The wedge issue to end all wedge issues? |
Trump’s installation of three socially conservative judges onto the Supreme Court makes you just as complicit in the overturning of Roe V. Wade as if you were a member of the Westboro Baptist Church. I hate to say it like that, but that’s just how it is; you could be a totally free-wheeling, drinkin’, druggin’, slut-screwin’ party animal who just voted for Trump for “fiscal” reasons, but you’re effectively on the same side as all the disparate Christian groups that the left lump together as the “religious right.”
If you’re okay with that, as I am, then congratulations! Aside from the visceral thrill of watching the usual gang of blue-haired land whales and pussy-hat-wearing soccer moms flipping out, reversing Roe V. Wade is the social equivalent of ripping a Band-Aid off an enormous bloody gash and pouring rubbing alcohol all over it. It’s the political equivalent of tearing the floorboards out of a house and cleaning out all the rot, debris, and termites underneath. Regardless of how the 2022 midterms turn out – and I still believe they’ll turn out fairly well for Republicans – reversing Roe V. Wade had to be done in order to bring the “culture war” to a head.
And I think abortion is so central to the Democratic Party at this point that it’s perfectly fair to refer to it as the Abortion Party. That’s why this issue stings so much to liberals and leftists, and why all the leftist infighting, while amusing to watch, adds up to nothing when the quintessential liberal issue is now in question. There’s also the background concern that, if the Supreme Court can flip Roe V. Wade, then they can just as easily flip any other decisions they’ve made in the past and fundamentally reshape the country in all kinds of ways leftists find icky. They could just as easily reshape the country the other way as well, but we’ll save that topic for another time.
As such, I hear concern from some on the right/GOP claiming that overturning Roe V. Wade will inevitably reverse all the gains the Republicans have made recently and cause them to lose in the mid-terms; if only because certain hardcore pro-life Republicans won’t be able to keep their yaps shut and will immediately push for federal abortion bans or really harsh draconian punishments for anyone who either gets or gives an abortion. I see this mainly as either the talk of the demoralized or of people who grew up in prior generations where abortion was a much more pressing issue; the so called “abortion wars” are over, and statistically fewer people are in favor of abortion than they were in previous generations.
“Wowee, zowee! I’m on my twenty-seventh abortion! Aren’t you proud of me? You better be, you misogynist pig!”
Don’t get me wrong; overturning Roe v. Wade has given the Democrats an issue to rally behind, sure. Furthermore, the early leak of this decision was probably done to ignite those “fiery but mostly peaceful protests”, and to intimidate a judge or two to reverse course. In all honesty, when Danny-Elfman-lookalike-with-a-wig Jen Psaki encourages “mostly peaceful” protests outside of judges’ homes, I get the impression she’s hoping some unhinged psycho will take out one of the judges; and then, after a couple of weeks of disingenuous mourning, they replace that judge with another progressive, tipping the majority back the other way. After all, nothing outside of removing one of the judges will change their decision. It’s a done deal.
And, while the leaker of the SCOTUS decision should be dealt with just because, ya know, you’re not supposed to do stuff like that, it’s probably better that the decision did leak two or so months ahead of its official announcement, since it was going to happen anyway, and now the shock won’t be as severe. And now Republicans have some time to strategize and do some damage control. Also, people forget, the midterms are in six months; in this wacky, unpredictable environment, who knows what the hell can happen? Joe Biden might stroke out by then. Wouldn’t you think having Kamala Harris as President would guarantee the Republicans a default victory? Doesn’t every President lose his congress to the rival party in the midterms anyway?
But, regardless of how the midterms go, how does this shake out in the long run? With 26 states set to enact “trigger laws” that immediately make abortion illegal or more restrictive, I think this will also “trigger” the much needed political balkanization between two sides whose differences cannot be reconciled. The red states will get redder as liberals refuse to relocate to them no matter how bad California, New York, and Oregon become, while hardcore progressives and SJW types living in red states will simply either move out of them or be driven into little pockets of obscurity. Furthermore red states will be seen as too retrograde and reactionary for middle of the road liberals and RINOs to move to as well.
Is this where we are heading?
