You won't want to miss this video dialogue between Touchstone senior editor Robert P. George and his colleague Cornel West.
George and West discuss the life of the mind, the ground of a true democracy, how to withstand the corrupting temptations of greed and power, and whether the Left is on the wrong side of history on abortion.
This video is a good example of a conservative and a progressive in civil, respectful, and yet thoughtful and convictional conversation.
This is a long video, but you can click on sub-topics to listen to portions. I checked out the one on abortion and was amused when Cornell West (the Progressive) said, “If I was convinced that human life began at conception I would be a radical anti-abortionist.” I’m parphrasing but that was the gist. Robert George then brought up the current scientific consensus that conception is the only logical place to posit the inception of humanity, and then remarked that their fellow academic at Princeton, Peter Singer also believed the same, but defined a further category of personhood which only begins much later and can be lost in old age or infirmity. In Peter Singer’s view, personhood should be protected, but not mere humanity. This is not just a slippery slope, it’s teflon with grease piled on. I guess if I were a progressive or a liberal I would not want to be sitting on that particular branch when it inevitably gets sawed off.