And the way you can always tell is when the cultist says something to the effect of “We can’t let ourselves be distracted by minor stuff! We have to keep the focus on abortion!”
What that always means in the mouth of a MAGA cultist is, “I am going to devote my whole heart and soul to the defense of whatever evil the GOP commands, no matter how evil, stupid, trivial, or devastatingly terrible by telling everybody around me to shut up about it and swallow it, while accusing them of being babykillers if they don’t.
The strategy was perfected over the past three decades.
Was there another massive gun slaughter? Forget doing something about our insane gun regime! We have to focus on abortion! Gun grabbers are babykilling libs and they faked the deaths of their own children at Sandy Hook!
Have wages flatlined making it harder and harder to support a family? Abortion is worse (and never mind the pressure to abort that poverty puts on the working poor). If you support libs who want raise pay and protect workers’ right, you are a babykiller.
Are we torturing people and leaving them dead and brain-damaged? Abortion is the real torture! Therefore torture is somehow good and you should shut up about it or you support babykillers who oppose torture.
Are we mocking the disabled and people with speech impediments in our intense hatred of libs? No matter! Abortion is worse and rubbing our Precious Feet pin taketh away the sins of the world. The important thing is to stay focused on abortion and not on the way we are now actively malignant toward the disabled and impaired. Only babykillers are offended because they are snowflakes. Making them cry is manly and just punishment for their love of babykilling.
And so on. The overwhelming bulk of the “prolife” movement is now so brainwashed in this mentality that those of us who hold a Consistent Life Ethic that insists on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death routinely find that our most bitter critics and enemies are not pro-choice people, but allegedly “prolife” people who often call us (you guessed it) “babykillers” because we support the Church’s Whole Life Teaching and therefore support large swaths of the so-called “liberal agenda”, including such monstrous evils as universal health care, a living wage, not jailing and executing post-abortive women and, indeed, not executing anybody.
Which brings me to where the MAGA cult aims to go next in their insane plans for the future. I will bracket the specific discussion of their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for misogynist cruelty for another day, but suffice it to say that the fantasy some delusional people have that, with the death of Roe, the MAGA Cult now means to turn its attention to creating a paradise for unborn (and born) children is absurd.
No. What they dream of doing (while they inflict cruelties on post-abortive and miscarrying women which we shall discuss in a later blog entry) is move on to the destruction of every gain made for human dignity in the US since the Civil War. It’s all on the chopping block.
The Texas MAGA cult wants to make war on the right of every child to an education.
Gorsuch hopes to destroy your right to counsel, dating to a 1963 SCOTUS decision.
Barrett is an enemy of the 14th Amendment, written after the Civil War in order to protect citizens from having rights taken away by individual states.
In short, the MAGA nuts have biiiiiiig plans that extend far beyond Roe, because, as Heather Cox Richardson makes clear, it has never really been about just abortion for the MAGA cult. It is about destroying every gain back to the 13th Amendment: Medicare, Social Security, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Labor Rights, the end of Jim Crow, anti-semitic regulations, jail for gays, jail for purchasing contraceptives, you name it–every damn thing that costs the rich and powerful money and power. Every gain for 160 years. They mean to destroy it all. And every time they take a step, they will call you a babykiller when you oppose them.
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28 Responses
Mark, Alito did not say he wants the Loving decision overruled. In his majority opinion he specifically stated the opposite.
So, like he said “Roe v. Wade is an important precedent of the Supreme Court. It was decided in 1973, so it has been on the books for a long time, It is a precedent that has now been on the books for several decades. It has been challenged. It has been reaffirmed. But it is an issue that is involved in litigation now at all levels.”
He wouldn’t now would he?
And the way you can always tell is when the cultist says something to the effect of “We can’t let ourselves be distracted by minor stuff! We have to keep the focus on abortion!”
To which I would say:
a. None of this is “minor” stuff, if you are truly pro-life.
b. “Focus” does not mean “ignore everything else.” Claiming a valid Truth is the Only Truth worth considering is a surefire way to error.