And those dejected Democrats who began voting Republican for lack of any other choices, but who still have some blue-state residue will be forced to do some major soul-searching about how important abortion really is to them. Are they willing to entirely divorce themselves from the leading issue of the Democratic Party in order to enjoy the guns and low taxes that are part and parcel of living in a red state; or is abortion so important to them that they’d rather live in a blue state, which will inevitably be driven further to the left, forcing them to endure rising crime-rates, gay and transsexual pride parades, stupidly high taxes, long waiting periods for guns, super-expensive electric cars, one-room pod apartments, and all-you-can-eat bug buffets?
I know my thesis sounds rather reductive, and there will be outliers; after all, if you’re in a red state that borders a blue state, and you’re just a hop, skip, and a jump away from an abortion clinic, then you get your cake and get to abort it too. Though I hear talks that Greg Abbott plans to make interstate abortion travel a crime too, so who knows? But, in the end, is not the loss of abortion access worth the other perks of living in a safe and prosperous red state?
Some losses to consider, which I’m not trying to trivialize, effect those involved in the arts and entertainment industries, along with more progressive leaning corporations. I can imagine in the near future Bruce Springsteen refusing to perform in “pro-life states.” I can imagine controversy being generated over artists and musicians who make tour stops in these red states; the way Sabbath got shit for playing in South Africa in the late 80s, and how Nick Cave and Public Image Ltd. were criticized more recently for doing shows in Israel.
I can imagine there being major conflicts over red states offering killer tax incentives for Hollywood studios to make movies in their states, and those studios having to decide whether to save money or appease progressives. I can imagine overly privileged actors, writers, directors, and producers having massive strikes against studios that decide to make movies in red states. I can imagine a major Hollywood studio starting to film a picture in Texas only to eat the cost of the project halfway through due to pressure from progressives. I can imagine corporations in general having to make some big decisions about which states they should set up shop in; or what kind of ad campaigns to run in different states.
And, I can imagine states starting to develop their own local cultures devoid of big corporations and the major entertainment industry. I can picture left-leaning corporations staging “starve-out” campaigns, where they refuse to deliver their goods to red states, forcing those states into creating their own local economies and only networking with other red states. I think the abortion issue has the potential to drive progressive universities out of red states, leaving a vacuum for all-new merit-based universities to take their places. And, if internet providers decide to pull their bases of operation out of red states, then that could allow those states to build their own internet as well.
They don’t call abortion a “wedge” issue for no reason. And no matter how many people think it just shouldn’t be, because there are more important concerns, like the economy, immigration, outsourcing of jobs, aggressive leftist censorship, and the overall fundamental push for "Great Reset" scenarios, the fact remains that there are those who feel abortion is “murder” and others who feel abortion is “freedom.” These sides cannot be reconciled; you’re either for abortion – and, yes, if you’re “pro-choice”, you’re for abortion – or you’re against it.
And, if you live in one of the states which errs on the side of being against abortion, then you might just see one less Starbucks on your block. What a loss. Can you survive?
Roe v. Wade is mostly symbolic at this point anyway. There is what, one abortion clinic still left in Mississippi? Obviously that abortion clinic lacks the logistical capacity to perform the vast majority of abortions done in the state.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, most abortions are performed chemically, not surgically, anyway. Personally, I can order Modafinil from some guy in India on a regular basis, pay with Bitcoin, and (so far) no one has bothered to try to stop me. It is even easier for a woman these days to buy abortion pills online. Since the pro-life movement is generally filled with sentimental cucks--who don't want to actually put women in prison for having abortions, as that would require having the courage of their convictions--they probably won't be able to effectively fight this.
In a post-Roe world, only the stupidest, least competent women won't be able to get an abortion: literally you have to be too stupid to use contraception in the first place, then too stupid to use the morning-after-pill, and then too stupid/incompetent to either travel out of state, or just google an online form to order abortion pills. Some on the Dissident Right think overturning Roe is striking at the sexual hedonism of liberal, college educated, HR white girls. It isn’t. Those women are just being performative with their outrage (as they almost always are). They will still have abortions, or just switch to longer-acting contraception.
Really, red states are just signing up to get disgenically cucked by the kind of woman (and her multiple baby daddies) who is too illiterate to do the equivalent of ordering shit from Amazon. There will, of course, be many guilt-tripping “pro-life” arguments calling for giving increased social welfare spending to such women once abortion is ostensibly “banned” in a state. This fiscal-dysgenic shitshow is going to be the main argument against living in a Red State a few decades down the line, not the inability to access abortion as such.