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Originally Posted by sspadowsky
Hey, guys, let's argue this one some more. I bet somebody wins it this time!  |
Yeah, my intent wasn't to really start a debate over abortion. I'm guessing everybody has an opinion on that, and it's probably a pretty firmly planted one.
I was trying to start more of a political conversation, but whatever.
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Originally Posted by Brandon
Democrats will never be fully able to abandon a predominantly pro-choice stance, so it's pretty reasonable to assume that hardcore pro-lifers won't vote for them anyway.
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Right, and I don't think anybody is proposing that the Democrats completely change direction on abortion. But you can make a good argument that you can't even be a pro-life liberal and get a seat at the "discussion" table these days. You can blame this on the interest groups, whatever, but it's a reality.
What makes a national, majority party has always been a subject of debate in this country. Is it standing behind a unified platform with solid principles, or is it merely telling people in specific regions what they want to hear in order to win elections....? The New Deal coalition combined racist Dixiecrats with anti-lynching Dems. in the Northeast, and progressive farmers in the midwest. These factions were divided on some very contentious issues, but they united behind the economic platform of the New Deal.
The social issues, whether it be xenophobia, prohibition, slavery, or now abortion and gays, have
always divided people and parties. The question is how you deal with it.
You could also argue that no interest group would actually want to get tossed in with just one party. Take a look at labor, and what good it has done them over the past 25 years. Not only should the Democrats not label themselves as the abortion party, but the pro-choice, abortion groups should work within the GOP, too.
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However, I think it would have been in the Democrats' best interest to have gotten firmly behind the partial birth abortion ban. Defending the legality of such a horrific procedure makes the party line on the abortion issue seem far too extreme for most people.
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I agree. Instead I see pro-choice advocates arguing over semantics, like how "partial birth" isn't a medical term, and that it's rather one created by the pro-life movement. Bleh.