The 2018 Debate

I have recently spent time considering what this 2018 political season will be focusing on. Disappointingly, the target is likely to be the usual…manipulating emotions. Trying to appeal to reason is a righteous pursuit, but like choosing good eats, taste usually wins out over nutrition. It’s all about motivating those only marginally paying attention.

Those of us who are continually dumbfounded by the three ring circus performed by the Trump Administration are nearly in a panic over our desire to bring some normalcy back to American governance. Motivation to neutralize Trump is a given and flipping Congress is the answer.

Starting with the Woman’s March in January 2017 to the teen’s marching for gun control this spring (and all the exhaustion in between), the Democratic candidates need only get out in front of the bandwagon. I’ll be joining with time and money.

Now what about the Republicans? 

The Obama hating, Fox only, Trump loyalists are solid, but they really only represent a minority of the electorate in most districts, including those districts which are generally deemed Conservative.  What are Republicans going to use to detract and deflect attention away from The Donald? What are their big tickets for firing the emotions of the Center Right?  I’ll tell you one.

Like the rise of dormant Cicadas, the debate over abortion will once again take center stage.

You might recall that during the 2016 national election the issue of abortion was barely touched. Trump and those running on his lead didn’t need it, or perhaps even want it given Trump’s history on the subject. They instead conjured the specter of rabid immigrants, “crooked lock-her-up Hillary”, and fake non-Fox news to marshal the troops. They had a tsunami of bogus social media hits to fire up the faithful (with a little help from das Comrades).  It obviously worked.

Not so easy this go-around.

The reason Republicans will fall back on their Old Faithful is that there is little else. Even Fiscal Conservatism has tanked under the massive deficits the Republicans have passed. Also, it is because Conservatives have successfully molded the abortion debate into a slam dunk. To date they have won the war of verbal identification and you can expect they’ll be going back to that bank for further withdrawals.

Democrats had better pay attention because this issue electrifies too many people who vote on this one purely emotional issue without regard to health, safety, Economy, and every other issue critical to functioning government.

Even in the general discussion the camps on both sides routinely refer to it as “anti-abortion” and “pro-abortion”.  In that debate the Democrat has lost even before reaching the podium. The fact is that everyone is “anti-abortion”.  No woman gets pregnant because she wants to have an abortion. 

The Right to Life people don’t want that fact brought into the debate.  The reality of a common purpose, essentially the overall reduction of abortions, is antithetical to what Right to Life supporters are actually (often unwittingly) pursuing: the righteous satisfaction of emotional confrontation. 

Republicans politicians know this and have been cashing in on it for decades. Democrats better begin understanding that it works.

Democratic candidates around the Nation need to stop ignoring this issue. They should embrace the issue pointing out that the conflict and lack of dialogue itself is the most “pro-abortion” aspect of it. Right to Life supporters are more than equally responsible for unnecessary pregnancy terminations.

Democratic candidates need to respect the tragedy of abortion and recognize that those choosing to oppose abortion personally have a legitimate emotional reaction to it. They also need to support common sense restrictions on abortion such as limiting non-health related abortions to the period of non-viability (currently the first two trimesters or 6 months).

Perhaps then Conservatives (especially Christian Conservatives) might begin to accept that legally penalizing abortions has never worked from the time humans first figured out abortions were possible. Rather they only restricted abortions for poor women, who either accepted their fate or went to back alleys to terminate the pregnancy and possible themselves.

They also might drop their inane arguments against contraception or their hypocritical judgments opposing sex generally. Both deserve a big Charlie Brown GOOD GRIEF!

If Right to Life Conservatives want to make a difference and reduce the number of abortions then they should start working with those who want to provide education, health care, and contraception to young and poor women. Progressive Democrats better get ready to provide that olive branch or be the victims of mindless manipulated emotion.