Aborting Our Republic

Wikimedia Commons

The passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the year 2020 is fitting for the tumultuous year.  Its like tsunami following a tidal wave.  Its like a wrecking ball to a building that's been beat with sledge hammers.  Its like a chasing a stick of dynamite with neutron bomb.  Maybe its not that big, but yes it is.  It reminds me of the great Willie Nelson song, "The Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning."  If 2020 was a relationship, that would be its song.  RBG's death has the potential of being a seminal moment in which our governmental norms, process, and structure could be significantly changed.  

That kind of change is enough to cause anxiety and apprehension in all political partisans.  It's the kind of change that comes with hugely consequential outcomes, many of which are unknown and unintended.  If one is to believe the hyperbole and political posturing, our elected officials seem willing to engage in a scorched earth strategy to defeat the enemy.  For many, this is precisely the moment when the end truly justifies the means.

This makes me think...why?  The answer is so obvious and also depressing. All the consternation, anger, frustration, and threats are a result of single issue- abortion.  Abortion is the most divisive and polarizing issue in our country besides racism.  Its been that way since the Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973.  But compared to many other issues that start out with great emotional fervor and slowly lessen in intensity, abortion has maintained or increased in its polarization. The increasing polarization of abortion is a result of partisan, electoral strategy in which both sides attempt to find an issue for people to coalesce around and to get out the vote.  I think abortion will be the issue that finally breaks us.  It will be the issue that we will not reconcile or resolve.

Again, I ask, why?

This is where I piss off pro-choice feminists.  Just a side note, abortion has never been an issue I have been emotionally attached to or invested in.  I say that reluctantly, because maybe I should have had more strident views  However, the more I listen, the more I hear, the less I understand the importance of the issue.  Or maybe, I just don't get the logic.  I am not sure how abortion equates to the rhetoric of "women's reproductive rights."  

Women, by design, have been given the burden of carrying a child.  I think this is by design, others might say it was evolution.  Either way, women have the responsibility.  I believe that women are strong enough, intelligent enough, and capable of understanding the responsibility of their biological functions. In fact, I think women are not just physically suited for pregnancy, but also psychologically and emotionally.  I would think that if you are designed to bring to life another human, one would take all necessary issues into account before engaging in a the act that leads to it.  If you don't want a child, don't have sex.  If you want to have sex, but not a child, take appropriate precautions.   But I digress... 

If a woman does not want a pregnancy, then she should take control of her uterus and prevent that from happening.  That is well with in her reproductive rights.  This is even more true in the current age with all of the knowledge and technology that has been made available to prevent a pregnancy.   My wife and I employed a number of different tactics (TMI!!!) and they all worked.  Once we decided we did not want anymore kids, we took drastic measures to make pregnancy impossible.  Outside of the horrific instances of rape, pregnancy is SOOOO preventable.  

Now I am a realist and know that it is not as easy as that.  But it is, really.  I just don't know why feminist believe women cannot control their uterus prior to pregnancy. You say, "But accidents happen."  And I say, "Yes they do, but when you are wearing a seatbelt and following the rules of the road, deaths don't happen nearly as often."  

I know this has or will enrage so many of you...but I find it hard to believe that our democratic republic will continually get brought to the brink of collapse over an issue that could and should be a non-issue.  



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's Time to Go Home Eddie: Living in our false realities

Image
  Growing up, my father introduced me to the The Far Side  comic strip by Gary Larson. We had several of his collections lying around the house—especially in the bathroom.  Being well before smartphones, this is the kind of things people did while on the toilet. As a teenager, I initially found them just silly and amusing. But over time, I came to realize they were more than just funny—they were brilliant.  There was a subtle, nuanced exploration into  human psychology through the anthropomorphizing of cows, spiders, dogs, and inanimate objects. His intentionally awkward drawings added to the humor, wit, and intelligence of his single pane observations. And yet, I am not sure Larson was trying to be brilliant, which ironically, adds to his brilliance. He was famously reclusive, avoiding interviews and public attention, leaving us to interpret his motives for ourselves. Regardless, The Far Side managed to be both hilarious and deeply insightful, and that's what c...
Read more

Social Media's Threat to our Culture

Image
The news of Donald Trump getting banned by Twitter has reverberated all across the various media outlets and internet ether.  It has created interesting discussions and arguments regarding the freedom of speech along with growing concerns of the ability of so few to control so much (I won't get into that here...maybe later). The decision to ban Trump for his role in inciting an insurrection was followed by Apple's and Amazon's suspension of Parler on similar grounds.  To many on the Left, these are largely applauded and welcome actions.  Conversely, many on the right see this as an existential threat to democracy.  To be fair, there are also many who cast a weary eye towards such actions, but think this particular case was warranted.   Regardless of where you stand on the banning of Trump and the suspension Parler, those incidents reveal a deeper, much more complicated issue regarding the role social media plays in our democracy and culture.  In the ea...
Read more

The Truth About the Transgender Narrative

Image
I have recently sat through a number of local school board meetings and have left fascinated, confused, and depressed.  What was once a really boring and often little attended affair, school board meetings have now become Jerry Springer episodes.  Crowds filled with anger and vitriol and armed with propaganda of their social media echo chamber are storming these meetings with torches and pitchforks, ready to burn it down.  The issue?  Broadly speaking, LGBTQ.  But much of it revolves around the “T” in that acronym.  And that is where much of my fascination lies.  The transgender movement, to me, has moved at a speed and with a magnitude I have never seen before. I am amazed that so many are willing to untether themselves from reality and believe that a man can become a woman or vice versa.  I am dumbstruck by the fact that people, with a straight face, can claim that cutting off a child’s breast or penis is an option to help one affirm their gende...
Read more