When we had our old dog Boomer, a scrappy and independent-minded terrier mutt, we liked to rev her up at the back door whenever a cat strolled through the yard. Is there a meow-meow? Wanna get the meow-meow? Do ya? Do ya? She would emit a fervent warbling and when it reached maximum RPMs we’d fling the door open and she’d rocket outside toward the cat, barking her fool head off and chasing it out of the yard or up a tree. But sometimes she’d come up against this big old jug-butt cat that didn’t move at all. Just sat there with slitted eyes and utter disdain.
On those occasions Boomer would pull up short a foot away from the cat, leaving a little skid-mark, and slowly move her head around as though what she was looking for was not this cat at all, but something completely different, maybe a loose meatloaf or something, and finally she’d trot away and the cat would recommence cleaning her paws.
I wonder if that’s how the Republicans feel now. Now that their decades-long project to claim and maintain power at all costs, to no good purpose, has finally borne fruit. They’ve been working their abortion angle as an engine of power for so long and it’s done exactly what it was intended to do: solidified a reliable voting base. There may be one or two elected Republicans that actually give a damn about fetuses but the bulk surely do not. Their lies, hypocrisy, and posturing are in plain sight. Their only principle is expediency. So.
So now that they’ve won this big victory, maybe they’ve pulled up short and are starting to look around nervously. They’re surrounded by Democrats, who outnumber them, and they’ve just woken them up.
That’s one thing they could always count on: a lot of Democrats are going to be asleep. We are a drowsy group. Democrats are often neither single-issue nor fear-based voters and once we’ve installed our champions, we’re liable to sit back and imagine things are in good hands. When policy goes our way, we imagine it will stay put, because it is just and good, and we trust other citizens will see it the same way. The righteousness of our positions will be self-evident. People want health care, clean air, abortion (rare). Don’t they?
Yeah. But they don’t all vote.
Why, Democrats are often so drowsy they dream of Social Security and Medicare remaining intact, or even strengthened. Most of them probably imagine that they can count on Social Security and Medicare. Those suckers have been around a long time, even longer than abortion rights. They’re, like, solid.
The flaw in that assumption is that Republican funders don’t have all the money yet, so they’re eager to shlorp your Social Security into that casino they’re running. You know, the Reagan-bloated financial sector, filled with people who never created a thing in their lives except for complex whizbangery like the derivatives market, that leaves them obscenely wealthy and regular people holding the empty bag and whining about gas prices. That casino.
Democrats yawn. They can’t possibly mean it. Can they? It’s a long walk to the polling place. Those local down-ticket races aren’t so important. Must be time for another nap.
The trouble is, the Supreme Court is currently constituted in large part of liars installed by cheaters. They’ve already taken out any roadblocks to partisan gerrymandering or outright voter suppression; they’re setting the table for permanent power and minority rule. Unless Democrats wake up.
See that big bear over there, just stretching and reaching for her pink hat? Wanna poke it? Do ya? Do ya?
Even though I expected this decision, I am just so fucking angry. They apparently care more about fetuses in the womb than they do once the kids pop out of a woman’s vagina. Kids are expensive and time-consuming. What is a poor woman supposed to do? Are they providing any support system for her and the child? No. They are not. This isn’t about fetuses; this is about controlling women’s sexuality. Wait and see: next they will come after gay marriage… contraception… miscegenation.
I always wondered, when they said “make America great again,” when they considered it “great.” Now we know. Sometime around the 1800s.
You’ll notice Clarence Thomas said nothing about revisiting Loving v. Virginia. Somewhat inconsistent, that.
I just find it hard to fathom why a woman and a black man on the Supreme Court would be so conservative. Do they not realize that their fellow conservatives HATE them and want them to go back to how things were in previous times?
A great piece Murr, and one I suspect I’ll be reading a couple times over. Both your essay (and watching events unfold yesterday) just keep reminding me of the end of ‘Tora Tora Tora!’ and that Japanese general’s quote. I confess I’m one of those sleepy Democrats you so aptly described above, filled with a simmering resolve since 2016. I’m ready to boil over, I hope every other Dem is too.
Remind me of that Japanese general’s quote?
Oops–it was a Japanese admiral. You know… “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve” after they bombed Pearl Harbor. What your piece here is based on.
Ah! That is indeed germane.
Pink Pussy Hats unite! If you own one, wear it!
Took me two and a half months to learn to knit that sucker, so YAH.
They are coming after contraception next. Didn’t we think that issue was settled 100 years ago when they threw Margaret Sanger in jail and woke a bunch of women up?
