Copyright by James Carlson
The polling data is in. Abortion is a major issue in the Presidential race at 14%. However, the long history of the Republican Party has put us on our heals instead of our toes in this race. The abortion issue can be an easy one but it has been confused by liberal conservatives in the GOP for decades. It is time to get up and move forward with solutions that appeal our conscience, a proper sense of justice and to voters.
Back in the day Ronald Reagan sought to encourage all conservatives from all political walks of life to elect Republican candidates (Reagan Coalition). This included the social moral Democrats who did not support elective abortions. As the Reagan Democrats (such as myself) were called, we supported Reagan because of his pro-life views on abortion. Being conservative Democrats, we could support a conservative pro-life Republican candidate. This represents the Swing Vote in any given election.
Sadly, the Reagan Democrats were dismissed by the liberal conservatives in the GOP in the 1990s because they (moderates and modern libertarians – social liberal/fiscal conservative) didn’t want to support social moral issues at all. In the 1990s, I witnessed first hand the corruption of Lee Atwater’s statement, “We are a Party big enough to include a few among us who can disagree with the rest of us.” The RNC, in their infinite insanity, said, ‘…so let’s include include many among us who will disagree with the rest of us…’. Representing social liberal and fiscal conservative views on abortion and other issues, these liberal conservatives went to war with real conservatives, socially and economically. So ended the Reagan Coalition and the Swing Vote that came with it.
Here then is the problem, liberal conservatives in the GOP (moderates and modern libertarians) are at war with the Swing Vote and demand electoral failure in every election. They cannot allow a conservative social viewpoints even if their efforts undermines fiscal conservative policies. Under Barack Obama, these liberal conservatives in Congress refused to end the federal funding of abortion because their social liberalism was more important to them than their fiscal conservatism. They cannot help but betray genuine conservatives people in pursuit of genuine conservative goals (scorpion on the turtle’s back).
As a conservative social and economic campaign idea, ending the federal funding of abortion is a winning campaign idea. Hitting a political issue in both its economic and social aspects, at the same time, causes the voter to pause and think about it instead of letting it pass. Winning campaign ideas hit people in their wallets and their conscience at the same time. Simply consider that economic issues are issues about how society spends money; simple enough - it is a social issue. Connecting social issues with economic issues makes good campaign sense and public policy.
The Tea Party, from whence Donald Trump emerged as a candidate for President, was absentee on the social moral issues but hot on the economic issues. Their advocacy captured a considerable portion of the Republican Party and Independents but they unwittingly dismissed Swing Voters as they didn’t want to tackle the tough issues that has led to the modern state of social and moral corruption we see today. As a result, Mr. Trump has decided that the difficult issue of abortion should reside with the States and not deal with it at the federal level or in his campaign. I can agree with Mr. Trump that the issue of Abortion should be dealt with at the State level if he only supported the end of federal funding for abortion. This is one step to keep it with the States.
So the States have an opportunity, with proper leadership, to put an end to ‘elective’ abortions with Constitutional Amendments in each State, stating as much. ‘End All Elective Abortions’ is a simple sentence that should encourage conservative Republicans and social/moral conservative Democrats to vote for a Constitutional Amendment in their State. This is more than a winning campaign idea, it is a means to an end of nearly 70 million abortions since in1973; that’s almost 20% of the population of America – a holocaust! And once a majority of our States pass Constitutional Amendments, a national Constitutional Amendment can follow, ending the abortion holocaust!!!
But it is highly unlikely that the GOP, mis-tempered by the liberal conservatives of our Party, will lead on the issue of abortion. More likely, like Trump himself, we are going to see our political leadership shrink from Abortion on the frontlines of this presidential campaign and leave the field to Democrats who persist in their lies and rhetoric about a woman’s right to choose. They don’t even have enough background to state the obvious; the Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that a woman does not have the right to choose abortion on demand. The Court in 1973 wanted the Texas exemption statute to be clear; the did not grant women an absolute right to choose abortion on demand.
Its up to us, the voter to demand the GOP gets past the liberal conservatives in our Party, to appeal to the Swing Voter (Reagan Democrats), to end federal funding of abortion, to fight elective abortions, and to start the process towards a Constitutional Amendment, first in states and then nationwide. Our leadership in the GOP is more concerned with optics than they are with substance. As voters requiring their attention on this issue, we can move forward and win the election this year.
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