Wendy Davis: Not Like You

I am always on about this: The Democrats' attempt to portray themselves as Just Like You, while portraying the Republicans as Not Like You.

Well, I don't mind that. Because the Republicans are meanwhile attempting to portray themselves as Just Like You, while the Democrats are Not Like You.

The problem is the media. The media has its own take here. The media's take is that the Democrats are right, they are Just Like You, and the Republicans are Not Like You.

This is why every progressive protest is portrayed by the media as made up of "common, ordinary Americans" -- the now-ritual listing of "teachers, welders, Post Office mailmen, factory workers, and even grandmothers;" the media writers consciously and deliberately attempt to cast every progressive rally as drawing from all segments of society, so that every reader can see a little of himself in one of the descriptors -- while conservative protests and rallies are described as being made up of as narrow a caste as is possible ("rich, white, older, Christian Conservative" -- what, no "grandmothers" in there?), sprinkled liberally with human exotica ("and several protesters carried misspelled signs calling for the end of the Federal reserve") that readers can despise and thereby feel superior to.

Well, kids, we get to play the game too. And while feminists might support Wendy Davis' decision to leave her kid with her father while she pursued her own personal goals, this will make her appear Not Like You to many women, who tend to view children as one's highest calling, rather than second or third or fourth highest as Wendy Davis does.

More: As someone who's pro-choice myself, noting this fact is uncomfortable for me, but it is nevertheless a fact: Since Roe v. Wade, 55 million fetuses (or babies) have been aborted.

40 years ago today, seven men on the Supreme Court decided in favor of a case presented to them from a 27 year-old, unknown, post-abortive lawyer, Sarah Weddington. That case was Roe v. Wade and, along with its companion Doe v. Bolton, it legalized abortion in all 9 months of pregnancy, for any reason, in the United States.

Today, this 27 year-old is writing to you as a survivor of that decision. The undeniable fact is that nearly a third of my generation is missing. We are missing brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, husbands and wives.

posted by Ace at 02:11 PM

| Access Comments