And the so-called sane Americans bitch and moan about gas prices, which are set by the billionaire oil and gas companies, inflation, which in most cases is caused by companies/stores/executives looking to gouge the public and not the president, and who care more about the latest Kardassian scandal or TV/streaming show and what’s on Netflix than the fact that TFG did actually plan and attempt a coup to stay in power as his buddy Putin wanted. As Lincoln said, no outside army can destroy us, only the enemy within the US, which is MAGA, Fox and every single person who listens to and supports Trump and his Pets. Damn it, people, vote for Democrats in November even if you despise them – they’re the only ones right now who stand against the real baby-killers in the country.
Being a one issue voter is also a form of mental laziness and escapism (possibly mixed in with fatigue). It was about thirty years ago that some Spanish friends,– both very Catholic (one of them a priest) called me out for making abortion the center of my universe when it came to politics. They understood the dynamics of how we got to such a place with abortion, and how it would take time to dismantle such a mindset. So long as life is cheapened we will have abortion.
It is easy for the “pro-lifers” to manipulate a new mother who is looking down at the infant in her arms, or has just seen her baby on ultrasound–protecting the baby does indeed become the center of her universe.
At the back of my mind, and after many years of shielding infants from harm, I am reminded of the pregnancies that despite my best efforts were wrenched away. After years of putting up with loss and setbacks, a parent is forced to understand that nothing that is of this earth can ultimately protect our children from harm. A kind of truce with God is the only peace a parent will find.
Which brings up an important point about the prolifer: Where is their faith?
You should *wish* to have more single issue voters. What you have now are mindless single party voters. single issue, while not optimal, would be a huge improvement.
By the way, I’m voting communist next time.
Dude, my 4th kid Blaise will be in Brussels on Sunday for the biggest musical festival in Europe this summer. I’m choosing my battles.
He’s visiting his wealthy uncle in Paris who bribes him in unholy ways.
When I told him that Europe is in a heatwave he said, “i’ll be diving into the canals of Amsterdam with babes.”
I love the communism of Jesus.
@ Taco
Tomorrowland? Is it your plan to send ALL of your kids over to Europe? :p
One more thing: I am reminded of an article I read on the New Advent site a few months ago. It had a “before and after” photo of Aleppo, a city that is thousands of years old. The photos were taken at night from the space station.
Vast swaths of light from that city have been wiped out. Families. Mothers, fathers and children. Gone. Caught in the crossfire of our unholy quest to dominate others and their resources.
I am willing to believe almost anything about the evil of the MAGA people, whoever they may be. None of all that explains why this fanciful new ”consistent life ethic” seems to include vehement support for legal abortion, in clear opposition to what the Catholic church teaches.
I am not sure of who/what you mean by the “fanciful new consistent life ethic”. Maybe I live a sheltered life and don’t read widely enough, but any links to material about this would be appreciated. I also wonder if sometimes folks confuse, to put it in economic terms, the desire to deal with demand for abortion (health care, child care, income and so on) , which is where I am with the aim of stopping the supply ( the Dobb’s decision) with support for abortion?
@ Andy
I don’t think we’ll agree, but I will do my best to explain my position.
1. I don’t use phrases like ”support for abortion” or ”reducing demand”. I prefer to speak of the legalilty of abortion, because it is a much more defined term; and the crux of the disagreement we may have. I think we can safely assume that you don’t murder babies for fun and I don’t want demand for abortion to soar to 100 pct. of all pregnancies.
2. As to the matter of the legality of abortion: the church opposes it, and so should every politically active citizen who calls himself Catholic. There is no valid catholic pro-choice position.
3. As to healthcare; income distrtibution etc.: they are important, and CST will give you ample reason to work on each of these issues. In fact, it is a moral duty to do so. What these things are *not*, is a fig leaf in order to keep abortion legal. ”keep killing unless justice is done to the poor” is, to my best knowledge, a rather weird interpretation of the gospel.
I don’t support abortion.
Its not enough to “not support abortion.” Just like its not enough to “not be racist.” Fetal people are created equal to you. You deserve no type of legal supremacy over them. They WILL get the rights they are entitled to, you can cooperate or kick and scream — your choice– Change is coming!!! if you are uncomfortable with the legal expansion of human rights thats your privilege barking! If it hurts it means the poison is coming out – so i am glad it hurts. Not from hatred of the oppressor but love 4 their victim. All hell is fully mad right now… it can stay mad
Your magnificently arrogant assumption that I object to human rights for unborn persons says everything about your own sense of privilege and moral superiority over all the human beings you look down on in your Olympian pride. You are dead certain you are wholly entitled to act as judge, jury, and executioner of the quality of my faith when you actually have no idea what I think. And the fact that you deem all women in crisis pregnancies to be “oppressors” and judge them as agents of hell nicely illustrated the stunning pride of the “prolife” heresy.
