SWA 2

Kathleen Parker’s article, “Seeking Balance in an Either-Or World” examines what it is like living in today’s political society. With her opening, she talks about how she never seemed to fit in on the political spectrum. She was either too liberal for one party or too conservative for the other party, which ended up leaving her in the middle as a moderate. She uses the issue of abortion to talk about her personal feelings on a popular political topic. She gives both reasons for and against abortion, citing that she “can not justify government-enforced maternity” however she also comments that there needs to be “tougher education standards.” With these two extremes, it is hard for one to choose what exactly to do, which is why the Independents are the “fastest-growing group of voters across the country,” because it is so tough for most people to pick a side of tough political issues like abortion.
Parker’s thoughts show clearly that she is not opinionated either way on the issue of abortion. I agree with her to an extent. Living and growing up with a mother who is an OB-GYN, I have been exposed information about pregnancy. I strongly believe that the option of abortion should be on a case-by-case basis. That is, I think that a woman should have the opportunity to have an abortion if a child was conceived without consent, such as in a rape case. I think that Parker needs to go into more detail about different options women may have instead of an abortion such as adoption. I do not think that there is either a right or wrong answer for this, and that this is one reason why the Independents are the fastest-growing group of voters. Since there are so many political issues that depend on the situation for a decision, such as abortion, or gun control, I think that people would rather not side with one political party because they might agree with one political viewpoint of a conservative and another political viewpoint of a liberal.
I feel that Parker is correct in her belief that it is tough to be in today’s society and political world without having a definite side, but I think that not having just one side allows for more choices. From one friends experience having an abortion was the right choice, but it doesn’t mean that it is right for everyone. It also is acceptable to have different viewpoints from someone and still be able to get along with them.