Sometimes, It’s Better to Leave Things Alone

 

You know, if the Democrats had been more willing to compromise on abortion, there might not have been a Dobbs ruling last week. The whole thing started when Mississippi passed a law saying “No more abortions after 15 weeks” (with exceptions for medical emergencies and abnormal fetuses). Abortions rights extremists (let’s face it, abortion up until the day of birth is an extreme position) sued. Had they left it alone, there would have been no case to overturn Roe v. Wade.

For that matter, Democrats have had numerous chances to back down from their extreme “anytime, any point in pregnancy, for any reason” position on abortion. There have been bills in Congress to restrict late-term abortions to medical necessity — a perfectly reasonable position. Democrats refused to back down, even as they denied that late-term abortions ever took place for reasons other than medical necessity. It’s become a typical frame of argument for Democrats. “This thing isn’t happening, but it must continue.” They use the same argument to defend teaching racialist ideologies (CRT) in public schools.

As far as gay marriage goes, there was an implied contract that once it was the law of the land, gay couples would more willingly assimilate into the mainstream of society. If that’s what had happened, their acceptance in the long run was highly probable. But professional activists could not leave things alone. “You have to let men who identify as women into women’s bathrooms and locker rooms. You have to let men who claim to be women compete in women’s sports. Teachers should be allowed to talk about same-sex relationships and queer ideology. You have to allow porn in your school libraries. Kids should be exposed to explicit sexual activity at Pride parades.”  Have you noticed it seems to be the AWFLs pushing this more than the gays and lesbians?

The January 6th Committee is also part of this constant hard push on things better left alone. Forget the amateur-hour theatrics and the “blockbuster revelations” that turn out to be nothing. Leave aside, for the moment, that our political class is obsessed with this show trial and ignoring the plight of citizens dealing with runaway inflation, skyrocketing fuel prices, shortages, and a massive uncontrolled flow of drugs, violence, and illegal immigration across the southwest border. The January 6th Committee feels like the political class picking at a wound; determined to never allow it to heal.

Much as I disagree with the Republican-passed gun control legislation, it represents something Democrats have never, ever been willing to do … compromise. Maybe if they had been willing to take a step back and not push to the extreme on every issue, there would not be so much pushback.

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  1. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    They don’t have to compromise because they almost always win. 

    • #1
  2. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    They don’t have to compromise because they almost always win.

    They lost with Roe v Wade.

    In terms of some things best left alone – I wonder what the political fall out of that will be.

    So far Republican States have been able to pass strict anti-abortion laws with the knowledge that Roe v Wade made them unenforcable.

    With the rubber hitting the road, so to speak, I’m curious how this will affect how women vote – and how Republican States legislate in response to that.

    • #2
  3. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    For many situations like this, it appears all the world to me that “it’s not about that”.

    I mean it’s not about the advertised issue, but instead about gaining political power by creating  unrest.  And the advertised issue is the believable excuse, as well as something you can fundraise on and rile up an angry crowd with.

    So the abortion battle isn’t really about abortion.  And the gay marriage battle isn’t really about gay marriage.

    Especially gay marriage.  We had just passed a heap of domestic partner legislation on the specific assurance that it would address all the gay marriage issues.  Nope!

    …And if you think about it that way, everything is consistent and makes sense.

    • #3
  4. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Nixon made an offered to agree to a limited health care insurance subsidy program.  Teddy Kennedy turned it down and later said that that was one of the worst mistakes he had every made.  

    • #4
  5. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    Zafar (View Comment):
    They lost with Roe v Wade.

    Only so far. Half the states still allow, or even encourage, abortions.  There will be federal legislation promoting abortion within the decade.  They still get to suck on this political teat the way that the right has depended on Roe for half a century.

    • #5
  6. aardo vozz Member
    aardo vozz
    @aardovozz

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    For many situations like this, it appears all the world to me that “it’s not about that”.

    I mean it’s not about the advertised issue, but instead about gaining political power by creating unrest. And the advertised issue is the believable excuse, as well as something you can fundraise on and rile up an angry crowd with.

    So the abortion battle isn’t really about abortion. And the gay marriage battle isn’t really about gay marriage.

    Especially gay marriage. We had just passed a heap of domestic partner legislation on the specific assurance that it would address all the gay marriage issues. Nope!

    …And if you think about it that way, everything is consistent and makes sense.

    …And is still insufficiently cynical.🤔

    • #6
  7. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    Victor Tango Kilo: As far as gay marriage goes, there was an implied contract that once it was the law of the land, gay couples would more willingly assimilate into the mainstream of society. If that’s what had happened, their acceptance in the long run was highly probable. But professional activists could not leave things alone.

    As someone opined, they rode around the battlefield shooting the remaining survivors. 

    • #7
  8. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    Doctor Robert (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):
    They lost with Roe v Wade.

    Only so far. Half the states still allow, or even encourage, abortions. There will be federal legislation promoting abortion within the decade. They still get to suck on this political teat the way that the right has depended on Roe for half a century.

    That might be an encouraging point. The industrial uniparty complex used Roe to help control a large part of the conservative voting base. Abortion was a useful issue to them, if only to inflate the conservative credentials of their candidates. Nobody offered a credible plan to address the problem until DJT. For most of the GOPe, their anti-abortion stance was a con.

    Maybe the same issue can now distract and pacify the left. Their leaders know there’s nothing they can do about Dobbs, and they don’t care about life anyway, either way. (The same situation the Republicans were in before Trump.) Every time they rant about it, they’re distracting their voters from something else.

    • #8
  9. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    I wonder if the Democrats of New York are setting themselves into a position in which they might end up with a result they don’t like. Their response to the Supreme Court striking down New York’s gun control law was to enact a new law that still makes it virtually impossible for a resident of New York to exercise the resident’s right to bear arms. And they are making it clear they are doing so in bad faith. The next Supreme Court smackdown might so severely limit state power that the New York Democrats will regret having pushed the issue. At least I hope so. 

    • #9
  10. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    This court would have found a case to take.  And rightly so.  It’s hard to blame it on the dems because even a mild case would have done it.

    • #10
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