We thought a lot of things were settled. Apparently not… except for the second amendment. But who knows about the rest? Freedom of speech? Search and seizure? Trial by jury? Slavery? Who knows what the fuck is next? These people are crazy.
It is truly odd to take some comfort in the idea that we’ll soon be a much-reduced species holed up in caves and not wrecking everything in sight soon.
Wonderful piece as always. Formulating an email to Thomas noting the ‘marriage’ isn’t mentioned in the Constitution, and therefore not a protected right. Also, obviously Loving v Virginia was wrongly decided, so he has been fornicating Ginnie all these years. Perfectly logical following his arguments for annulling Roe v Wade.
Seriously, I don’t think he thinks these things through. I don’t think he thinks at all.
Message to Democrats: wake up! Get out there and VOTE! Please.
Lindy’s comment bothers me, they are coming after contraception? That’s horrifying.
Perhaps women should start wearing chastity belts in order to not become pregnant?
I would hate that. It would ruin my line.
Well, shit, I have menopause for THAT! Never have I been so happy to be old!
Since women have now been denied body autonomy and will be forced to undergo the trauma of pregnancy and birth, perhaps the boys in those states banning abortion should be forced to undergo reversible vasectomies at puberty. Once those males have proven they’re in a committed relationship with someone who wants a child, the vasectomy can be reversed. Certainly wouldn’t solve all the issues, but would definitely help.
I’ve seen this comment before, but not singling out boys from THOSE states–it’s a nice touch!
We have a neighbor cat (small jug butt) that taunts our pups daily. Your description in your yard is hilarious. I’m 73, and have been clenching my jaws since Roe v Wade was leaked, feeling certain of the eventual outcome. There’s no time for yawning any longer on this issue any longer. I am helping with the primary election here in Illinois this week. Thanks to the disgraced, twice impeached DJT. It will be a crowded space as we must allow for any ‘poll watchers’ to insure that we don’t put ballots that we don’t like in suitcases beneath the tables. Aargh. Like we would do that. VOTE!!!!!!
…and I mean this sincerely…Thank you for your service, Marilyn!
I have no words…
Yes- it is women who bear and often (mostly raise) the child, but there is so little mention of the men. Those men who don’t pay/ couldn’t pay /won’t pay support/and those that do. Their lives can be wrecked as well. And not all of them will be thrilled when the contraceptives are banned- even the one that hate condoms might get a little worried,,,,,,,
Well now, women need to step up for themselves! None of this bullshit from men: “Oh, baby, it just don’t feel the same!” Fuck that! You want some pussy? Put on the condom or leave! I have my trusty vibrator, so I’m good….
Or like some guy said, “wearing one was like washing your feet with you socks on.” Sheesh.
Git ’em, Murr
I wonder about those other potential lives that are being tossed away. Now that we have chosen to protect fertilized single cells, why not protect their progenitors? Surely every egg that a woman produces should produce a baby or else it is a wasted life! For that matter, what about the men? In every ejaculation five million sperm are doomed to die without bringing about the life that our constitution guarantees them! Surely we need laws against that evil waste of life. Even in a lawful marriage with the sole purpose of sex being to propogate the species, countless millions of potential lives are being ruthlessly murdered. Oh, the humanity! (Oh, but of course, the men don’t mind that, now do they?)
Bring on the Wet Spot Protection Act.
The shallowness of the Roe decision does shock me, because the medical and biological knowledge we have now shows us clearly that reproductive health care is a spectrum, not a single act or decision or choice. No one WANTS a goddamn abortion. These judges are utterly corrupt and deliberately ignorant. They are also threatening fertility clinics, which HELP PEOPLE HAVE BABIES, ya’ll. Yes, that means they create embryos. Some of which become people. Some of which don’t. And the hysteria over the ones that don’t threatens the entire industry because of this antiabortion madness.
You know, when Trump got elected on 2016, I was terrified. It’s a minor miracle that he didn’t launch nuclear weapons. But this illegitimate Trump court is going to have about the same effect on an awful lot of people. It is a disaster. I am struggling with hate and desperation.
You are very, very far from alone. And I didn’t sleep for three nights after Trump got in.
I’ve been angry and depressed both during the insurrection and now. I can barely MOVE at this point, I feel so depressed. And I don’t even have hormones anymore! I always knew that they considered women second class citizens. But now they proved it. I feel like I’m in a prequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. EVERYTHING is a dystopian novel anymore.