Hang Down Your Head, Bill Bennett

Former education secretary and drug czar William "Moral Compass" Bennett long ago joined my list of "formerly relevant Republicans who should now be ignored as complete crackpots" (he's in good company there with Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan and a few others). But some comments this week do prompt a brief mention.

On his syndicated radio talk show Wednesday, Bennett was responding to a caller who asked if the legalization of abortion was partly to blame for eventual Social Security crisis (because there are less workers paying into the system, apparently). Bennett said "maybe," according to the Washington Post, and then mentioned a book which argues that abortions have contributed to lower crime rates in recent decades. "Bennett said he did not agree with that thesis," the Post notes. But he went on to say (and this is the part that's getting him into trouble):

"But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could - if that were your sole purpose - you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."

Since I don't want to leave the impression that was the end of Bennett's comments I'll add his next sentence, which was:

"That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, you know, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky."

His argument now is that he was making a counter-analogy to the caller's line about Social Security, and that the first section I quoted is being taken out of context. I want to be perfectly clear: there is no context in which that kind of statement is appropriate. Even if Bennett does not believe that such a despicable and disgusting policy should be carried out, he clearly does believe that it would be an effective policy, or else he wouldn't have said it at all.

Bennett's comments are indefensible. Sure, he has every right to say them - that's what we've got a First Amendment for in this country. But now that the words, vile as they are, have left his mouth, we all have every right in return to stand up and say hey, that kind of bigoted and hurtful rhetoric isn't productive.

If you want to talk about reducing crime, how about making investments in schools and college educations? How about investing in our youth, not aborting them or abandoning them into an underfunded school system? How about putting more cops on the streets? How about making sure all Americans, no matter what color they are, have something to look forward to, something to hope and dream for? Those things will reduce crime. Sure they're tough issues, not easily solved. But c'mon, let's talk about them. Bennett's stupid and insensitive remarks just keep the dialogue in the gutter where it does nobody any good and just makes angry people even more angry. There's got to be a better way.

Barack Obama last summer at the DNC called what I feel "the audacity of hope." "In the end," he went on, "that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation; the belief in things not seen; the belief that there are better days ahead. I believe we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair. I believe that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us."

Given the choice, I'll take Obama's hope over Bill Bennett's hatred any day of the week.