Planned Parenthood vs. the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The HHS mandate vs. the Constitution. Rush Limbaugh vs. President Obama (and just about everybody else). From the point of view of what might be called the “voices of reason” coalition — that loose band of right-thinking, laissez-faire-minded souls who set the tone for polite society — all the contretemps of early 2012 seemed ridiculous, not to mention unwanted. Nothing arouses distaste in reasonable people quite as efficiently as “social issues.” They’re the political equivalent of that out-of-control twelve-year-old whom nobody wants to invite to the family reunion. Can’t he just go away? the grownups ask. He’s a problem child. He’s ruining it for everyone.
After all, the voices of reason say, we’ve got to keep our eyes on the big picture here. Look at the American economy, still motoring on over the cliff. Look at the European markets, driven repeatedly to the brink by default fears. Look at the war in Afghanistan, and look at what’s happening over in Iran/Syria/Israel. Look at the prices of gasoline, groceries, college education. And if you really want to worry, say the Republican subset of the voices of reason, look at all the political ammunition that a leftist president hell-bent on economic redistribution has handed his opponents, and how they nonetheless can’t seem to train their bullets on anyone except one another. Don’t we have enough problems right now? the frustrated voices of reason demand to know. Why on earth are we stooping to national arguments over birth control?
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