I’m about to say the “A” word… Get your stones ready! Part 1

It’s mid-autumn  in America… Awe… thoughts turn to lazy, late afternoon strolls amid the beautiful fall colors… the nip of cooler weather in the air…the holidays just around the corner…Right?

We wish!

Sorry we still have to wade through rapid fire, increasingly negative, political commercials screeching at us through every “connected device” that surrounds our lives today. Our phones, our televisions, our computers, even our game playing devices – there’s no escape.  But, we’ve been here before – right?

Nope! We’ve NEVER been here before.

Why do I say that? Because, right now we have a person with a record of multiple bankruptcies…a person with a decades long, self proclaimed, record of sexual improprieties about which he has openly bragged about in multiple public platforms… a candidate who has been divorced twice before only to marry yet another supermodel half his age… a candidate who has openly vilified his own conservative, political party… a man who has openly insulted and degraded women, whole segments of our population, people of different ethnicities… even the Pope (for God’s sake, pun intended)… a candidate who has cosied up with white supremacists organizations, internationally infamous dictators – even those who are currently engaged in manipulating our elections… a person who has threatened to drop our agreements with allies, most of whom who have stood with us for  over a century…a person who has spoken casually about nuclear proliferation in Japan, India, Saudi Arabia and other places in the world… someone who brags about his plan to separate families with children who are legally born as American citizens and deport their parents out of America, by the millions, and a person who wants to close our borders to refuse to allow victims who have fled untold atrocities, lost everything but, literally, the clothes on their backs and who are now living in overcrowded refugee camps… to say to those people, “No, you cannot come to America… to the most prosperous nation on earth… because we are afraid of you!”

Now, please let me ask the question that begs for an answer… Who is supporting this person? In point of fact, who are his “core” supporters… to the tune of about 85%, in recent polls???

The church!

No wait… Steven, you can’t be correct!  What part of the church?  Answer: according to the polls, it’s the evangelicals and ProLife Catholics.

How can this be? Let’s just cut to the chase – it is primarily because that candidate has changed the position he has held for years and now says he is against – specifically that he will appoint Supreme Court Justices who will overturn the 1973, Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.

Why does that bother me? Well, first of all, I cannot understand why anyone would ever believe that this man has any intention of doing what he has promised concerning Roe v. Wade. In point of fact, NONE of the Republican Presidents since 1973 have actually tackled bringing down that Supreme Court decision – although they have all promised you that they would. I keep wondering when it will dawn upon their conservative supporters that NONE of them actually WILL tackle changing this decision… because that is the single issue which they know they can rely upon to rally their troops.  By always having this issue to fall back upon, it assures them that they will always be able to count upon at least the conservative evangelicals and ProLife Catholic support, and without that dispute, they would have to gather support on other merits.

If you doubt that assessment, picture, then just consider what would be the chances of ANY other candidate with the list of “flaws” I cataloged above… No wait… for proper emphasis… we have to state them again with this single change being added… (forgive me)

“Suppose we had a person running for President…with a person with a record of multiple bankruptcies…a person with a decades long, self proclaimed, record of sexual improprieties about which he has openly bragged about in multiple public platforms… a candidate who has been divorced twice before only to marry, yet another supermodel half his age… a candidate who has openly vilified his own conservative, political party… a man who has openly insulted and degraded women, whole segments of our population, people of different ethnicities… even the Pope… a candidate who has cosied up with white supremacists organizations, internationally infamous dictators – even those who are currently engaged in manipulating our elections… a person who has threatened to drop our agreements with allies, most of whom who have stood with us for  over a century…a person who has spoken casually about nuclear proliferation in Japan, India, Saudi Arabia and other places in the world… someone who brags about his plan to separate families with children who are legally born as American citizens and deport their parents out of America, by the millions, and a person who wants to close our borders to refuse to allow victims who have fled untold atrocities, lost everything but, literally, the clothes on their backs and who are now living in overcrowded refugee camps… to say to those people, “No, you cannot come to America… to the most prosperous nation on earth… because we are afraid of you!”

To say that more succinctly, If you take all of Donald Trump’s flaws as a candidate and add the single statement, “I am also wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade,” and he comes away with their support. If you take all of Donald Trump’s flaws as a candidate (or any other candidate with half that much baggage) and add the statement, “I will NOT seek to overturn Roe v. Wade”…  virtually NONE of these people would consider giving their support to them.

That is why this issue has become the “watershed” mark, and to some, the gold standard by which to evaluate a potential candidate.

THIS ELECTION is the now the quintessential representation of that truth. It has proven that these supporters will even rally around someone who is the most despicable, least qualified, and least liked candidate in history – so long as he endorses their side of this single issue.

So, let’s be clear… even if Mr. Trump is somehow elected, He won’t make a concerted effort to change Roe v. Wade either – 1). because he doesn’t really hold that conviction himself and 2.) because he will need to have that dispute raging next time around. In actual fact, he has already begin the subtle transition to his real position.

In the final debate, Trump said that what he now wants to see is for justices to be nominated to the Supreme Court who will overturn Roe v. Wade, so it will be then be decided “by the states.” Why would he say that? Because he knows that such a position will be lapped up by  ProLife organizations who see it as a breakthrough in this abortion stalemate. They believe it will be far easier to influence state legislatures compared to federal legislators.  Yet, at the same time it will also virtually assure that America will be even more divided on this issue – possibly for the next century.

Take a look at what that position guarantees. States will be pitted against one another – some will opt in and other will opt out of allowing abortions within their borders. It will assure that fierce battles will develop between neighboring states because pregnant women who are seeking an abortion will simply cross over one state border to another to have an abortion. Undoubtedly, the anti-abortion states will then try to pass laws that make it illegal if their citizens go outside their state to have an abortion. ProChoice states will follow suit by passing, what amounts to “refugee” status to those people who come to their state seeking asylum and a place to exercise their ProChoice beliefs..

What will follow? Will the Anti abortion states issue warrants trying to extradite their former citizens back to their “home” state to face prosecution? When ProChoice states fight back and refuse to honor those warrants, will arrest warrants then be sitting upon the books should those citizens be caught traveling in or even through their home state? Will ProLife states then continually seek to pass legislation against ProChoice states – threatening to cut off an federal funds from going to states who refuse to honor their extradition warrants?

You may think this will never go that far, but I assure you it will, at least in some measure. Because, if it doesn’t happen in the case of adults, it will in the case of minors! If the states decide this issue, it will become a patchwork of differing laws, especially weighted in the case of minors – weighted between the states that want to limit minor’s rights in these issues and states who want to uphold them. The only clear winner in this scenario will be lawyers – NOT unborn babies.

Inevitably… INEVITABLY(!)… this will wind up back on the Supreme Court’s docket, and then we can start the whole process that we have seen the past, almost 50 years. Except, this time it will be Anti-Choice States pitted against Pro Choice States… And, how will this then be a land of United States???? But, one thing we can be assured of… Republicans and Democrats will still have their respective core of supporters – fired up even more on this single issue… and we will certainly see decades more of deadlock which will mean every attempt to find any reasonable consensus on the mundane matters of government… like passing a budget(!!!) will face endless “showdowns” and “shutdowns”!  And, then, then, then… how will we remain a Great Nation???

Coming Soon – The “A” Word   Part 2