There's too much money to be made.
Posted on 07/12/2024 11:49:19 AM PDT by Morgana
The more conservatives digest what happened in Milwaukee on Monday, the more unsettled pro-lifers seem to be. Apart from the communist-like tactics the RNC used to ram the platform through the process, there’s deep dismay at the territory Republicans surrendered to Donald Trump — territory, some worry, Republicans won’t get back.
A few days removed from the shocking treatment of delegates, which they’ve characterized as everything from “demoralizing” to “dismissive” and “insulting,” more leaders are sounding the alarm that Republicans are betting their longtime principles on short-term gain. This document, former Congressman Keith Rothfus laments, is “an abandonment of GOP thought from Lincoln to Reagan — it abandons the true principles of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. … [And] unless the delegates to the Republican National Convention object to this retreat, pro-life voters will be offered a choice that recalls William Butler Yeats’ prophetic words about a time when ‘the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.’”
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), whose conviction is a welcome contrast to his capitulating colleagues, spoke passionately about the need for conservatives to press through the cultural headwinds and stand their ground on these core values.
“Life is a principle that unites Republicans,” he insisted on Wednesday’s “Washington Watch.” “It’s one of the most important things that we have to offer the country in terms of our witness, and particularly for us as Christians.” And listen, he said, “We have been a pro-life party [since 1976]. … And I think at this moment in particular, when we see the right to life return to voters … we need all the more to say to [them], ‘You should support life. Here’s why we should be advocating for life.’ We shouldn’t be silent about it. We shouldn’t be reticent about it. We should be advocating for it. My concern is this platform seems to walk away from that and walk away from traditional marriage as well. And I think both are mistakes.”
As for this idea that abortion is just an issue for the states, the Missouri senator shook his head at the ridiculousness of the idea. “You know, this is an administration that wants to mail abortion pills into every state in the Union, regardless of what state laws are — regardless of what voters in the state have voted on.” So this president is already trying to override state laws. “Most abortions in America are chemical abortions,” Hawley emphasized, “and this administration is saying it doesn’t matter if you live in a state where either the voters directly or elected representatives have said we’re going to limit abortion or we’re not going to have abortion, except for certain exceptions. The Biden administration’s position is: ‘We don’t care. We’re going to send these abortion drugs into your state regardless. So it doesn’t matter what the voters say.’”
“If that is allowed to stand,” Hawley warned, “then the Dobbs decision doesn’t really matter much, because then the people don’t really have control of this issue. It’s federal bureaucrats who have control of the issue. They’re imposing their view on us, all 50 states.” If Republicans don’t intervene, then “my gosh,” the senator shook his head. “Nothing’s changed. People don’t have control of the issue. And I think as Republicans, we need to be clear on that. We need to be uncompromising advocates of life.”
Not to mention, he added, a majority of Americans agree with a role at the federal level — especially when it comes to the GOP’s historic positions “like no taxpayer funding for abortions, not using the military to fund or facilitate abortions — which this administration is doing, by the way — and not harvesting fetal tissue. ... As Republicans, we should say no to all those things, and we should say we advocate for life.”
The states absolutely have a role, Hawley agreed with FRC Action Chairman Tony Perkins. “I’m 100% for voters having control of this issue — I really am.” But Republicans have to be prepared to combat any White House that would trample those state laws. If anything, the GOP should be more engaged now than ever, he argued. “Just because the Dobbs decision has been issued … that doesn’t mean that now it’s time for Republicans to abandon their advocacy for life. That doesn’t mean it’s time to say, ‘Oh, you know, we’re indifferent on this issue. We don’t really care. There’s nothing to be done. If the military wants to facilitate abortions, I guess we’ll just roll over and accept that.’ No, no, no!” he said adamantly. “I think our advocacy has got to be as strong as ever, and we’ve got to redouble our efforts to build that national consensus, because now the voters do have the issue, and now we do get to decide it as we the people … which means we need more advocacy, not less.”
And yet, Perkins pointed out, there’s been this “almost stampede mentality” of Republicans running away from the issue. “And you can’t win a debate if you won’t enter into the discussion.” Frankly, he suggested, that’s why they’re losing. “They’re just not talking about it with the same passion and conviction that they had before [Dobbs].”
It’s exactly why we need to hold the line against these major, foundational party shifts. “This is what concerns me about the platform change,” Hawley admitted. “Listen, I’m not under any illusion that most voters read the platform, but it is important to the extent that it does reflect our principles as a party. And I think now more than ever, we need to stand on principle. If folks say, ‘Well, hey, this is now a matter for the people, a matter for voters, and that means we’re indifferent’ — we as Republicans, that is — ‘and we don’t really care and we don’t want to talk about it anymore. And whatever happens, happens.’”
