Symbol Over Substance

Driving in to work this past week I've seen several of these signs along the highway. Attached to a McCain/Palin campaign sign is a hand-stenciled "Pro-Life Abort Roe v. Wade" sign.

As mean and nasty as this election has been the one thing that I've been surprised not to see are the traditional old hot-button Republican topics. McCain has yet to mention abortion, flag burning, gay marriage. These are issues that generally all but disappear for every 2 or 3 of four years, making their return appearance as the campaigns start to heat up and Republicans find themselves calling out to their "base."

The thing is, up until 2 years ago the Republicans held all of the branches of government. Dubbya was President, the Congress was majority held by the Republicans and Bush had been handed the Presidency by the 5-4 conservative split by the Supreme Court. So, with their position of governmental power, why didn't they try to "abort Roe v. Wade" then? Why not make flag burning unconstitutional? Why not push legislation to define "marriage" as an act between a Man and a Woman only?

It's not that I don't think some Republicans truly believe in these things, I'm sure some do. It is more that the value of satisfying their constituents by taking action is significantly less than the value these issues have as ideas, as symbols around which Republicans can energize their voters to get out to the polls.

Will there ever be a time when Conservatives can try to overturn Roe v. Wade? While I don't discount the possibility, I'm doubtful that it will ever happen. The use of abortion as a shorthand rallying cry for a wide variety of Conservative issues is simply too strong for many Conservatives to want to lose. After all, what would they replace it with?

Progressives have their list of issues as well, leading off with affordable health care for all. It's an issue that has held strong symbolic value for Progressives, but I believe that it's also an issue whose time has come to become a reality. Due to the broken American health care system there is such a national agreement for the need for universal health care that we are almost to a point where we can't not do this. (It will be seen as a strong win for whichever side makes it happen)

So, what will Progressives replace it with? I don't think that's going to be much of a problem. Progressives have a long history of fighting for social justice and making things better for all Americans. There will always be wrongs that need to be righted and as long as Progressives can hold onto power we can make those good things happen for the betterment of the country.

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