[lbo-talk] The Empire's Freedom

JBrown72073 at cs.com JBrown72073 at cs.com
Thu Nov 3 11:40:35 PST 2005


In a message dated 11/3/05 11:40:01 AM, lbo-talk-request at lbo-talk.org writes:


>I continue to be shocked that activists on the Supreme Court nomination
>fight think leading with abortion is the best way to fight the rightwing.
>
>It's not that I'd back away from the abortion issue in politics, but even
>strong liberal activists unfettered by that corporate money still downplay
>the clear rightwing economics of these judges in favor of highlighting
>social issues where progressive majorities are marginal at best.
>
>Yet the fact that Alito struck down applying minimum wage and safety laws
>for a range of workers gets barely mentioned-- a position that would frame
>his politics in a negative way for a far larger number of the voters.
>So the focus away from economic issues is not just a result of corporate
>money but of a cultural ballast within the overall progressive movement
>as well.
>
>Nathan

Hmm, so basically feminism is just a boat anchor. Cut it loose and suddenly working class consciousness and unity will appear on the horizon. Except, uh, for women who are, as we know, an insignificant majority. Some opposition to abortion could be "cultural" but abortion itself is decidedly economic, as in production, who does it, when, and under what conditions.

I agree in general that Alito's pro-business, anti-worker positions need to be emphasized more, but for a motivated base, you can't beat abortion rights activists. There's a reason for that, and it's not cultural. More important for women than your job, your pay, your power vis-a-vis the boss, is control of your reproduction. Really, if we wanted to call these jerks on their true position, we'd show how Bush and his ilk are not only against abortion, but also oppose contraception, which has much more than a "marginal progressive majority" supporting it.

Jenny Brown



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