In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (a 1992 case that upheld Roe v. Wade) Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” His flowery language was absurd and had no place in a legal setting. The laws against murder clearly demonstrate that defining “one’s own concept of existence” is not a fundamental right. Three decades later, the Supreme Court has finally overturned this decision, and determined that abortion is not a right guaranteed by our Constitution. But the reasoning in Justice Kennedy’s opinion still carries great weight with the American public.
Voters have consistently rejected attempts to restrict abortion and Republicans have suffered repeated electoral defeats over the issue. Although former President Trump won Ohio by eight percentage points in 2020, 56.6 percent of voters passed a state constitutional amendment to protect abortion access. Even in red states, outlawing abortion is an unpopular position.
This development would probably have been unsurprising to Alexis de Tocqueville. In the 1830s, the Frenchman came to the United States and observed the manners, habits and institutions of the American people. His work, Democracy in America, is widely regarded as one of the best books ever written on America. At the beginning of the second volume of the book, he noted that “of all the countries in the world, America is the one in which the precepts of Descartes are least studied and best followed…Americans never read Descartes’s works because their state of society distracts them from speculative inquiries” (trans. Lawrence ed. Mayer). Descartes was a French philosopher who subjected himself to radical doubt in order to determine what was true through the use of his reason. Tocqueville, meant that each American considered him or herself to be the sole standard of truth in the world.
For Tocqueville, however, there was a powerful force that prevented Americans from descending into moral anarchy; Christianity. During the Revolution, Tocqueville believed that Americans were able to change their existing laws without throwing society into chaos because “It was religion that gave birth to the English colonies in America. One must never forget that” (trans. Lawrence ed. Meyer). According to Tocqueville, in the America of the 1830s “Christianity itself is an established and irresistible fact which no one seeks to attack or to defend” (trans. Lawrence ed. Meyer). It was through habit that Americans accepted Christian doctrine and this preserved “a great number of moral truths derived therefrom” (trans. Lawrence ed. Meyer).
But we are no longer living in the America of the 1830s. In 2020, church membership fell below 50 percent for the first time in U.S. history. We live in an age that has become increasingly hostile to traditional religious belief and many major cultural institutions are anti-Christian. Thus, we no longer have a way of transmitting settled moral truths from one generation to the next.
In such circumstances the reasoning of Justice Kennedy is perfectly reflective of the American spirit. It is the philosophy of Descartes without the Christianity that Alexis de Tocqueville saw in early America. Indeed, Justice Kennedy’s statement that everyone has a “right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life” is merely a way of saying that each person is his or her own standard of right and wrong. Given Tocqueville’s observation it should not be surprising that the United States is one of only six countries (along with China and North Korea) that allows abortion up to birth. If each person is their own standard of right and wrong, then it is unjust to impose any restrictions upon them.
It is important to point out that Tocqueville was not merely a critic of American society. He profoundly admired our democratic institutions and system of government. However, he understood that our society was undergirded by a rich religious tradition that created an environment of productive individualism rather than destructive moral anarchism. Conservatives who wish to preserve the best of America must realize that their success depends upon the ability of one generation to transmit moral truths to the next. Without guidance, individualism is corrosive of morality, responsibility, and family life. But when guided by a spirit of benevolence, it is the greatest possible force for good.
Your Humble Servant,
Silence Dogood
