Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi and a host of other Democratic Party leaders explain they are personally opposed to abortion but support public policies promoting the snuffing out of innocent human lives because they don't want to impose their moral views on other Americans.

Do you believe them? I don't. I'll tell you why: Biden and Pelosi are only too eager to impose their moral views on the rest of us in a thousand other ways.

For instance, Pelosi and many of her Democratic Party colleagues have publicly opposed the death penalty — a matter of established law in the U.S.

She and Biden share the common moral idea that it is appropriate for the government to take the property of the wealthy and redistribute it to the poor — regardless of whether this notion is universally popular or not.

Pelosi says she would support same-sex marriage, and Biden says he believes it is inevitable. Again, neither seems to have a problem imposing his or her own morality in this matter on a public that remains largely opposed to the idea.

I could go on and on. The list is endless. Biden, Pelosi and every Democratic Party politician who swears he or she is "personally opposed" to abortion but publicly in favor is staking out a position on this issue only. Why is that?

The answer is simple: They are pro-abortion but attempting to position themselves as good Catholics or good Christians, with a reasonable and acceptable viewpoint. They are trying to insist they don't really support killing unborn children; they are just being open-minded and pluralistic.

But why is it that this open-mindedness only applies to one issue? Why is it that they are perfectly willing to impose their values on every other important issue of the day? And, even more significantly, why is it they adamantly oppose permitting the legislative process to determine whether abortion should be permitted or not? Why is it they defend judicial fiat over the popular will on this important moral issue?

Biden had his own spin on the question Sunday when grilled by Tom Brokaw on "Meet the Press." Asked how he might advise his running mate, Barack Obama, on when life begins, he said: "I'd say, 'Look, I know when it begins for me.' It's a personal and private issue. For me, as a Roman Catholic, I'm prepared to accept the teachings of my church. But let me tell you, there are an awful lot of people of great confessional faiths — Protestants, Jews, Muslims and others — who have a different view. They believe in God as strongly as I do. They're intensely as religious as I am religious. They believe in their faith, and they believe in human life, and they have differing views as to when life — I'm prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception. But that is my judgment. For me to impose that judgment on everyone else who is equally and maybe even more devout than I am seems to me is inappropriate in a pluralistic society. And I know you get the push back, 'Well, what about fascism?' … Are you going to say fascism is all right? Fascism isn't a matter of faith. No decent religious person thinks fascism is a good idea."

Fascism? Honestly, I hadn't thought to ask Biden about fascism. But I would like him to address the laundry list of controversial moral issues of the day on which he has no problem legislating his personal views.

I still don't understand why abortion is exceptional in this regard. Why is it that abortion on demand is an absolute right? It is certainly not because a majority of Americans came to that view. It is, on the contrary, because a small number of determined extremists came to that view and worked on the courts to countermand the will of the people as expressed through the legislative process.

Maybe a better question for Biden and Pelosi next time would be why they believe a commitment to abortion on demand should be a litmus test for any prospective member of the Supreme Court.

Maybe they should be asked why they oppose allowing the American people to have a voice on the matter of abortion.

I would like to hear them squirm around that one.

Joseph Farah's newest book, "None of the Above: Why 2008 Is the Year To Cast the Ultimate Protest Vote," is available now. To find out more about Joseph Farah and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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