[clue-talk] How do CLUEbies vote?

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 09-25 13:28, Michael Fierro wrote:
 
> Well, it was a rational interchange of ideas for a while. But eventually
> someone always introduces the topic of abortion, and then the whole
> concept of rationality is abandoned.

I'm to blame for the mention of abortion. Abortion must have a "law" similar
to Godwin's law regarding Nazis and online discussions. Anyway...

My mention was in regard to divisive wedge issues that never go anywhere
distracting us from real issues that affect everyone nearly everyday on the
ground. I contend that my argument that abortion in this regard is a fluffy
issue is/was stated in rational terms. It's almost always a cynical ploy for
votes, and then after all the people that are single issue voters have cast
their votes, the candidates don't do much - either to shore up continued
support for abortion for pro-choice case, or to abolish it for pro-life
case.

Bush *may* have been the exception; I have to admit I haven't followed it as
much as Dave may have, because, like I said before, I think I'm relatively
ambivalent about it.

Even if I felt that it should be abolished (even beyond the pre-Roe v Wade
situation, at the state level), I know that it will end up in a two-tier
system. Abortions for those that can afford to fly to other countries and
have it done, and poverty or health risks for those hoi polloi that have
unwanted pregnancies and don't have such options open to them. 

I do have to give a tip of the hat to those pro-lifers that do step up, put
their money where their mouth is, and offer to adopt, though. That's
commendable. 

The arguments actually *about* abortion itself, IMHO, can almost never be
rational - and that's from either side. In the plant/animal kingdom, one
never calls a seed a tree, or an egg a chicken, yet that's what essentially
ends up happening in the abortion discussion by one side. On the other hand,
the other side often will end up couching their argument in women's bodies
and their rights. Usually gender politics get mixed in, too (seems to be a
very big contingent of AWM - Angry White Men that have issues with women as
well as lots of female misogyny to complement that on the other side that
are the loudest on this issue, and both I find annoying and toxic to real
discussions), along with religious politics, and it usually ends up in a
"how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" sort of discussion. 

Luckily, that hasn't really happened here. We didn't solve anything, of
course, but at least it didn't devolve into "You're a poopy-head", "No,
YOU'RE a poopy-head" sort of thing... :)

-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at comcast.net  
http://sean-leblanc.blogspot.com/
Money and success don't change people; they merely amplify what is already 
there. 
-Will Smith