Sometimes it really does work. Sure, we argue, it gets heated, people say things they regret, rinse, repeat. But sometimes, it works.
A series of comments was made in a diary earlier today that, at first, I had a real knee-jerk reaction to — my initial impression was, “that’s just fucking moronic.” But then, I realized it wasn’t a case of somebody being stupid. It was a case of somebody having a completely and utterly different point of view. From where I sit, it was, to be honest, a completely alien point of view, but I know that to many here, it is not. So I’m going to share it, and then use this diary to try to talk it through. I invite you to join me, and hope you will do so with the same frame of mind. Thank you.
Agree with your implication that Bernie is an ally re: abortion rights and that Hillary Clinton is a champion.
However I would disagree that it is the most important issue on the line. Campaign finance, corporate influence in politics, these are problems enabling the kind of abuse of power that leads to the defunding of PP etc. On these issues it is Sanders that is the champion.
So it comes down to what you feel is most important, what is most at stake. I would argue that the best path towards establishing full support for women, especially when it comes to the right to choose, is to rip out at the roots the system that enables corporations to buy local elections (where the candidate with the most money wins something like 95% of the time) and install demagogues who throw meat to the base on emotive, religious issues whilst gutting their state of important services.
A couple of people responded like I did in my own mind, saying
If I am dead because I can't access abortion, then I really don't have to worry about Wall Street.
and
And if my child is shot and killed by the police — or by gang violence, then I really don’t have to worry about the cost of college tuition.
The original commenter wrote back:
I in no way intended to diminish the importance of the issue. I just think society is held back by the ownership of politics by corporate interests which enables corrupt pieces of s*** with no morals to get into office and do damage on the issue. Getting rid of them by fixing the system surely is a better long term solution than trying halt the spread of the fire. You want to throw buckets of water on it. I’m saying go get a hose.
and then, later:
No, I’m talking about somebody who will push for pro-choice reform and also fix the root causes at the same time. I’m not going to keep stretching the analogy but this does explain it all:
I also don’t have the luxury of treating corporations as solidly evil … Big business is a better ally to me on gun laws than Bernie Sanders.
If you don’t think money in politics is the civil rights issue of our lifetime, then you are (in my opinion) blinded to the reality.
As I said, my first response was sputtering rage. The idea that overturning Citizens United and doing away with corporate contributions to politics will do away with institutional and personal racism, misogyny, bigotry toward the LGBT community, anti-Semitism, etc., is to me, not just completely ignorant, but downright privileged and insulting. As I’ve said elsewhere on this website, Trayvon Martin will never collect a $15/hr minimum wage.
But I stopped myself. I asked, not “why is that person so fucking stupid,” but “where does that point of view come from, and is it valid?”
First, there is no question that the powerful corporate interests in the country have USED the abortion issue to rile up the masses, to elect people who will give lip-service to “life,” but will vote for tax cuts and business subsidies according to their masters’ wishes. Okay. But does that mean doing away with corporate contributions and super PACS will take away the whole abortion issue? No. Respectfully, I don’t think so. I think for many it is a religious issue, one that does not allow for compromise. That is actually why it is such an effective tool for the monied powers. Because it won’t go away.
Is money in politics the “root cause” of the abortion debate? I really don’t think so. Money may have cynically used it to gin up support, but this isn’t a chicken-and-egg question. Abortion was controversial long before super PACs and Citizens United.
Okay, how about the comment that money in politics is “the civil rights issue of our lifetime?” My first response was, “that’s an insulting and privileged point of view.” Is it? I find it almost inconceivable, at a time black children are being shot for playing with toys, gay men are being beaten to death for being gay, transgendered people are murdered daily, and women’s rights are being stripped away in state after state, to believe that money in politics (a) is more important, or (b) is the root cause of any of those things.
That said, I will agree that those things, too, are USED by the money to rile up the masses, to keep them angry at somebody ELSE, while they’re behind the scenes raking in the dough.
Another point was raised as well. Is it really appropriate to demonize corporations today, as if they were a monolithic evil.
I live in Indiana. You may have heard of a law called RFRA here, one that got our governor in some hot water. It was an astoundingly discriminatory law dressed up a “religious freedom.” Do you know who took that down? Indiana businesses. Big businesses. When Eli Lilly Company, Rolls Royce, Roche, and Cummins said, “this will hurt our business, our ability to hire and retain the best, and it must not stand,” the law went away. Big Business stood up for the LGBT community, not just because it’s profitable, but because there are LGBT men and women in their laboratories, in their boardrooms, and in their executive suites.
I know I’m missing something. I’m trying, but really can’t wrap my head around the idea that money in politics is “the civil rights issue of our time,” or that fixing it will fix the other issues.
So help me out here. Tell me how doing away with corporate interests in politics will assure us we never read about another Trayvon Martin again. Or tell my why it’s more important. I tried hard, and think I get the idea around abortion — I don’t agree with it, but I get it. I’m hearing it, instead of attacking it. Help me with the others.
I’m listening.
Thanks.