Pro What?
Twice in my lifetime the Democratic Party, or it's leaders, have done something that helped the Republicans to gain power. I am not talking about gaining power for one election, for there are many factors that affect a single race. What I am meaning is an act that allowed a long term shift in alliances.
The first one was done for all the right reasons. It was a moral victory for our country, even as it alienated many of our former supporters. This act was passing the Civil Rights legislation under Lyndon Johnson. Until that time the south had been solidly Democratic.
I grew up during the time of segregation and did not really see the problem with it. Now I also grew up in a very rural area of the north Georgia mountains. I still live in the same general area, though it is much less rural and certainly not as isolated as it was in those years. At that time there was one African American family that lived in our area, so any race relations on an elevated scale was non existent. The times I would hear of it or see it was on our TV or when we traveled to Atlanta or another city. Still I was very young and understanding things mainly as my parents and other family members did.
Looking back however, it is easy to see that this was the right thing to do. It was the morally right thing to do and it was the Christian thing to do. There had been a long era of oppression and this was a necessary step to correcting that. There have been zealots on both sides that have abused the steps we have made, but on the most part we have moved forward. There remains some simmering distrust among many citizens, though it is not so pronounced as it once was.
The Republicans took advantage of this split in our country during the 1960's and the first show of this was in 1968 with the election of Richard Nixon. The rallies for him had the very people that had always been at the Democratic Rallies heretofore. This does not mean that the Republicans were any less charitable than the Democrats, but they saw their opening and took advantage. It was their chance to let the Democrats take full credit for what needed to be done, while they could pick up the opposing voters.
The second time we capitulated voters was in the 1980's when we effectively signed on to slogans created by the Republicans. Our leaders in their attempt to appear more intellectual took a side that most of their party did not even take. And many have continued that until today - Bill Clinton being the best example of one who did not sign on completely.
This divide came from the use of only four (4) words - Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. While this is a false choice, our Democratic leaders chose their side and we have lost many things because of it. The truth is that everyone is Pro-Life. Ask if anyone is Pro-Death and you will get a confused stare. The difference is where we make our stand in supporting the privacy of our citizens and the laws of our country.
Pro-Life does not mean anti-abortion and Pro-Choice does not mean pro-abortion. Now it does to many very sincere people and I respect that position. However, if you check the overall population you will find that this simply is not true. The majority of Americans say that abortion should be legal, but restricted. This answer is true from either Democrats or Republicans - with only about 3 percentage points separating them.
When someone asks me if I am Pro-Life or Pro-Choice, my answer is "Yes". I do not believe in abortion myself and would not want either my wife, my daughter, other family, or friends to have one. When we found ourselves pregnant as we approached the age of 40, our doctor offered to perform a test to see if our new baby might have Downs Syndrome. We declined the test as it would make no difference in what our decision would be. We would let God take care of that end and we would take care of the baby as best we could. Thankfully, everything was fine.
I do not believe that everyone has to believe the way I do though. I believe the only way we can ever stop all abortions is to convert the person from the inside out. If we make abortions illegal, then we will go back to what was happening before Roe v Wade. The wealthier ladies will have illegal abortions in the back offices of sympathetic doctors and the poorer ladies will be scarred for life or dying in back alleys having had an abortion performed by someone completely unqualified.
It has always struck me as odd that people that claim their moral outrage and pro-life status gives them the right to kill those working at clinics. There is some part of Pro-Life that they have not completely addressed.
Bill Clinton ran as Pro-Choice, but not in those terms. He always maintained they should be safe, legal, and rare. At a rally where the people cheered when he mentioned supporting legal abortions, he admonished them that this was not something to cheer about. While most will not give him credit for it, abortions declined by over 300,000 per year from the time he took office until he left. There were many reasons for this, including a good economy and education.
President Bush's wife and mother are on record saying they did not believe that Roe v Wade should be overturned. Yet he ran two terms saying the opposite. I noticed that it has not been overturned yet and that he did not sponsor any serious legislation to do so. Even though he had a Republican congress for 6 of his years in office that passed almost every single piece of legislation he asked for.
There are a large number of Independents, Republicans, and even Democrats that believe completely that abortions should be outlawed. Many have voted for Republicans on this one issue, even as they disagreed on almost every other issue. They are sincere and their opinions need to be listened to. However, at this time they are still the minority in the country.
The Republicans have played this card well for over 20 years now. But they have not changed the policy. It seems for those in high office this issue is better as something to run on than it is as something to be fixed. So what are they really Pro for. Maybe getting elected and reelected.
