Conservatives have found a voter gold mine in the anti-abortion issue.It is the type of issue that is ideal for the conservatives because it sways liberals into voting for the conservatives.
Outlawing abortion is an issue that is aimed straight at the bleeding heartstrings of a typical Kumbaya liberal who is all about protecting the poor and the weak. Once the liberals are hooked on the anti-abortion issue, it is possible to reel them in to vote for the conservative political party. Even though that is the party whose true concerns are to help the rich get richer and to build a military to crush anyone who rises against it.
A typical rich, militaristic conservative does not really care about the welfare of a fetus. Conservatives are the people who typically support the sale of assault weapons to the public. Conservatives also love landmines and cluster bombs, both of which kill and maim thousands of children for year after year. Conservatives never worry about fetuses being killed when they drop bombs on pregnant mothers. Have you ever heard of a collateral damage report that counted dead fetuses? Also, conservatives like the right to pollute the air and water, and as a result, more fetuses die.
But then why do conservative support a ban on abortion? Because this issue sucks in liberals to vote for the conservative political parties. Real conservatives never have to worry about back alley abortions. They just fly off to Europe. The only people who suffer from anti-abortion laws are the poor, and conservatives don't care about the welfare of the poor.
The liberals can't use the abortion issue, because unlike the conservatives, they are also concerned with the rights of the mother, and the rights of the poor. So although they may not like abortion, they cannot wish to punish every woman who wants an abortion without considering the reason.
With heaping dollops of propaganda, conservatives can convince many good hearted liberals that the only issue worth voting for is abortion, and that their jolly warmongering (but fetus loving) selves are the lesser of two evils.
The abortion debate is an example how propaganda can win elections by leveraging a one-way issue. Once you have found it never let it go. Think of how much better off the world would be today, if the conservatives had never stumbled across this voter gold mine.
Your posting leaves all kind of fertile ground unploughed on the subject of abortion and politics. Let me help ;-)
ReplyDeleteAbortion is one of the best illustrations of the inherent silliness of 'faith based' (vs. 'evidence based') policy setting.
Example 1: The single largest identifiable anti-abortion constituency is the Christian activists ... some of whom are prepared to go as far as murder - to 'save' as yet unborn 'people' - no inconsistencies here? (c.f. Kopp, Salvi, Griffin, et al.).
Example 2: The political right consistently claim the high ground with respect to 'law and order.' But, despite convincing evidence that the legalization of abortion (Roe vs. Wade) resulted in a significant reduction in U.S. crime rates in the 1990s, the right persists in courting the anti-abortion segment. (c.f. 1972 Rockefeller Commission, Levitt et al.)
Example 3: The political right completely disregard the 'Roe Effect' ... basically that legal abortion will erode the pro-choice political base over time, and vise versa.
Of course, the 'Roe Effect' is tenuous, but the entire abortion debate is far fetched.
The abortion issue should have been settled once and for all by Roe vs. Wade and R. v. Morgentaler. But the political right (as you write) and the Christian Taliban persist in their unholy alliance to repress women's rights.
I like the term "Christian Taliban" because that exactly what this is. The science of it all should prevail and woman should have a right to choose. However, my sympathy goes out to all that have had to make that choice. It wouldn't be easy.
ReplyDeleteMadeye is a bit silly to worry about his precious "abortion providers" being murdered. You can count on one hand the number of incidents. One hundred thousand dead fetuses per year in Canada and only a few nuts attacking the "providers". That speaks well of the Anti-Abortionists.
ReplyDeleteHis crime-prevention trick (pre-emptive Capital Punishment) to end crime with abortion is ridiculous but more importantly it is moot. The issue is whether or not a fetus is human and then whether or not that human's right to life "trumps" a woman's right not to be pregnant anymore. What the little darlings do when they grow up and buy guns doesn't enter into it.
I have no idea what the "Roe effect" is but it looks like it has something to do with future voting patterns. Again, some opaque thinking by Madeye.
Stay focused. It isn't such a difficult issue. You either believe that what you see in ultrasounds is a living entity made from two human entities OR you pretend it is something non-human.
Madeye uses and Mikey "likey" the term "Christian Taliban" because they are both painfully ignorant of Christianity and the Taliban. I suggest that both of these gentleman are much closer to the Taliban with their intolerance of Christianity.
You no likey when people who believe in Christ express an opinion? Too bad. It is still kind of a free country. Maybe you should consult the Taliban on how to shut up Christians.
...oh, yeah...there's more. Mikey mentions something about science. Most pro-abortion folk don't usually mention that anymore - too darned obvious that science isn't the friend of pro-abortionists (what with "viability" now earlier than ever). He also mentions that it wouldn't be an easy choice. Why the hell not? Didn't his "science" just proove that a fetus ain't human? I don't get how pro-abortionists can say with a straight face that abortion is akin to removing a wart one minute and then lament the "difficult decision" the next. It isn't difficult unless IT IS HUMAN. Then it isn't difficult, it's monstrous.
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