the post-Roe world

Last updated on: July 9, 2018 at 9:23 am by Aziz Poonawalla

the post-Roe world 2018-07-09T09:23:54-06:00 Aziz Poonawalla

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Abortion laws in the US prior to Roe: Red: Illegal. Purple: Legal in case of rape. Blue: Legal in case of danger to woman's health. Yellow: Legal in case of danger to woman's health, rape or incest, or likely damaged fetus. Green: Legal on request.

Abortion laws in the US prior to Roe: Red: Illegal. Purple: Legal in case of rape. Blue: Legal in case of danger to woman’s health. Yellow: Legal in case of danger to woman’s health, rape or incest, or likely damaged fetus. Green: Legal on request.

Elections have consequences.

Case in point: today, Donald Trump is likely to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court who is very likely to cast the deciding vote which overturns Roe vs Wade.

This article from The Atlantic is a good example of the “conservatives are hypocrites” genre which as usual fails to understand that its all about abortion:

It is perhaps an open question whether Trump’s candidacy represents a true change in evangelicals’ DNA or whether it simply revealed previously hidden traits, but the shift from values to nostalgia voter has undoubtedly transformed their political ethics. The clearest example of evangelical ethics bending to fit the Trump presidency is white evangelicals’ abandonment of their conviction that personal character matters for elected officials. In 2011 and again just ahead of the 2016 election, PRRI asked Americans whether a political leader who committed an immoral act in his or her private life could nonetheless behave ethically and fulfill their duties in their public life. In 2011, consistent with the “values voter” brand and the traditional evangelical emphasis on the importance of personal character, only 30 percent of white evangelical Protestants agreed with this statement. But with Trump at the top of the Republican ticket in 2016, 72 percent of white evangelicals said they believed a candidate could build a kind of moral dike between his private and public life. In a head-spinning reversal, white evangelicals went from being the least likely to the most likely group to agree that a candidate’s personal immorality has no bearing on his performance in public office.

INCORRECT. It’s not head-spinning or an open question or any shift in personal ethics. It is simply dogma: abortion is the target, the ends justify the means. Trump will deliver what Bush and Reagan could not. This is why he has the conservative Christian vote. The Conservative Christian vote has overlap with, but is NOT, the white-nationalist vote. There is correlation there but the article is all about Christian values, so in that context: abortion is the only issue. Roe is the goal.

What next? Suppose that Roe is overturned (and in my opinion, this is incredibly likely within two years, depending on how long confirmation takes and for cases at the state level to wind their way through the system to end up at SCOTUS). What happens next?

I think the obvious outcome is a partition and migration of middle class voters (because the poor cant afford to be mobile, and the rich don’t need to be). Populations will resettle in their preferred red or blue values-zones, and thats a feature, not a bug, since within the United States we have open borders between states.

The questions are, what happens next? as the blue states become more blue and the red states become more red, the partition will result in very large discrepancies in policy across state lines. Thats the point of federalism, after all – but nothing scales infinitely well.

Interesting times ahead. I dont buy the civil war 2.0 rhetoric, or texit/calexit nonsense. But I do think that the conservative values coalition will lose its animating drive after Roe goes down, whereas the Lefts animating drive (inequality) is only just getting started.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 2, 2018

the pursuit of happiness

Next Post

July 10, 2018 minority rule

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Aziz For America Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 April 2018 November 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 July 2016 June 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 September 2013 July 2013 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God change Abram’s name to?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Moses Isaac Jacob Abraham