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Mary Ann Glendon and the 2012 election

From Abortion and Divorce in Western Law, by Mary Ann Glendon:
How are self-reliance, individual liberty, and tolerance related to selfish indifference, isolation, and nihilism? At what point does the language of individualism in a society or in a legal system begin crowding out other modes of discourse? When one has lost the ability to speak or even to form concepts in other ways, can one really be said to be living a richer and fuller life than one can express? Does a country or legal system which gives highest priority to individualistic values come to be inhabited only by persons who put those values above all others and act accordingly?
Glendon wrote this in 1987. I read this recently and immediately thought of the 2012 presidential election. David Brooks of The New York Times discussed something similar recently, asserting that one type of conservatism (organic/traditional conservatism) is being crowded out by another type (economic libertarianism).

Ironically, Glendon asked these questions in the context of critiquing American abortion law under Roe v. Wade, which has promoted, among prochoice activists and political elites, a conceptualization and defense of abortion rights that is very libertarian in nature. At the same time, Glendon noted the limited amount of government support (relative to Western European countries) for pregnant women and new mothers. What Glendon seemed to want was a combination of greater government limitations on abortion, reflecting a concern for unborn life, with greater concrete governmental support for women who carry their pregnancies to term. 

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