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Former Vice President Al Gore, testifying on his pet issue last week, told Congress: "there is no longer any serious debate over the basic points that make up the consensus on global warming." As Rush Limbaugh observed a few hours after Gore's testimony, when liberals declare the debate over, you can bet the debate is not over; they just want it stifled.

Perhaps conservatives should adopt this tactic of declaring the debate over on some of our issues. What do we have to lose? It would be a fun exercise, and it might usher in a whole new era of conventional wisdom.

So, I hereby declare that there is no longer any serious debate over the basic points that make up the consensus on abortion. Everyone knows it's a baby. It moves. It kicks. It has a heartbeat and brain waves. When allowed to grow, it becomes an adult. Yes, the debate is over. Abortion kills human beings and should be prohibited.

Also, there is no longer any serious debate over the basic points that make up the consensus on marriage. Anyone with half a brain knows that for 5,000 years of recorded human history, it has been an institution involving a man and a woman. Case closed.

And, of course, there is no longer any serious debate over the basic points that make up the consensus on gun control. Guns make people and societies safer, not more dangerous. Besides, the Second Amendment says you can have one, or many, so that issue is now put to rest.

There is no longer any serious debate over the basic points that make up the consensus on government spending. State and federal governments now spend many times what they should in order to fulfill their constitutionally mandated responsibilities. Therefore, it is settled. Government spending should be slashed.

Likewise, there is no longer any serious debate over the basic points that make up the consensus on taxes. Americans should be allowed to keep much more of what they earn. In fact, while we're dictating policy, the 16th Amendment should be repealed, the Internal Revenue Service abolished and a national consumption tax, known as the Fair Tax, should be implemented immediately.

Because government schools are such a miserable failure, there is no longer any serious debate over the basic points that make up the consensus on whether the private sector, be it secular or religious, should be assigned the task of educating our children. They could do a much better job for a fraction of the price.

There is no longer any serious debate over the basic points that make up the consensus on child molesters. They should be castrated and/or imprisoned for the rest of their natural lives, along with their advocates in the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), and anyone caught producing child pornography.

There is no longer any serious debate over the basic points that make up the consensus on illegal immigration. People from other countries steal across our borders, bringing with them diseases and social problems. We pay for them. They should go home, and we should build a real, physical fence to keep them from coming back. End of story.

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