"An Attack on the Institutions of Civil Society"

Professor Mary Ann Glendon of Harvard Law School discusses the ObamaCare abortifacient/contraception mandate in explaining why 43 Catholic entities are challenging it in court

So who should care about this? Why worry about it if you're not Catholic and have no problem with widespread use of contraception -- or even abortifacients? Here's why, as Professor Glendon explains:

At the deepest level, we are witnessing an attack on the institutions of civil society that are essential to limited government and are important buffers between the citizen and the all-powerful state.

Those of us who believe in freedom have an overwhelming interest in preserving the strength and the health of non-governmental entities -- from religious institutions to a free press to a thriving private sector -- because they balance the power of the government . . . and thereby help to secure our freedom. And the health of religious institutions is absolutely vital to the success of the American experiment, because without the morality and self-control that religious faith helps to instill, it is impossible to remain free -- because there will be ever-more need for domineering government to rule over people who have become incapable of controlling themselves without intense, constant oversight. (This is what John Adams was warning about.)

Any attempt, however well-intentioned (and this ObamaCare attempt was NOT well-intentioned, in my view) to undermine the vibrancy and health of the civic institutions that balance federal government power is an attack on freedom. And it should be repulsed with a unified, unflinching repudiation by all those who love freedom.