Mike Pence Discovered to be Scandalously Moral

Rape culture.

According to Ashley Csanady in the National Post, Mike Pence’s principled refusal to be alone with any woman not his wife is “rape culture.”

Mike Pence, the piece explains and objects, “never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and ... he won’t attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either.”

So here’s the present state of play: if you go out of your way to avoid rape, that is rape.

It would seem to follow that the only thing that is not rape, is rape.

Csanady’s logic, such as it is, is this:

“The explicit reasons for Pence’s restriction are religion and family, but the implicit reason is that he must avoid alone-time with women lest his stringent religious moral code fall apart in the presence of a little lipstick and décolletage.”

That is a profoundly sexist conclusion. It assumes that all men want to rape all women. All men are rapists.

Feminists, it may come as a shock to you, but there really is no rapist hiding under your bed. Most men are just not interested in raping anybody.

Who here is promoting a “rape culture” again?

But there are several reasons why Pence’s policy is a good idea.

First, it is good for his marriage, because it removes any grounds for suspicion on the part of his wife. If feminism cared about women, they would want this. Feminism is about sex, not equality.

Second, it removes an “occasion for sin,” a fundamental moral concept familiar to all Christians and Jews. It is not enough not to sin; we are supposed to avoid temptation to sin. Accordingly, Pence is doing what all Christians and Jews, and all moral people, are supposed to do. And the sin is not rape. It is adultery and drunkenness.

If Csanady’s claims are to be allowed to stand, to be a conventionally moral person is to be a rapist. To be a sincere Christian or Jew is to be a rapist. Most especially, despite the current bizarre alliance between feminists and Islam, to be a serious Muslim is to be a rapist. Any good person is a rapist.

Third, it removes an occasion for sin, a temptation to sin, for any woman involved. It may come as a shock, again, to feminists, but men and women are equal. Most women are actually sexually attracted to men, just as men are attracted to women. Odd that this did not occur to the NatPost writer. And it is actually possible for sex to be consensual. And still be wrong.

Fourth, it protects Pence from false accusations of sexual harassment, or indeed rape. This is something any sensible modern man must fear: the mere accusation can destroy you, especially if you are, like Pence, a politician. And any woman who has been known to have been alone with you can plausibly make the charge, and it is then just your word against hers. As a man, you cannot win. Among feminists, especially, it is a given that any accusation of rape or sexual harassment must be accepted on its face to be true.

Because if you don’t believe the “victim,” you are a rapist.

Fifth, it protects Pence from being raped or sexually harassed. Again, sexual equality: not only men can do bad things. He knows his on mind, and knows pretty well in advance whether he is interested in raping or sexually harassing some woman. Obviously, if he takes this measure, he is not. But what he does not and cannot know is her intentions.

And unlike women, men who are raped or harassed cannot count on the protection of the courts.

If feminists were really against rape, they would support Pence here, and urge all men and women to do the same.

Pence

Don't you wish Mike Pence were the Republican nominee instead of Donald Trump?

The only trouble Pence had in out-matching Tim Kaine was Kaine's ability to bring up crazy things that Trump has said, or could be slightly misrepresented as saying. Trump was like an albatross around Pence ' s neck.

But wait. If Republican voters had wanted to run a Pence, they had every opportunity. There was no shortage of good candidates. They could have nominated Jeb Bush, or Marco Rubio, or Bobby Jindal, or John Kasich. They chose not to.

There has to be a reason.

And there is. Pence, with his courtly, gentlemanly manner, his refusal to stoop to questionable tactics, his reasonableness, his courtesy, reminded one a lot of Mitt Romney, or Paul Ryan debating an interrupting Joe Biden, or John McCain insisting Barack Obama was a decent chap. Or the Republican leadership in Congress. This is just what enraged the Republican rank and file into choosing Trump.

It is the wrong tone for the times. It reminded me of Hubert Humphrey, back in 1968, proclaiming "the politics of joy." When the Vietnam War was in full swing. It just seemed callous.

While Pence was being well-mannered, Kaine was talking over every point, and the moderator was obviously biased against him. In such circumstances, anger is called for. Act as if everything is fine, and you just look helpless. A loser.

Indeed, you will be a loser. If one side follows the rules of the game, and the other side cheats at every opportunity, the good will always lose.

You may think this is too harsh a judgement on the left. I disagree. Postmodernism has refused to be bound by any of the rules of civil society. Alinsky has refused. The Bible or the Ten Commandments no longer hold us together. The sanctity of marriage no longer does. Motherhood no longer does. Male and female are no longer fixed qualities. There is no longer a general consensus on the right to life.

That's why we got Trump.