Cooking with Dee

and … Messaging? They just don’t get it. The Republican Party lost big-time in Tuesday’s off-year elections. Their response? We have to change “messaging” on abortion. That’s not it, babe. You’ve got it all wrong.

The so-called party of freedom is no more. In 1973, I “became a woman” physically (not emotionally) able to bear children. That’s the year Roe was decided by SCOTUS. In 1974, Congress passed a law stating that a woman no longer needed her husband’s signature of approval to open a bank account. Think about that.

As a teenager learning about politics I found it strange that the Republicans wanted lower taxes with balanced budgets (stick it to the disenfranchised), less government (but when in power wanted more money and more government) and yet always had a strange, prurient interest in legislating what was going on in people’s bedrooms. I thought that odd then, and now.

It’s 2023 and we still have a “pro-life” movement that is nothing of the sort. It’s always been for guns and the death penalty, which are certainly not pro-life. Since Roe was struck down by SCOTUS last year, they’ve shown nothing but disdain for mothers, infants and children. They’re for fetuses, hurrah! But heaven forbid that a baby comes into this world. They’re against any help for poor women, don’t care if the kids have food, a home or a chance at a good education, and voted against the Child Tax Credit. So there is no pro-life in the anti-abortion movement.

Regarding education, I always thought our lofty goal of public education was to provide a child the basics and the wherewithal to reason for themselves. Banning books doesn’t accomplish this goal. We brought Black people here and kept them against their will. Their existence in the USA and the fact that we made them slaves and then 3/5ths of a person is something that we must deal with. Civil and human rights laws must be on the books and enforced, especially voting rights because that’s the best way to achieve lasting, positive change.

With LGBTQ I’ve news for you. Gay people have existed since time immemorial. Shocking, I know. Don’t like gay people? Fine. Don’t want to be around them? You can choose not to be. But it’s really none of your business what they do behind closed doors. I know many gays and lesbians and my life would be much less fulfilling if I hadn’t gotten to know and appreciate them for everything they are.

When Roe was decided, right-to-lifers were giddy with success. They caught the car, now they’re going to … do what with it? Immediately they over-reached. Let’s put bounties on pregnant women and tell on them for seeking an abortion! Let’s violate interstate commerce laws and nab them crossing state lines! Let’s make pregnant women come this close to death with a dead fetus inside and threaten their doctors with jail for helping them! Yeah, all great ideas. Very Christian.

Now the people, women and men, are deciding that they want the freedom to control their own bodies and lives. Becoming pregnant is the most personal thing in one’s life. There’s a reason “womenfolk” have been left with pregnancy decisions for millennia. Nature doesn’t allow a pregnancy in certain conditions, such as famine. Certain fetuses are abnormal and cannot, for whatever reason, survive within or outside of the womb. That decision is up to a woman perhaps in consultation with her family, religious advisor, and doctor.

It wasn’t enough for the right-to-lifers to get abortion relegated to the states. They want a national ban and have tried to hoodwink voters in states where voters want a referendum to authorize abortion by law and/or constitutional amendment. Over-reach again. Let’s not let them have a referendum! Let’s have an election to change the rules for referenda so they need 60% to pass an abortion law! Let’s re-name the referendum to confuse voters! Let’s purge the voter rolls right before the election in the parts of the state most likely to vote for the referendum! Great ideas, all. We won’t win any “good citizenship” awards but we’ll get what we want, by hook or by crook. We’ll force our views down their throats.

But they forget one thing. We’re not stupid. We voters don’t trust you anymore. You’re trying to get us to vote to take away, once again, a freedom we had for fifty years before SCOTUS removed it under a dubious ruling. And you’re saying you’ll give us six or fifteen weeks to make a decision, or no time at all because conception is life. And then you’ll go after our right to use contraception, or IVF. Adoption is great, just not to gay people. Heaven forbid an unwanted child find a loving gay family.

SCOTUS wants to revisit contraception, and in its current 6-3 iteration, can’t abide by gay marriage either. And when it comes to educating our children there’s now the specter of a new Trump U II, a free university paid for by funds stolen from America’s most prestigious private educational institutions. It would provide a conservative education (no doubt by the same bozos writing fake history for public schools in the South) to funnel grads into the federal govermnent so we’ll have MAGA automatons as the new “deep state.” Capital idea, Mr. Trump, as your first Trump U was such a success (a scam).

Changing the title of a bill or referendum to include the word “fetus” to “unborn child” will not trick voters into supporting a bill that takes away our rights. “Messaging” about the loss of rights does not change the fact that 85% of Americans want abortion to be legal and Americans are going to vote for representatives cognizant of their views.

You can’t whitewash history or hoodwink the voters into thinking your way when you’re so out of the mainstream on abortion, LGBTQ, guns and education that lying to voters and suppressing the vote is your only option. It’s pathetic, and we, the voters, will show you en masse that having a MAGA culture forced on all Americans is simply not the way we do business here in the US of A. The majority of American voters are not angry victims, and hate is not our stock in trade. If the courts and the legislatures stand in the way of 80-90% of the voters, we have no option but to vote our way out of this mess.

But bring it on. The more you over-reach, the easier it’ll be to get our nation back to democracy and on an even keel once again. Remember, never miss an Election Day! Register a friend and VOTE! Dee