Failing the True Test

Regarding South Dakota’s recent abortion bill, Governor Rounds said:
"In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them."

Do you think it would help if we explained to him that this “true test” doesn’t only apply to the one group deemed most vulnerable and helpless?  That phrase is supposed to mean that we shouldn’t leave anyone behind, including the most vulnerable.  Not that we help that one group and that makes everything kosher.  And that idea goes against every principle that the fiscal conservatives believe in.  If the sponsors and supporters of that bill believe that we need to be helping everyone; they’ve really got an odd way of going about that.

And for god’s sake, what is that “In the history of the world” jazz all about?  Not only is it meaningless, it doesn’t even properly set-up the next part of the sentence.  It was just rhetorical noise that he threw in there to sound fancy.  And I hate that crap.  I’m guessing he’s meaning “Throughout our history,” but even that doesn’t make sense.  And if you seriously wrote “Throughout our history, it has been decided that the true test…” then you’d deserve to get slapped.  Because I think that’s what he was trying to say, but that he couldn’t say it like that because it sounds so obviously stupid.  And to anyone paying attention, it was stupid in either case.  But then again, he thinks that a tiny blob of cells is part of society; so I guess he doesn’t really have a problem with stupid.