The Weak Liberal Man

Here's a diary that sums up the liberal man. A woman tells the writer she is pregnant and he is the father. The woman asks him what she should do. The writer gives what may be the weakest, most pathetic answer ever uttered by man:

"Hun, as a Catholic I will never give my approval for an abortion. But as a liberal, I can't tell you what you should do and this is something I've accepted as part of being pro-choice. It's your body; your choice; you tell me."

I believe this answer sums up the current state of the liberal man: weak, confused, ambivalent, and irresolute.

Here, we see a man who knows abortion is morally wrong. But the moral wrongness conflicts with his identity as a liberal. What to do, what to do! Ah, I'll give her an ambivalent answer that will make me seem sensitive and at the same time washes my hands clean of the brutal act.

Is this what women are looking for in men today? Weak and irresolute?

So, the woman asks him again, what should she do?

"I would want you to have it. I may be pro-choice but the last thing I ever want anyone to have is an abortion. It's purely a rights thing. I'll tell you what I will do.

If you decide to not have it, I'll be there for you during the abortion. I'll go with you and I'll be there whenever you need my counseling afterwards. But if you do that, I don't think I'll be able to feel anything towards you. I can't help that. I'm only capable of so much. I won't hate you, but I wouldn't be able to be with you.

If you decide to keep it, I'll take care of the baby. You don't have to stick around if you don't want to."

How weak and pathetic! This woman was looking to the man for wise and insightful advice. Yet, he was resolute in being irresolute. Again, he knows what the right thing to do is but he over-thinks the issue by getting it confused with his political identity.

This may seem like a rather harsh judgement on the writer. Granted, hearing about an unplanned pregnancy from someone other than your wife is an understandbly stressful situation. But, it is in those stressful times where a man's sense of right and wrong should guide him. She was counting on that manly moral compass. Yet, he let her down.

This is the problem with the Democratic Party and why there is no clear leader who stands out. In fact, many on the left believe their toughest politician is actual someone named Hillary! There are no strong, manly leaders on the left.

In the end, the writer learns the woman's pregnancy was a false alarm. Yet, he seems to be satisifed that he managed to straddle the abortion dilemma by being sensitive yet indecisive.

There was a battle in the writers mind between his liberal identity and morality. Liberalism won.