Empathy, Schmempathy

"Oh, Cold-hearted Orb that Rules the Night" -- Thy Name is Rush Limbaugh!


I laugh when I hear the Republicans cry about "empathy." They want a judge lacking in what anthropology has proven to be the most human quality: a feeling of mutual identity with another person. But until the Japanese invent Robo-judge, we're going to be stuck with real human beings in the courts, taking both the law and their own backgrounds into account.


What the pro-lifers fear is that "empathy" is a synonym for pro-abortion. That is, an empathetic judge would necessarily sympathize with the plight of living unwed mothers over that of their unborn child. They want to bar all emotion, ruling solely as Strict Constructionists on the literal meaning of the Constitution.

But is this really true? Are pro-lifers not motivated by empathy for fetuses? The blood-spattered baby carriages suborned by the followers of Randall Terry would seem to argue otherwise.


If the US Constitution allowed for the burning of babies on the Altar of Baal, would these strict constructionists be so adamant in setting aside emotion in favor of legalistic minimalism?

"Well, yes Ma'am, we understand you don't belive in child sacrifice, but the Constitution permits it. The LAW is the LAW."


I suspect some of these conservatives, who also form the ranks of the torture supporters among us, would stand with Roland Freisler in support of the Nuremburg Race Laws. After all, if it's the law, it's legal by definition.