“Boy, that’s not my perspective,” the young senator said emphatically. “I mean, my perspective is I haven’t changed my view. Every single life, every person is made in the image of God. Every single life matters. And we ought to be clear on that, especially now that the voters and their elected representatives have the say.”
Who is going to figure it out. 90% of elected Republicans are pro-abortion or don’t care. This year’s platform is jst a first step. Within a few years, it will be agnostic, or pro-abrtion.
Who is going to figure it out. 90% of elected Republicans are pro-abortion or don’t care. This year’s platform is jst a first step. Within a few years, it will be agnostic, or pro-abrtion.
Ya think so? And what does compromising with the Democrats by softening out pro-life positions accomplish?
Look - I get that moving to the center here is a politically expedient thing to do. We’ll get more votes, right?
But throwing a majority of your voters under the bus is a risky move.
There's too much money to be made.
And why are Republicans fighting?
Because the party has been infiltrated and overcome with RINO’s.
We need more conservatives like Hawley.
I think other issues drive Republican voters--immigration and deporting illegal aliens, for example.
That is one helluva bold statement. But I'm having trouble either believing it or denying it. I'll have to think about it.
There are no states where banning abortion completely is politically possible. We need to work on making the case against abortion, not trying to pass laws that will only result in more LIBERAL laws being passed in reaction!
Not true. The issue was returned to the states, where it belongs. There is no national consensus on this issue. It is now up to the pro-lifers in each state to change our abortion-furthering culture state-by-state. As this is done, the number of abortions will decline.
I said the elected offiials.
then that is what it is. We'll have to build from that 10%
LOL. Why is it so bad? It wasn't that long ago that even a majority of Democrats were against gay marriage. Once the Republicans got their first Congress in decades, then the left started to rack up huge victories. So the Republicans won't help, and they will probably make it worse.
And now that elected Republicans know they be unabashedly pro-abortions, they will go after pro-lifers in a major way.
Look at the prosecution of pro-lifers the last couple years? Do you think that's going to go down the next four years?
The American people don’t support a national abortion ban. It would just elect a Democrat congress and president, which would strip our remaining rights away.
Period.
That’s a blatantly dishonest statement by Hawley. Without Dobbs, abortion on demand would still be the law of the land in Indiana, South Carolina, Alabama, and countless other states.
STATES RIGHTS!!!! You betcha.
But I’ve studied my US history and I know we heard the same STATES RIGHTS arguments from southern states in pre-Civil War days. We all know how that worked out.
Abortion - like slavery is a hot button national issue. Punting it down to the states will not do any good.
The 13th Amendment abolished Slavery. This simple Amendment will abolish abortion...
Section 1. Neither the United States nor any State shall deprive any human being, from the moment of conception, of life without due process of law; nor deny to any human being, from the moment of conception, within its jurisdiction, the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Neither the United States nor any State shall deprive any human being of life on account of illness, age, or incapacity.
Section 3. Congress and the several States shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
As a result, when state referendums are forced, the citizenry tends to choose abortion, even in red states like Ohio. These referendums often go MUCH further in allowing abortions than even the state laws existing under Roe.
Link please.
Everything I've seen indicates Hawley protested the Steal from Day One. If you have proof that Hawley accepted the fraudiulent election, please share it.
Sooner or later, the SC would have to state that “Life begins at X weeks” Casey started it with viability. If you can’t kill a baby after birth then when can you, the SC was on a course for a reckoning day. Someone somewhere someday had to make that call and since the court created this problem it was there call. If the states had a constitutional ban on taking a life then the amendments would have to reverse that with, fill in the blank, no longer are protected by the constitution. That’s a little harder to right tricky language about, because it’s not about the mother. The whole debate only existed because one side denied the humanity of the unborn and given no statutory authority to limit that, were free to pursue abortion. I think the lack of explicit language in the constitution stating that every human has the right to life is its biggest flaw. Before America, virtually every monarch the ability to whack you without question. Yeah the Declaration states we all have a right to life. . . It was just a middle finger to the king and not the constitution which is the only document the SC is charged to consider. I look forward to your thoughts as I am lost humanly speaking on how we go on from here.
While I sympathize with what you are saying, you can not force (for long) a law on the majority of the population that doesn’t support it.
Even if they had outright banned abortion when they overturned Roe. People would have simply elected enough Senators to pack the court and overturn it.
We must change peoples hearts and minds.
It’s a hearts-and-minds, long slog issue, nc.
Local, county, state level was always where the rubber meets the road.
I’m fine letting this play out at the state level. Dobb’s doesn’t mean “nothing.” It means that each state can legislate restrictions on abortion. Pushing for a national ban will be electoral suicide.
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