Joe Biden and personal beliefs

Okay, it's been two days now, but it still isn't too late to talk about the vice presidential debate this past Thursday.

Perhaps the most telling moment of the entire debate came late, when a question was asked about abortion. Paul Ryan came out against it in all cases except rape, incest, and life of the mother. Vice President Joe Biden came out for it. Neither position was unexpected. Yet the stance taken by Vice President Biden was surely the weakest. He's personally against it, but can't force his beliefs on others.

Really, Joe? Really? How long have you been in politics? Between your years in the Senate and the Vice Presidency and a county council seat in Delaware, just about 43. And what have you done in all those years? You've made laws. You've forced your personal beliefs on others.

Any lawmaker who says he can't force his personal beliefs on others is a charlatan. He does it all the time: makes judgments about what is good for the people and works to put in place statutes which compel them to do his will. That's not a criticism, or said with any disdain. It's what lawmakers do. It's okay in itself.

But what is not okay is when a lawmaker says he cannot convert his personal beliefs into law. Aren't all your beliefs personal, Mr. Vice President? Aren't you the person who holds them? Even after debating a point, even after the consideration of what may or may not be the best thing to do in a given situation, isn't what you support a personal view? Again, in itself, that isn't necessarily wrong. It's what you have come to believe. And the circumstances by which you came to be believe them hardly matter. They're your beliefs, and you are trying to transform them into public policy.

To be sure, one cannot make what are solely points of faith into public policy. It would be wrong to make a law which says you must accept that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, as that is entirely a matter of faith. But abortion, the question at hand, simply isn't a question of faith. It's a question of right and wrong which exists outside of any particular faith. It's a question which you have legislated about, Mr. Biden, by trying to force Catholic institutions to provide abortion related services.

Why is that personal belief all right, Mr. Vice President? Because it has gotten you elected to office? If such is the case, then you are worse than a charlatan. What you are then should not be said. It is understandable that you turned your head down when discussing abortion. You know and understand the real embarrassment of your position.

Lawmakers enforce their personal opinions on the people all the time. To say anything else is simply stupid. It treats the people with disdain rather than respect. And it calls into question a lawmaker's virtue, and, in this particular case, the virtue of a Vice President of the United States.