The first plank of fmr. VP Joe Biden's climate change policy is to beat Donald Trump. True. Bernie Sanders said today that, yes, Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in modern American history but we need to take on the fossil fuel industry. Also true.
The point is that Donald Trump is going to do nothing to reverse the effects of climate change, and in fact is rolling back regulations to do more damage to the environment. Our suggestion would be not to call the problem at hoax, which it's obviously not given the unprecedented severity and frequency of the natural disasters we're living through; but we need to lead on climate change and set the agenda for the rest of the world. The United States should be at the forefront of technologies that can create a more energy efficient world, creating the tools and systems that other countries will buy. Instead, because of the stubbornness and frankly fecklessness of the Republican politicians in the pockets of the fossil fuel industry, we're ceding this leadership to China.
Thanks for indulging that digression, and now onto the topic of the week - abortion and the bills that are being passed by states' conservative legislatures. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) stated that he believes that life begins at conception, but that there is a lack of democratic debate to come up with a legislative compromise. Several times he brought up the fact that the issue has been decided by unelected judges, which Eugene Robinson due noted and continued to explain that it can not be decided any other way because there is no consensus. However, the problem with having such a democratic debate to create legislation is that views, hence the legislation, would disproportionately not represent where the country stands on this issue. As Chuck Todd noted, by a 2 to 1 margin the country believes that Roe vs. Wade should remain as is. So Mr. Cotton's rhetoric sounds reasonable, it wouldn't represent where the country is on this issue. It would be a political decision, which brings us to Bernie Sanders' answer on abortion. Mr. Sanders said that it should be a medical decision and not a political one. As a medical decision, a woman's right to medical privacy about decisions that she makes with regard to her body should be her own. Those decisions should not be made through a political or religious lens.
It is this column's belief that a man does not have the right to rule over the decisions on what a woman does with her body. Do you think that men would stand for a law that said if a man commits a rape that he should be castrated? Think about it.
Conservatives such as Pat Robertson, Kevin McCarthy and even the president have expressed the view that the draconian Alabama abortion legislation that provides no exceptions goes too far. In the bill the doctor performing the abortion can receive up to 99 years in prison, a longer sentence than than the rapist. Other conservative states are rushing to pass like bills in the hopes that this issue will go to the Supreme Court where conservative advocates believe the conservative court will overturn Roe. Again, Eugene Robinson explained that it was unlikely to even reach the court. But if it were to reach the court, Janet Napolitano explained that the timing of decision would coincide with the presidential election season. And as Heidi Przybyla explained, the abortion issue front and center in the fall of 2020 will motivate suburban woman, particularly, to abandon the Republican party.
Chuck Todd pointed out that the hard right has been focused on the court like a laser, and one of the reasons for that focus is this very issue. However, this column would contend that there is something larger at play. The right writ large sees there voting majority perpetually in a more perilous position and the courts are the only way to save their agenda.
If Donald Trump wins reelection it will be with another electoral college win while losing the popular vote... Again. Republicans are fortunate that the Senate disproportionately stays in control of a minority of the population so getting rid of the electoral college is not an option. Conservatives are hoping the courts will help them advance their agenda, despite what Mr. Cotton says about unelected judges.
Panel: Rich Lowry, The National Review, Janet Napolitano, fmr. Governor of Arizona; Heidi Przybyla, NBC, Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post
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