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Smells Like Desperation
One thing that has always bothered me about the US and its allies throwing unchecked and unending support to the Ukrainians is that desperate people do desperate and stupid things. Escalating a war with a country that possesses 5,977 nuclear warheads has little room for error, and I don’t have great faith in those charged with navigating that course.
In one breath, the hawks assure us that Putin is both a rational actor and a man who wants to go to war with all the former Warsaw Pact countries, even the ones now admitted to NATO. That contradiction makes it hard for me to look at them as people we should trust to make judgments regarding Putin’s current state of mind.
And it’s not a judgment I can make for myself. I don’t speak Russian and therefore can’t adequately judge Putin’s words or try to gauge his thinking by the lines being laid down through state media.
Where I do sense desperation today is from Donald Trump and his loyal supporters. Now, when it came to Donald Trump’s presidency, I made two things explicitly clear on the pages of Ricochet. First, I wasn’t from “Never-Neverland,” nor was I an acolyte. The second thing, and more importantly, while I could not be characterized as a Trump supporter, I was definitely a supporter of Trump supporters. Like Dave Chappelle in his now infamous SNL monologue, I could say that I understood them because I lived among them. And I still do. Even today, I will argue those who attacked Trump’s base may have felt something cathartic, but it was a highly destructive and counterproductive endeavor.
With yesterday’s announcement from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the Trump base is becoming harder and harder to defend. Since last night they have attacked the Governor, not from the right, but from the left, citing and parroting every MSNBC and DNC talking point they can find. Today’s big line from Alex Bruesewitz is a doozy:
Imagine this bunch adopting the line that relitigating anything from 2020 is beyond the pale. Hell, their entire raison d’etre is relitigating the year 2020. And their guy can’t shut up about 2020.
While I may be in the dark about Putin’s desperation, this group practically reeks of it. It smells so bad you can see the fumes. Bruesewitz wants us all to move on? Well, I have.
Published in General
I thought the Dobbs decision specifically put the abortion laws back into the hands of individual States, as opposed to the Federal government. I was very upset when Lyndsey Graham made a big media blitz about how, with his new upcoming majority, he was going to initiate a Federal law banning abortion directly before the 2022 midterms. I have always believed he did that on purpose knowing how much it would rile up the Democrat base. Florida has become a Red State. DeSantis is honestly against abortion, which is apparently now the majority opinion in Florida. He did the correct thing, it seems to me, as the Governor of that State. That would not necessarily translate into “the right thing” as POTUS. I believe it is possible for him to take that position and be respected for it. It might take a little Bill Clinton messaging, ” It depends on what the meaning of is, is.” The difference is, it would be true. That’s always a good thing!
I heard a lot about how Trump was a strongly pro-life candidate. Hell, I argued with NeverTrump people on this, as he addressed the March for Life and took a strong stand. Is pro-life a bad thing now?
What’s changed for people who fully respect every woman’s right to privacy and reproductive choice is that the so-called “pro-life” movement is no longer just about religious people of conscience trying to persuade women to avoid abortions. It’s now about that movement imposing its religion-inspired viewpoint upon all, including those who share neither their faith nor their perspective on unwanted pregnancies.
Donald Trump, who first came to fame long ago in New York as a celebrated lad-about-town, is clearly having second thoughts about the political impact of his conversion to the anti-abortion movement. I hope he will learn from his mistake, which I’ve always believed was a convenient necessity for the “greater good” (in his mind) of winning in 2016.
Either you believe the pre-viability fetus deserves full legal recognition as a human being with the same rights as those born alive, or you do not. In my experience this belief is most often based upon religious claims along the lines of “God breathes a soul into all human life upon conception.” In my opinion this religious belief should no more impact U.S. constitutional law than other religious doctrines. Dobbs transformed the “pro-life” movement from an argument of individual conscience to an oppressive legal regime, a Christian-led equivalent to Sharia Law. And yes, that’s a bad thing, for Christians and non-Christians alike.
That’s my opinion about the issue itself. My post above was about political realities.
Recent election results — and Florida has not yet had a ballot issue on abortion rights — are sending the message that the public prefers the Roe/Casey compromise to the way some states are handling this. Those insisting that the GOP stand firm on extreme state limits on abortion risk torpedoing all else that Republicans stand for, in economic policy, the fight against Far Left wokeness, etc. etc. This fight won’t go away, and you will lose nationally as you have already lost in states like Michigan, Kansas, and Kentucky which put the issue on the ballot. Just be aware of what you’re giving up to continue fighting the public, especially younger voters, on this powerful emotional issue.
In the Florida legislature only. Put it on the ballot as a referendum and you may learn differently.
Besides, even if in some few states the majority of voters support first trimester sanctions against abortion, the restoration of the national right to privacy regarding reproductive choice would and should overturn such a law. If you leave voters with fewer rights than they had, they will do what they must to regain those rights. Wouldn’t you, if the Supreme Court banned private ownership of guns?
Since Presidents and Senators appoint SCOTUS justices, you are putting every forthcoming election into play over abortion rights. You’ll have turned the argument over big government upside down.
The GOP will push for freedom on economics (“the dismal science”) and arcane regulatory issues, but the other side will say ‘speaking of intrusive big government’ … and turn the topic to sexual repression. Sex!!! wins. Do people remember Bill Clinton for saying “the era of big government is over”? No, they remember him for his dalliance with a buxom young intern. As Jay Leno used to say about the scandal, it’s something everyone understands.
How many laws based on the belief system of the Judeo-Christian tradition are you prepared to ditch? Because, like it or not, all law is based on morality, which at its essence is merely the collective sense of right and wrong. I think we’re getting a big taste of post-Christian morality in America right now and I don’t think you’re thrilled with that, either.
How many people are being constrained by such quaint notions as the sacredness of human life? Do you want to find out how many? Do you really?
Fifty percent of all current day abortions occur by the woman, or couple, receiving a drug via the mail and then the pregnant woman pops the pill.
I really do not know how this would be stopped, unless each and every mail parcel sent to a woman under the age of 45 was hand inspected.
Of course the abortion issue, plus the trans support, plus pro-immigration issues are just about all that separate your moderate Republicans from moderate Dems. Otherwise it is all one Big Money Party! (And that is especially true of our elected officials, for the most part.)