have choices or make choices. This government manifestly wants to tell us it has made the choice for us and that is how it will be. Pay up.
Fundamentally, this view is tyrannical.
Wouldn’t the easist solution be to abolish Obamacare?
The obama admin. has really messed up this time.People everywhere are uniting who would have never come together before, this is the good thing about this obamacare mistake.obama better start looking for a new home come January 2013.obama is finialy showing his true colors.Federal government involevment in peoples lives has gotten way out of hand.This whole thing isnt about a womans freedoms, but about OUR freedom of conscience.Never before has a president violated the UNITED STATES consitutions bill of rights.Have you had enough yet?