The first one was done for all the right reasons. It was a moral victory for our country, even as it alienated many of our former supporters. This act was passing the Civil Rights legislation under Lyndon Johnson. Until that time the south had been solidly Democratic.
I grew up during the time of segregation and did not really see the problem with it. Now I also grew up in a very rural area of the north Georgia mountains. I still live in the same general area, though it is much less rural and certainly not as isolated as it was in those years. At that time there was one African American family that lived in our area, so any race relations on an elevated scale was non existent. The times I would hear of it or see it was on our TV or when we traveled to Atlanta or another city. Still I was very young and understanding things mainly as my parents and other family members did.
Looking back however, it is easy to see that this was the right thing to do. It was the morally right thing to do and it was the Christian thing to do. There had been a long era of oppression and this was a necessary step to correcting that. There have been zealots on both sides that have abused the steps we have made, but on the most part we have moved forward. There remains some simmering distrust among many citizens, though it is not so pronounced as it once was.
The Republicans took advantage of this split in our country during the 1960's and the first show of this was in 1968 with the election of Richard Nixon. The rallies for him had the very people that had always been at the Democratic Rallies heretofore. This does not mean that the Republicans were any less charitable than the Democrats, but they saw their opening and took advantage. It was their chance to let the Democrats take full credit for what needed to be done, while they could pick up the opposing voters.
The second time we capitulated voters was in the 1980's when we effectively signed on to slogans created by the Republicans. Our leaders in their attempt to appear more intellectual took a side that most of their party did not even take. And many have continued that until today - Bill Clinton being the best example of one who did not sign on completely.
This divide came from the use of only four (4) words - Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. While this is a false choice, our Democratic leaders chose their side and we have lost many things because of it. The truth is that everyone is Pro-Life. Ask if anyone is Pro-Death and you will get a confused stare. The difference is where we make our stand in supporting the privacy of our citizens and the laws of our country.
Pro-Life does not mean anti-abortion and Pro-Choice does not mean pro-abortion. Now it does to many very sincere people and I respect that position. However, if you check the overall population you will find that this simply is not true. The majority of Americans say that abortion should be legal, but restricted. This answer is true from either Democrats or Republicans - with only about 3 percentage points separating them.
When someone asks me if I am Pro-Life or Pro-Choice, my answer is "Yes". I do not believe in abortion myself and would not want either my wife, my daughter, other family, or friends to have one. When we found ourselves pregnant as we approached the age of 40, our doctor offered to perform a test to see if our new baby might have Downs Syndrome. We declined the test as it would make no difference in what our decision would be. We would let God take care of that end and we would take care of the baby as best we could. Thankfully, everything was fine.
I do not believe that everyone has to believe the way I do though. I believe the only way we can ever stop all abortions is to convert the person from the inside out. If we make abortions illegal, then we will go back to what was happening before Roe v Wade. The wealthier ladies will have illegal abortions in the back offices of sympathetic doctors and the poorer ladies will be scarred for life or dying in back alleys having had an abortion performed by someone completely unqualified.
It has always struck me as odd that people that claim their moral outrage and pro-life status gives them the right to kill those working at clinics. There is some part of Pro-Life that they have not completely addressed.
Bill Clinton ran as Pro-Choice, but not in those terms. He always maintained they should be safe, legal, and rare. At a rally where the people cheered when he mentioned supporting legal abortions, he admonished them that this was not something to cheer about. While most will not give him credit for it, abortions declined by over 300,000 per year from the time he took office until he left. There were many reasons for this, including a good economy and education.
President Bush's wife and mother are on record saying they did not believe that Roe v Wade should be overturned. Yet he ran two terms saying the opposite. I noticed that it has not been overturned yet and that he did not sponsor any serious legislation to do so. Even though he had a Republican congress for 6 of his years in office that passed almost every single piece of legislation he asked for.
There are a large number of Independents, Republicans, and even Democrats that believe completely that abortions should be outlawed. Many have voted for Republicans on this one issue, even as they disagreed on almost every other issue. They are sincere and their opinions need to be listened to. However, at this time they are still the minority in the country.
The Republicans have played this card well for over 20 years now. But they have not changed the policy. It seems for those in high office this issue is better as something to run on than it is as something to be fixed. So what are they really Pro for. Maybe getting elected and reelected.
posted by NHThomas | 11:26 AM
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