The Supreme Court

 

By now, it should be abundantly clear, the Republicans are going to use the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to ram through a conservative justice onto the Supreme Court. Never mind what Lindsey Graham said last year - if he were concerned about integrity he never would have kissed up to Donald Trump in the first place. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins aren't enough. With Mitt Romney announcing that he will allow a hearing for Trump's SCOTUS pick, the stage seems set for RBG to be replaced with a conservative woman, because Trump has already announced that it will be a female justice. Amy Coney Barrett is the early favorite.

The irony that a conservative woman is only considerable as a candidate because of RBG's tireless, liberal championing of women's rights, will be entirely lost on the Republicans pushing for this.

What could I add that hasn't been said a thousand-fold already? Simply this:

There's not much that can be done to stop it. Republicans hold the votes in the Senate to get it done. So fight it tooth and toenail, and then plan to ride the backlash!

"But that means a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court!" you argue. "Gay marriage, religious freedom for non-Christians, and of course, Roe v. Wade will all be overturned!"

Yes, but I don't think for long. IF we play our cards right.

Look what happened in Ireland in 2018. After years of Catholic-influenced anti-abortion laws, Ireland changed and legalized abortion. There was cheering in the streets! And the Catholic Church, for all its influence, found itself on the outside looking in.

The best argument for abortion's legalization was a period when it was illegal! People learned the hard way! (As they so often must.)

I liken this to a "prohibition moment," similar to when alcohol prohibition was in full force here in the U.S. (And this, too, was the result of a militantly conservative movement!) During that period, there was not only organized crime, fueled by the underground trade in booze, but also flippant violation of the law. People needed the outlet, and a little over a decade later, prohibition was overturned.

There will be a similar backlash once abortion is outlawed. If you think it's over once the Supreme Court has ruled, you're wrong! The fight will only have just begun!

Oh, it will be horrible, to be sure. There will be great suffering. Two generations of young women have never had to cope with the twin nightmares of coat-hanger abortions or back-alley abortions. Some young women will die. Some will flee abroad for the services they cannot get here. But after all the suffering that will ensue, after the hard lessons have been learned, the ban on abortion will be ended. And a new ban will no more be considered than a new ban on alcohol.

And what will conservative Christians fight for after that? Where can they go slay more dragons? Well, who knows? It could be that Christians will return to the old standbys of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick - you know, those values Jesus advocated. Remember those?

About two and a half years ago, I incurred the wrath of my wife for nearly publishing a post on this blog which argued that we on the Left should do a strategic retreat on the subject of abortion. The rationale was based on the recognition that all of the fervor of conservative media, all of the vitriol and hate-porn, is driven by the abortion debate. Remove that item from the equation, and much of the fervor behind conservative media dies.

It would be a little bit like the dog who finally catches up to the sports car, and has no idea what to do with it afterwards.

My wife's counterargument was a valid one. She told me that it would be too large a sacrifice to make if that assessment were wrong. The sacrifice might become permanent.

Well, now we don't have a choice, do we?

When Roe v. Wade falls, we must be ready to make that prohibition moment happen. When the wind goes out of the sails of the conservative media machine, we must tear at it with everything we've got!

Oh, and you guys at NARAL and NOW, who ignored me when I argued that emphasizing fetal brain development was the proper way to fight? Well, YOU'RE IN THIS POSITION NOW BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME! FUCK YOU! GET OFF YOUR ASSES, AND START ARGUING THAT FETAL BRAIN DEVELOPMENT MARKS THE ONSET OF A NEW BEING!!! NOW!!! RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!! YOU BLIND BATS!

(Okay, sorry. I really needed to vent that.)

I suppose I should also argue that a Supreme Court Pick win for the Republicans will make the prospect of Civil War within the U.S. much less likely. Do I think it's likely that the Alt-Right will take to the streets if Trump loses? I do! Or at least, it's not so far-fetched as you might think! If Trump loses (and I think he will), the loss will be mitigated by the SCOTUS win. The Trumpers will stay home with their AR-15's. A few of the ones who only supported Trump because of the possibility may even stay home on election day because, well, mission accomplished, right? With the Supreme Court won, Trump can finally go to hell.

And if a SCOTUS vote came just one shy, after coming so close to winning the Supreme Court for the foreseeable future, Right-wing radicals might well take to the streets. Hell, they've already had armed thugs roaming the cities already!

There's still cause for hope. If Trump puts forth a conservative justice, and the vote fails, and then he loses the election, that would be the worst possible outcome for him. After all, Trump and his cronies in the Senate would undoubtedly try to ram through a justice again in a lame-duck session just before Biden takes office in January. And that would be an unprecedented theft of a Supreme Court seat! The consequences for that would be huge.

And if Biden and the Democrats in the House decide to add 2 or 4 more seats to the court? Well, that means the next cycle of Republican dominance in the House could add more conservatives to the court later, and the Supreme Court gets so watered down that it's useless. I don't think Democrats should consider that. But they should threaten it! Especially now! Make Republicans think twice about thinking that this scorched-earth nonsense might actually win!

In short, get ready for the plunge! The Trump Era has been dark. But the fallout from the Trump Era will be even worse! Get ready for it, and be ready to fight like you've never fought before!

And let's win just one more for the Ginsburg!

Eric

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