There was an interesting quotation from Adam Smith posted on the Mirror of Justice today. http://www.mirrorofjustice.com/ It describes how the practice of infanticide was so prevalent in ancient Greece that even the greatest minds of the culture, for example Plato and Aristotle, seem to have approved of it. To students of philosophy this fact is no surprise. A sign of how coarsened ancient Greek life was to protecting the lives of the smallest innocents among them is that Socrates could use abortion as a metaphor for part of the task of the philosopher. In the Theaetetus, he compares his task as a philosopher to that of a certain kind of midwife. "And by the use of potions and incantations they are able to arouse the pangs and to soothe them at will; they can make those bear who have a difficulty in bearing, and if they think fit they can smother the embryo in the womb." http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/theatu.html The philosopher midwife examines those ideas that have been well conceived in the minds of others, and then helps bring them to birth. On the other hand, if the philosopher recognizes a badly conceived idea, he "smothers it in the womb" before it ever gets the chance to see the light of day. The passage from Adam Smith is a cautionary tale for all of us who inhabit what some consider the academic, cultural, and political elite. It is a cautionary tale about how even the greatest minds of a culture can become so complacent about the status quo in society, that their hearts become hardened against the weakest among them, and they turn a blind or at least a shaded eye to the direct and voluntary killing of the innocent.

Consider by contrast the example of Governor Casey, whose 1995 speech David kindly posted here. I attended that speech, which was eloquently and movingly delivered. He made clear that he understood the difference between intrinsically evil policies and questions of political prudence, and midway through the talk that he stood with Lincoln, not Douglas. I left filled with hope that there was some chance for a pro-life voice to be heard in my Democratic party. But then I recalled that the abortion hegemony of the national party elite had refused to allow the Governor of Pennsylvania to speak in any capacity at his convention in 1992. They were the New Democrats. The irony I note today in the quotation from Adam Smith is that it was the politicians of Athens who put Socrates to death. Here it was the democratic politicians of Washington putting to death the voice of the last significant pro-life leader in my party. Would the New Democrats have dared to silence this Catholic this way, if they could not count on the fact that the Catholic vote was itself divided, and that many Catholics who saw abortion as a tragedy, but thought nothing could be done about the status quo, would cover their ears, close their mouths, shut their eyes, and pull the lever for the New Democrats as they always had for the party of old? Their nominating speaker in 1992 provides the answer.

In memory of this great man, Governor Robert Casey, I thought readers might be interested in this obituary by Nat Hentoff. http://swiss.csail.mit.edu/~rauch/no-violence/civil/hentoff_casey.html

On the Feast of St. Jude, Robert Casey, requiescat in pace.

"Jude is invoked in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stresses that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances, just as their forefathers had done before them."
From http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=127

John O'Callaghan
ndethics@nd.edu