Filed under: Issues, Libertarianism, Politics, Progressivism, Rants, Society
I don’t really believe that most people who vote Republican in this country support their awful policies. At least they don’t support most of their awful policies. I have friends and family members who will tell you that they believe in little regulation for business and low taxes for the rich so they can give us jobs, but I don’t think they’re married to those points of view. I think the things that make them tolerate economic policies that come from elite rich people are social issues. Things like gay marriage and abortion are the glue that hold working class religious conservatives in place in this conservative coalition.
If that glue were somehow removed, then I think we’ll see people moving toward third parties. Which would be good on two fronts:
1. It would create a more diverse environment in our legislatures.
2. It would also make our Presidential elections a lot more interesting.
More importantly it would expose the super rich for the disgusting, self-centered, dishonest, entitled assholes that they are. anything that gets the people of this country closer to supporting policies that solve problem regardless of ideology is probably something good. As it stands though, there are millions of people who are suckered into believing that it really matters what a candidate for office thinks about gay marriage, gays openly serving in the military, legalization of drugs or any other issue that politicians create to make things seem scarier than they really are. To be fair though, abortion is not an issue that can so easily be written off as the other issues that pulls conservative in line by inflaming their prejudices against things that other people are doing.
At its core the pro-life movement centers its understanding of the issue around the idea that life begins at conception, and that terminating a pregnancy is tantamount to murder. I don’t know that I would use the same language now that I did when I was still firmly planted in the conservative movement, but I have to say that I personally have issues with abortion. But I don’t think that making a medical procedure illegal is wise, either morally or with regard to its enforceability. It doesn’t make sense to tell women whose pregnancies may kill them that must carry a baby to term.
In fact this does not mesh well with the small government ideology that Republicans typically espouse, nor does it directly effect the economic policies of their party. The only reason that abortion has influenced public debate is because the pro-life voting bloc is large enough to merit the Republicans attention to make up for the fact that their policies are antithetical to the needs of poor, working and middle class people.
But who has time to think about economics when there are babies being murdered?
Another thing that needs to be taken into consideration is that criminalizing abortion doesn’t eliminate abortions or even fundamentally undercut the secondary issues that lead to abortions, like poverty and sexual assault. The carrot that is being dangled in front of the pro-life demographic in this country is keeping them from realizing that there are solutions to the secondary issues that lead to unwanted or unstable pregnancies. The problem is that right now they’re being encouraged to seek ideological responses to problems that are, in fact, solvable. And considering how well pro-lifers organize, these problems seem that much more solvable.
I think that taking the moral concerns of anyone with a legitimate case is of the utmost importance in a democratic society. And right now millions of our neighbors are being held hostage by people for whom they should not have to knock on doors. I would like to see my pro-life brothers and sister come to see that choice isn’t the antithesis to life.
Grace and Peace,
Jared
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