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Oh, Those Irrational Liberals and Abortion

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by

mwkruse
in ,

Five years ago, Thomas Frank wrote a book called What's the Matter With Kansas. One of his theses is that working-class conservative Religious Right voters vote against their own economic interests. Because of their strong commitment to opposing abortion and gay marriage, they vote with Republicans and against their economic interests. If only they would put aside their emotional commitment to these issues and vote rationally, they would improve their lot in life and improve society.

So in the health care debate, we see a steady stream of stories like this from the Associated Press: La. senator's vote on abortion revives conflicts

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu's vote this week against abortion funding restrictions in health care legislation brought new attention to an issue that has long complicated her political life. …

… Her vote Tuesday against an amendment by Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., to the health care bill now before the Senate brought immediate condemnation from the state Republican party and anti-abortion organizations that said she broke her own policy against government funding for abortion. …

… Landrieu said she voted against the amendment because she believed it also would take legal abortion coverage out of private insurance policies. …

Now Landrieu is a moderate in a difficult spot, but here is the real question: If dropping the abortion issue would get the bill passed, why are the liberals making such a big fuss about keeping abortion coverage in the bill? Mr. Franks assures us that such issues are peripheral to our voting for things that are in our economic and society's interests. Aren't the liberals just being irrational? Or maybe those folks in Kansas weren't being so irrational after all? 🙂

Comments

5 responses to “Oh, Those Irrational Liberals and Abortion”

  1. Mo Rage Avatar
    Mo Rage

    A) I love the headline. I knew I had to read this, “Irrational Liberal” that I am;
    B) Thomas Frank was and is correct, these people do, in fact “vote with Republicans and against their economic interests”, inexplicably and finally
    C) The word is their to show possession.
    Mo Rage
    The blog

    Reply
  2. Mo Rage Avatar
    Mo Rage

    and in answer to your main question “why are the liberals making such a big fuss about keeping abortion coverage in the bill?”, the answer is first, because it’s the law of the land and second, because it’s the right thing to do.
    Abortion is ugly, sure, even we Liberals acknowledge that. There should be very few or none of them in a perfect world.
    But this isn’t a perfect world.
    So, occasionally, in the best situation, women want to have–indeed, need–to have an abortion.
    And keeping them legal–and few in number–is the best way to keep them out of “back alleys” and making them dangerous.
    Mo Rage

    Reply
  3. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    But do you see my point, Mo Rage. You have principled reasons for your position on abortion. You are not being irrational. I don’t know what your views are but apparently some senators who agree with you would rather see the health care bill die rather than pass without abortion coverage. This is no different than the conservatives who forgo their economic interests (assuming they do) for principled reasons.
    Either both conservatives and liberals are acting on principle and should be treated as such or they are both being irrational. That’s my point.
    Glad my headline nabbed you. 😉

    Reply
  4. John Avatar
    John

    Regardless of the abortion issue I quite like these related references which thoroughly deconstruct the lies (and cultural destructiveness) of what is now called “conservative” in the USA. All of which have some congruence with the work of Thomas Frank.
    Books:
    The Man Who Sold the World: The Betrayal of Main Street America the truth about the actions and legacy of Ronald Reagan
    Dark Ages America by Morris Berman
    the Barbaric Heart: Faith, Money, and the Crisis of Nature by Curtis White
    The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right David Neiwert (and thereby gave you Russ Limbaugh as the public face of “conservatism”)
    Do you really like what Limbaugh is saying, appealing to, AND invoking.
    An essay titled Conservatism & Cultural Camouflage (plus other essays) at:
    http://www.williamirwinthompson.org/blog.html

    Reply
  5. Michael W. Kruse Avatar
    Michael W. Kruse

    John, who said anything about Limbaugh? I’m glad you like the works you mentioned but you bypassed the duplicity I highlighted in the post. It is one more example of how each side blindly criticizes the other for behaviors they engage in themselves.

    Reply

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