Wait. Who vehemently supports such depravity? Don’t say Biden. Please. He comes from a tax haven state. My kids would say “F” that. He goes to the same galas Pelossi. They’d wink at each other if they had enough self awareness.
@ Artevelde
I do not support abortion. I favor it’s illegality, I am question tge path to what should be the ultimate goal, the prevention, if that is at all possible. I guess my question/statement was not clear. I do not think that merely declaring abortion illegal, as was done in Dobbs, will stop it from occurring. As I read the teaching of the Catholic Church illegality is “coequal” with prevention. I used “supply” and “demand” because I think that we have to eliminate the reasons that we can eliminate to make a start on stopping abortion. In my reading of history, illegality of an action does not prevent its occurrence, it merely moves to a darker place, one involving greater illegality.
Dobbs did not declare abortion illegal.
@ Andy
http://www.nolixxxpic.com/image/champagne-in-pussy-gifs-4.gif
I found this useful. As I have argued before, the reasons to have an abortion are manifold, and differ from country to country as well. Is the majority of reasons given economic? It certainly seems to play a large part.
Eliza is right though in pointing out what is wrong with the closet Catholic pro-choice side. The issue is not ”stopping or reducing abortions”. You’ll never stop it, and reducing it is a never ending process. If the goal is to postpone providing legal protection for the unborn until Godot arrives, color me sceptical.
The goal is not “stopping” abortions but recognition of the humanity of fetal persons and the enshrinement of their rights in law. Long story short, you’ll never stop abortions – just like you’ll never stop human trafficking or other forms of self-interested hatred. This is something the prolife world doesn’t want to admit – women don’t get abortions because they are in “crisis.” They do not decide to kill a fetus because they do not have an endless supply of diapers for it. They get abortions because they do not want to be pregnant or have a baby – the end. Abortion is quick and simple. Pregnancy is not and never will be. Carrying a pregnancy, giving birth and deciding to parent or place is a complication they do not want to deal with. And they do not “have” to because abortion is not legally or morally unacceptable. Since the supreme court decision there has been an upswell of women – and men – seeking out permanent forms of birth control, doubling up on their contraceptive methods or -shockingly- choosing not to engage in reproductive activity, period. This is all shit people who did not want a pregnancy should have been doing all along — but it took the faintest prospect of being “forced” by the law to get them to take responsibility. In short: rich women get abortions, poor and middle class women get abortions, young and geriatric women get abortions, churchgoing women and atheists get abortions, married and single women get abortions, stay at home mothers and career women get abortions. The overwhelming majority of abortions in the US are performed as a form of birth control – 97-99% are performed on healthy women and normally developing fetuses conceived as a result of a freely made choice to engage in PIV sex- about half, on an annual basis, are repeat events – 2nd, third or 4+ abortions. I know a lot of women who have gotten abortions and none of them are the ignorant frightened animals the prolife world wants them to be. They are moral agents who made a decision about what was best for them based in their self sense of being more important than their fetus and the confirmation of this belief by the law.
You cite a lot of statistics – where are they from. The majority of research I gave read says that the prime cause of abortions is economic.
My statistics are from the Guttmacher institute, a pro choice think tank. Its true that many women cite economic reasons for their decision to kill their fetus. But its important to listen to what women really mean when they say this. Afterall, the overwhelming majority of women who have abortions “for economic reasons” go on to choose to give birth to a different fetus some time later – at which time their Socioeconomic status has not changed in any material way but their decision re: killing their fetus or giving birth to it, has. The reason for this is that both choices reflected a contemporaneous preference. Prolifers are uncomfortable acknowledging this because of what it means about women as moral agents. Adoption solves so many economic problems of pregnancy and parenting – yet women do not choose adoption in response to unwanted pregnancy. The reason is – THEY DO NOT WANT TO. Their discomfort with the idea of placing a child for adoption is more important than the fetus and its right to exist. They do not want to be pregnant or give birth. The end. Donating diapers to needy mothers is a matter of reproductive justice but it does not change this calculation.
