A look at what Republican platforms have said about abortion since 1976 raises troubling questions about the trajectory of America's conservative party
You almost certainly should do a similar review of Democrat platforms. My impression is of equal or even greater radicalization — in the opposite direction.
I won't be doing that, because this is a newsletter about the right, but you're undoubtedly correct about this. Both parties have been pulling away from the center. The Democrats have made their biggest moves since around 2012. My post today is about how, at least on abortion, the right may have made *its* biggest move back in 1984.
The observation that platform language was taken directly from a papal encyclical shows that the entire anti-abortion movement is religiously based. I am hoping that someone can put together a law suit based on religious freedom to set a new precedent that makes abortion neutral in the eyes of the state. I don't know if you plan on addressing this in later columns, but the southern strategy pushed by Republicans since Nixon has bolstered the white supremacist movement. Welfare queens and Willi Horton were blatant attempt at instilling white hostility towards blacks. Trump took this to its flat out racist end point.
You almost certainly should do a similar review of Democrat platforms. My impression is of equal or even greater radicalization — in the opposite direction.
I won't be doing that, because this is a newsletter about the right, but you're undoubtedly correct about this. Both parties have been pulling away from the center. The Democrats have made their biggest moves since around 2012. My post today is about how, at least on abortion, the right may have made *its* biggest move back in 1984.
I thought your scope might trump my idea. Oh well, the acknowledgement is welcome. (I left the GOP in 2005, by the way.)
The observation that platform language was taken directly from a papal encyclical shows that the entire anti-abortion movement is religiously based. I am hoping that someone can put together a law suit based on religious freedom to set a new precedent that makes abortion neutral in the eyes of the state. I don't know if you plan on addressing this in later columns, but the southern strategy pushed by Republicans since Nixon has bolstered the white supremacist movement. Welfare queens and Willi Horton were blatant attempt at instilling white hostility towards blacks. Trump took this to its flat out racist end point.