November 29, 2017--Alabama On My Mind

Not long after Donald Trump announced he was running for president, still in Delray Beach, we ran into a neighbor who, without a proper hello, whispered to us, "Don't repeat this, but I'm voting for him."

By then we knew who the him was.

If she had been polled, not telling the truth, she would likely have said she was undecided or that, as a lifelong Democrat, she planned to vote for Hillary.

But when election day came she voted for him, he carried Florida easily, and we know the final dispensation.

I suspect something like this is going on in Alabama as they are within two weeks now of voting for someone to replace Jeff Sessions in the Senate.

A large percentage say they can't vote for Roy Moore and for the first time in their lives plan to vote for Doug Jones, the Democrat. Many of them are not telling the truth. Even in some Alabama circles it is not socially acceptable to openly say you will be voting for a pedophile.

Perhaps an equal number are saying to pollsters that they plan to vote for Moore, in spite of everything, because they can't handle the thought that someone who supports a woman's right to have an abortion might be elected. In the privacy of the voting booth, though, resisting local social pressure, hating the idea that he seduced adolescents, they will in fact vote for Jones.

At the moment, Moore has been gaining in the polls, whatever they're worth, and it looks like a statistical dead heat.

Once again, as in Virginia, women will determine the outcome. Either by voting or opting not to.

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On Morning Joe the other day, they got into an heretical discussion--how for Democrats to regain control of Congress and the White House, they have to welcome into the party and appeal to at least some social conservatives. This may mean that they need to open their tent wide enough to include Second Amendment people, religious voters, and even those who believe that there should be some limitations on the right to end a pregnancy. Like, for example, believing that abortions after 20 weeks of gestation should not be permitted. 

Someone on the show mentioned that Nancy Pelosi said Democrats should welcome right-to-life people. "We want to win," she said. And to win seats in most southern states Democrats must nominate and support cultural conservatives who are not strong supporters of abortion but who believe in and will, for example, vote for other Democratic priorities like preserving the social safety net and protecting the environment and voting rights.

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This led to a complicated discussion between Rona and me sparked by this and our seeing Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, where Frances McDermand relentlessly and even violently seeks justice for her raped and murdered daughter.

Neither of us really liked to movie but it did get us talking about issues of concern particularly to women. Especially abortion rights.

"Why is this such a passionate, non-negotiable subject?" I asked. "I support that right and personally do not see it appropriate or perhaps constitutional to restrict it in any significant way."

"Because it's the one issue," Rona said, "that should be totally in the hands of women to decide. My body, myself. All other political and social issues are not as gendered. This is a women's issue. So to limit it, to take it away from the control of women, is to limit women's autonomy in ways that many, most women find to be totally unacceptable."

"Are you saying, then, that this is more about WOMEN'S RIGHTS and efficacy writ large than just abortion?"

"Yes. In itself, again for most women--not all by far--it's both a pressing reality and a metaphor for a range of cultural issues. We feel that though this is our issue, at the same time some of us, including some who are very liberal in regard to other matters, because we want to win, may opt tactically to agree to some compromises. But than again, because it's so important to some, any compromise might be impossible to consider, much less embrace."

"The other day you said, and I feel this sums up some of the complications, that the choice in Alabama to some, perhaps to many, is between a pedophile (Moore) and a baby killer (Jones). That that's the way a lot of religious conservatives view the choice."

"I still believe that," Rona said, "This is about as contested and complicated as it gets. Assuming one is able to calm down enough about the subject and attempt to look at it from multiple perspectives. Because to win we first need to understand."