LIBERADIO(!)

We’ll be hearing a lot over the coming weeks about the bold and heroic choices made by Sarah Palin (who decided to keep, rather than abort, a fetus she knew would grow into a child with Down Syndrome) and her 17-year-old daughter, who, five months pregnant, will marry the father and keep the child.

Before the story of Ms. Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy broke this morning, however, we received the following email from a listener:

Although it is somehow against liberal values to have a show on Labor Day, I want to provide some fodder. In every piece written and aired about Sarah Palin over the past few days it has been mentioned that she has shown her deep and abiding commitment to her pro-life values by carrying to term her son Trig (who has Down’s Syndrome). The implied conclusion is that she and her husband are morally superior superheroes, saints, and martyrs. However, the unwritten subtext of all these mentions is that having a child with a disability like Down’s Syndrome is a horrible burden and that such a child is completely and totally defined by their disability (for which their parents deserve our pity or admiration). Yet again the MSM is completely missing the mark. As a parent of a child with a disability I find this incredibly offensive to me and horrifically demeaning to my son. We don’t want or need pity/admiration, what we need are health care, educational, and employment systems that are in place so ALL people can grow and thrive. For example, IDEA (the act governing special education) is supposed to fund 40% of “excess cost” of Special Education, it currently funds only 17% and has never fully funded its obligations. Over 2/3s of working age people with disabilities are unemployed and the ADA and related acts need revamping. If better systems were in place and McCain/Palin had better priorities than a phony promise to slash unspecified “discretionary” programs (IDEA?) to balance the budget so millionaires can continue to disproportionately benefit, carrying a child with Down’s Syndrome to term would be unremarkable and people with disabilities would be treated with the dignity they deserve.

And herein lies the empty promise of Sarah Palin’s brand of social conservatism in public policy: We’ll force our beliefs on you and give you an unfunded mandate to deal with the consequences. Good luck!