Challenging the conservatives’ domination of
the bioethics public policy agenda won’t be easy, and progressives are
unlikely to match their megaphone. Progressives won’t be effective by
merely dismissing conservatives’ concerns as scientifically ignorant or
faith-based nonsense. It is more than just saying “yes” where the
conservatives say “no.” Progressives need to create a compelling
alternative vision, one based on a different worldview and values. It
is not too late to frame those issues and ensure the debate is not
reduced to simplistic notions.
More time must be spent thinking about what kind of world we want to
live in, and then build a philosophical framework around that vision,
rather than just weighing in issue by issue. It is necessary to talk
less about technology and more about values; all things moral cannot be
ceded to one narrow religious perspective.
Progressives must move beyond historical ways of thinking about issues.
Technology will change the nature of the facts and force a
reexamination of the underlying belief systems (whether pro-choice,
pro-environment, or pro-science.) For example, when one partner wants a
frozen embryo donated to research and the other wants it implanted in
another woman’s womb, what is the pro-choice position? Although in
favor of scientific progress, are there circumstances where it can do
more harm than good? The willingness of progressives to engage in a
broad rethinking of the issues will help map out powerful and
compelling positions.
Many new technologies such as genetic testing, human genetic germline
modification, and neural imaging, to name a few, are still in their
infancy. Neither conservatives nor progressives have definitively staked
out these issues so there is great opportunity for shaping policy and
how the issues are framed in the public mind.
If progressives continue on the present course of tackling issues one
by one, they will lose the opportunity to make a difference in where
this country is headed. Only once an overarching moral framework has
been established, and channels for dissemination of these views have
been built, will progressives be able to compete effectively with the
conservative agenda.
The goal needn’t be to raise the importance of bioethics to the level
of social security, education, or foreign policy in the eyes of the
general public. Rather, the goal should be to pursue a bioethics agenda
so that progressives have a more compelling, values-based way to talk
about all issues, not just the so-called “bioethical” ones.
To provide an alternative world view, it is vital that progressives
make the necessary investments in time, brainpower, and money to
develop a coherent, politically savvy strategy to address a broad range
of bioethical issues before this important battleground is lost for the
coming decades.
|
