(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Is the end of Roe the price of indifference? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-05-31 “The price good men pay for indifference is to be ruled by evil men.” Plato “If there is hope (wrote Winston) it lies in the proles.” George Orwell, “1984” The rightwing Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to outlaw abortion is without doubt a severe blow to anyone who supports government of, by, and for the people. In effect, the ruling suddenly denies half the nation’s people the right to control their most intimate and personal body parts—an enormous increase of governmental interference in individuals’ lives, which usually goes against basic conservative philosophy. Anticipating the decision, several states had trigger laws ready to be enacted, meant to ensure that nearly every conception would lead to birth, regardless of circumstances. The frenzy of new anti-abortion laws comes despite the fact that most Americans, in virtually every part of the country, feel that abortion should be a guaranteed individual right—none of the government’s business. The far-right overreach does not stop with individual states. Some Senators and Congressmen have been agitating to outlaw abortion nationwide. What happened to democracy? The current attack on democracy, from politicians who are loyally supported by millions of voters, took on renewed force with Donald Trump’s election in 2016. That election allowed Trump to appoint three Supreme Court justices during his term, making a supermajority on the Court, who can be counted on to take away abortion rights; to support reinstating the ability of states to hobble voting rights of minorities; to reverse laws banning discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion—and of course, to expand corporate dominance of society, also known as fascism. In other words, six of nine justices, appointed by Republican presidents paying lip service to individual freedom, favor government control over every human activity, while allowing corporations the “freedom” to control government. Two-thirds of the current Supreme Court justices loyally serve the reestablishment and strengthening of a plutocracy of (mostly) White men, which is supported and enforced by evangelicals and White supremacists. Years ago, the country’s plutocrats made a devil’s bargain with rightwing Christians and White supremacists, who are often both. Socially and economically, the rich leaders of the rightwing coalition have little in common with the evangelicals and racists who support them. Since there are few voters who favor outright pro-business, anti-labor, anti-environmental governance, the elites must find voters from the common people who will help them gain and retain power for other reasons…hence, the weird yet successful alliance between God and Mammon. Most plutocrats have no moral objection to abortion. They can afford to get around any laws their paid-for public servants might enact. With the exception of longterm projections that an increase of desperate working people with large families can be made to work harder, and for lower pay, while causing the bosses less trouble—the abortion issue is a matter of complete unconcern to the rich. But it is an issue that will reliably coax many working class citizens to vote against their immediate economic interests, further empowering the wealthy. Ronald Reagan harnessed the trend, when he told rightwing Christian fundamentalists that although he knew they were not allowed to endorse him, he could certainly endorse them. Of course Reagan knew evangelicals could endorse him, and they did, choosing him in huge numbers over Jimmy Carter, who was actually one of them. But Carter was a little too heavy on the kind and helping parts of Christianity, and too light on the punishment. Not only that, but Carter, though a Southerner, opposed segregation. The alliance between wealth, racism, and fundamentalism was sealed in the 1980 election, and has held steady ever since. Today’s Supreme Court, which now has twice as many hardcore rightwing judges as it does liberals or moderates, is a direct result of this strange but enduring coalition. Even with help from millions of working class voters who choose expanding corporatism (as long as it promises that other people will suffer more than they will) the numbers of Americans who are for legal abortion, against racial discrimination, and against corporate rule are still large enough prevent the implementation of these anti-democratic policies, except for one thing: many of them do not vote. Do non-voting citizens sincerely believe that by feigning indifference to election outcomes, they will avoid their effects? Most non-voters trend to be young, women, minorities, poor, or all of the above—who are most readily harmed by court decisions affecting abortion, race, or corporate privilege. Admittedly, getting involved in society’s operation is a complicated, boring, often frustrating activity. The temptation can be strong to turn away and hope for the best. Unfortunately, hoping for the best is not the most effective way to attain it. The steady erosion of workers’ rights, civil rights, and environmental protection over the past fifty years testifies to the futility of hoping for the best. The end of legal abortion highlights that strategy’s failure. We live today in a harassed democracy, threatened by several factors, the most consistent, obvious, and destructive of which is the refusal of millions of eligible voters to vote. In a debate with Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump warned his supporters, “Elections have consequences”—probably the only statement he ever made that I agree with. Hardcore right wingers agreed, and they voted. A lot of likely democrats sat the election out, leading to a six-to-three Supreme Court majority in favor of corporate superiority—and outlawing abortion. How many poor women gave up their most personal rights by simply hoping for the best? The excuses for indifference are well-known. Hillary Clinton was dull…too much of a policy wonk…unable to relate warmly with average folks. She did not visit some people’s home towns. She made too many deals with rich donors, instead of going all-out for social democracy. She and her husband had some political scandals way back when. She forgave her husband for having an affair. She was going to win anyway. Why waste time? Excusable or not, we must endure the results of that indifference, results having adverse effects on self-government, whether we are indifferent or not. Not only racists and rightwing Christians get to gloat, but more than any, the ruling wealthy elites do. However, in future developments, our upper classes could have more to fear from their evangelical, racist allies, who in triumph seem to be slipping out of their control, than they do from progressives. The racist, fundamentalist reactionaries are beginning to sense their power. And they vote. Lest we forget, in 2020 Donald Trump got over eleven million more votes than he did in 2016. He lost his reelection bid because Joe Biden got over fifteen million more votes than Hillary Clinton four years earlier. With hard work and determination, progressives convinced millions to overcome their indifference. There is still a long way to go. Despite the overwhelming popular vote, Biden’s victory was quite slim, considering his narrow victories in swing states, which let him win in the Electoral College—which remains, in the twenty-first century, the only presidential election that counts. Rightwing reactionaries, as state actions after the abortion decision affirm, remain strong, reminding us that to win against fascism, we must keep fighting against indifference. Whether the elites remain in charge, they are bound to the rightwing base, and people in that base are ready to do whatever it takes to regain power. They will start by voting. Americans who—for whatever reasons—favor fascism over democracy, are not indifferent. 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