@Andy
Economic, yes, and total lack of support. In the three abortions of persons close to me, all three were done because the father told the woman that, whilst in two of the cases the father offered to help financially for an abortion, in all three the father said he was leaving if she had the child. The sad irony is that in each of the three cases, the woman aborted – and the father was, nevertheless, soon gone. In two of the cases, the woman would have been pretty nearly destitute if she had had the baby.
It is very common for women to kill their fetus in an effort to salvage a romantic relationship. The reason this decision “makes sense” to an abortion minded woman is because she believes her distress is more important than her fetus and its right to exist. Unfortunately endless free diapers will not change this calculus. After all, its not uncommon for women who choose to give birth and parent to also prioritize their romantic relationships over the well being of their children. The issue in these cases is not free diapers. The problem with the “she will be destitute” rationale prolifers give for elective abortion is that It is not credible. If it were true, the woman could simply make arrangements to place for adoption. On the one hand prolifers love adoption and on the other they have to do gymnastics to avoid thinking too hard and drawing the obvious conclusions about why abortion minded women decline the option of adoption. The obvious conclusions are not flattering to the idea of women as agency-less victims. Of course, women are owed as a matter of justice all kinds of compensation and support for their doing reproductive work. But the undeniable fact that reproductive work is unjustly compensated is not the reason women kill their developing fetus.
“How can the MAGA-era GOP possibly be racist when it has Clarence Thomas and Larry Elder? How can the MAGA-era GOP possibly be misogynist when it has Sarah Palin, Amy Coney Barrett and Marjorie Taylor Greene? No, God has raised up these stalwarts to protect the Catholic Church against the coming wave of Neronian religious persecution that She will soon endure under the regime of Joseph R Biden, just as She has long endured in Canada under the regime of Justin Trudeau!”
Mark, When I was in college, I had a conversion and got into apologetics, which led me to you. Your series of books on Mary is great, I reread it a few months ago, still great. I feel like you have changed a bit in your political positions over the years, which is fine, and honestly I agree in general with many of your positions against the GOP. Capital punishment, fair wages, death penalty, immigration…probably others. Since college I’m on into my job and family so every few years I make it back to your blog. You are still insightful, and as far as I can tell well intentioned, I’m sure still a good apologist for the faith. It’s clear over the years you have become a democrat, which is fine, I still think you can be a democrat/liberal and be catholic as long as you hold the line on essentials( same is true for republican). I have two main topics that I’m concerned with your spiritual health though. #1. You quite clearly, in almost all of your recent writings assume bad intentions in your political opponents, and in a general sense…MAGA supporters. My critique is that the intentions of your opponents is above your pay grade, and mine by infinity. It sours everything, and there is no place for it. You hate strawman arguments, as you should but you assume those arguments when it comes to that demographic. Go back and reread many of your own posts, I think u will find that it’s true. Second critique. I am an acute care surgeon in a large city in the Midwest. I don’t deal with abortion at all. I have a lot of dealings with adults young to old in end of life situations. Personally I think that there are some tricky situations at the end of life, these take thought and need. To be dealt with on individual basis. I.E. a person I can’t save after coming to the ER with a catastrophe. Morally, these situations are not hard in general. I do everything I can to save them, and at times I can’t save them. Then we switch toward as comfortable a death as we can manage. Obviously, thus is completely different than abortion, it’s easy to see. But In your writings, you blur the difference on many of these things. Im not sure what happened to you. It could be that your conscience is clear, I won’t try to figure that out ( though as stated above, that is my biggest problem with your writings, you assume intentions of people and groups of people, that is reserved for God alone), but I fear
That your moral order of operations has led you further away from the Ark than you should be. Come back Mark, you have been given many talents and could be a Peter Kreeft for the church. Go back and read Chesterton,Lewis, Newman. You really think they would take all your positions? I’ll leave the answer to question to you.
Fair enough. I will try to repent and refrain from making judgments about the motives of the MAGA cult. But the Cult does, in fact, constitute the gravest domestic threat since the Civil War and a poisonous threat to the witness of American Christians.