07-03-2022, 10:55 AM
(07-02-2022, 08:44 PM)BigPapaKain Wrote: It just sucks that it's gonna be gallons of blood spilled for no real reason before this gets overturned (if it ever does again). I'm sure some will say 'God's will' or whatever other BS they can conjure to ignore the horror of the piles of bodies, but that excuse only lasts until it happens to them.
My only genuine hope is that this rallies the voting base and we actually start voting for real candidates instead of buzzword spin-and-speak toys wearing a human guise.
I have no idea what happens going forward. I think a percentage of the anti-abortion right goes even more extreme. They will seek a federal ban, prosecution of women traveling out-of-state for the procedure, and of course more absolute bans in trigger states that do not extend bans to rape, incest, and life of the mother. I see Pence emerging as a champion for this movement. I recall an aide saying that Trump used to make fun of him, saying that Pence would execute women for abortions if he had his way.
On the pro-choice and the left in general, I see a shift. For years the right and center have had a free for all against the extreme left for the "woke agenda" low hanging fruit. These self-inflicted policies have damaged the left immeasurably in terms of public perception, even chasing traditional libs from the party. Outside of the Q folks and the most extreme MAGA aspects of the right, there's nobody easier to characterize as totally divorced from reality as the extreme left, and the right had been efficient in capitalizing on it.
Now we get a blast from the past thrust back into the forefront of American identity politics. The good old theocrat right is trending hard and is as visible as ever. This is going to remind America how absolutely batshit the religious right was at their height, and also show that they never really went anywhere. The woke crowd will now have an even more repulsive counterbalance on the right. You think forcing 10 year olds into other states to have abortions is going to play well with anyone other than the most bible-thumping wannabe theocrat?
I also believe that a sizable part of Republican leadership fears this outcome and will seek to tamp down the extremists. The pragmatists won't want to alienate women as a voting block, and it will certainly have an impact at the polls. Unfortunately, just like the moderate left, they might find that vocal nutbags are much more difficult to root out than you might expect. They can co-opt your party and make it a laughingstock with just a couple of outliers acting the fool and feeding the fervor of the theocrat mob.
