Re: Brilliance is Overrated

Though George Washington was a Freemason, and preformed ceremonies in his robes, our President is not high priest of the country. We do not look to the President to instruct us on morality. It is ironic that conservatives who believe that the government has no role to play in providing remedies for slavery and Jim Crow, who believe that the government has no role in lifting people out of poverty believes that government has an expansive role in defining a common morality.

What right did Bush have to impose his fetishism of embryos upon the nation. It is important to note that he took no action to outlaw stem cell research, a fact often mentioned, by his supporters. So he was not making the argument that the research was illegal. He was making the argument that federal money should be spent according to his, minority, religious belief.

The very idea that the resources of the nation should be captive to the bizarre taboos of its leader of the moment is the very opposite of the American ideal, where each citizen follows their own conscience in matters of faith. Obama's speech was manifestly more serious because it did not presume a national moral consensus where none exist, and none is warranted.