Six Catholics, 2 Jews, and an Episcopalian walk into a bar… The American Bar Association, that is. See, though this sounds like the start of an incredibly funny joke, it’s really just the makeup of the current members of the United States Supreme Court.  OK, I stole that joke, but I think it’s relevant to my post.  Yesterday, both Kentucky and Arizona just approved new abortion bills.  Florida just passed Parental Rights in Education.  Glenn Youngkin’s win in Virginia was almost purely driven on his anti-CRT and mask mandates in schools.   So, it begs the question: Is the culture war on abortion, CRT & LGBTQ worth it? 

I think the progressive left is terrified that the answer is “yes”.  Obviously, we are likely to get a new extreme voice on the Supreme Court.  We have several wobbly conservatives on the bench and “the Left” is screaming for Clarence Thomas’s head before the do-over of Roe v. Wade.  I want the Supreme Court to be an arbiter on the law, always.  I don’t want court activism in their rulings.  But I also hope they recognize the monster under the bed isn’t real.  The American people, in general, are telling DC and their local politicians that they don’t want social extremism in either direction.  They should proceed accordingly.

Of course, CNN frames Kentucky’s new limits on abortion, medical abortion access and minor’s seeking abortions as BANNING ABORTION.

“Kentucky lawmakers on Tuesday gave final approval to a sweeping abortion bill that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, restrict access to medication abortion and make it more difficult for a minor to obtain an abortion in the state.”

Similarly, CNN uses the phrase “near total ban on abortions” in the lead sentence of their reporting on the Arizona law.  Ironically, CNN misses something important by writing the subsequent paragraph.  

“The law, one of several anti-abortion restrictions advanced by Republican-led states this week, is similar to a Mississippi ban that is currently before the Supreme Court and seeks to overturn Roe v. Wade.”

I’ll get to that important “something” in just a second.  As I was stalking CNN’s twitter feed.  A few other culture war issues popped up:

Abortion providers are asking the Idaho Supreme Court to strike down the state's new six-week abortion ban which mimics a controversial Texas law https://t.co/LbzS8Fzjra

— CNN (@CNN) March 31, 2022

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona has signed two bills into law targeting transgender youth in the state, including one that restricts access to gender-affirming health care for minors. https://t.co/nMZOVZmNWd

— CNN (@CNN) March 31, 2022

Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday signed legislation banning transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender at public schools, public charter schools and public colleges in the state https://t.co/gRgVuvJfli

— CNN (@CNN) March 30, 2022

Each of these tweets are from March 30th, 2022.  What CNN is missing in their hair-on-fire montage is that politicians are typically cowards.  They just want to get re-elected and feel important.  They, and especially, the GOP are terrified to rock the boat lest they fall into the water.  As Mississippi and Texas legislators lead the charge on the abortion front without having their throats slit, they inspired legislatures in Arizona and Kentucky and Idaho to wade into the culture war battle.  

Kristi Noem almost blew up (and maybe still did) her future chances at higher office when she refused to sign South Dakota’s transgender sports ban early in 2021.  As the New York Times reported in May of last year: 

“Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, an enthusiastic backer of former President Donald J. Trump who is seen as a possible 2024 presidential candidate, finds herself in the crossfire of a culture-war issue promoted by Mr. Trump: transgender students’ participation in sports.”

“On one hand, by not issuing an outright veto, Ms. Noem is acknowledging that laws like this are popular with the social conservatives who make up a significant voting bloc in the Republican Party — and in particular in states like Iowa that are important to any politician who is considering a presidential run.

But beyond the base, there has not been much appetite for laws, pushed by the right, to restrict what access transgender people can have to school sports and medical care.”

Yeah, that was soooo last year.  We are seeing a new dawn and maybe a new day for the GOP.

New polling shows that Hispanics are not on board with the lefts continued push of transgender issues in our school systems.  Parents, even Democrat parents support Florida’s decision to keep controversial gender ideology off the table for youngsters.  As more black American’s dig into CRT teachings, they are appalled at the victimhood it shovels down their children’s throat.  The following clip encompasses all these messages:

None of the new legislation being passed does ANY of the things the progs suggest.  There are exactly zero bans of abortion in any state of our union.  No state is suggesting that discussions of homosexuality are verboten.  No bill suggests that trans athletes cannot compete in sports.  They can compete all they want.  But you don’t exactly see a groundswell of lesbians begging to play with the boys now do you?  

It is beyond time for the GOP to realize that we have been losing the culture war and our country one apathetic and cowardly politician at a time.  Some brave leaders around the country are showing that time is ripe to push and take back our children from the depraved world we gave them to.  We don’t need to go all hyper-Christian on them like we did in the 80’s, but we can certainly find some middle ground to admit that we are all sinners and have fallen in this world. 

Poor choices are made in bedroom.  Many of us know and love gay folks and couples.  We can acknowledge that some people believe they are in the wrong body WITHOUT suggesting it is ok to promote such thinking in our classrooms.  We can and should keep promoting equality over equity.  Many of these new bills are going to get pushed to the Supreme Court.  Some are already on the docket.  I hope SCOTUS can read the tea leaves and be as courageous as these state legislatures.  The culture war is worth fighting.  I hope they weigh in accordingly.  

Featured Image: “Culture War podium” by Gage Skidmore is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped and modified