Stars Fell on Alabama

Thanks to Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians for the title, a famous big band song of 1934…

On the March 26th of 2024, a woman named Marilyn Lands, a democrat, did what most political pundits thought was impossible and won a runoff election for a congressional seat in Alabama by running a campaign largely dedicated to reproductive rights. In most states, this wouldn’t have been newsworthy, but Alabama is a red state, probably the most conservative in the union, and churchy to the core. It’s a place where, as one newspaper columnist described, a lot of people think a woman’s place is home, pregnant and quiet. It’s the kind of place where the word abortion is not used in polite society. Granted, Marilyn Lands’ congressional district is in northern Alabama, home to Red Stone Arsenal, Huntsville Airport and a growing number of military personnel, technology workers and professional women from the north. One newspaper columnist described it as “…a high-tech center in a low-tech state…” Allowing for all those variables, the result still ought to send a cold chill up the spine of republicans. If this can happen in Alabama, the future isn’t bright for republicans this fall. I’ve said it before, abortion/IVF is the third rail in this election and Republicans have stepped on it. Trump has tried to weasel out of it by saying he hasn’t decided on his view, yet, but he’ll be reminded daily of his comment, “…I’m proud of my part in overturning Rowe vs Wade….” Since the late 60’s and the Vietnam War, I haven’t seen an individual issue generate this much voter anger across the board. Energized female voters, supported by the youth vote and sympathetic males swung the midterm elections and it’s only a preview of the havoc they’re going to raise at the voting booth in November. It’s like the Roadside DUI Checkpoint of politics-you’re either drunk or you’re not. You either support reproductive freedom, or we want your head on a stick, it’s that simple. Conservatives want to argue the issue strictly on moral grounds, abortion is murder, its murder, enough said. Awhile back, I read a comment by some “God botherer” who thought that life begins when the first impure thought goes into a person’s head. Taking the next logical step to his thesis, sperm gets involved and we’ve made masturbation into murder and every teenage boy has killed more people than Hitler by the time he’s 21. On a more practical basis, excluding medical issues, there’s a darker, more serious component of terminating a pregnancy. An unwanted, unplanned pregnancy can ruin a life medically, financially, and emotionally. It’s not pleasant to talk about, but the truth of the matter is that the remainder of the quality of someone’s life is riding on a decision that she, not the church or government should make. It’s easy to second guess that woman making the decision on moral or spiritual grounds, but I remember something they taught us in Boy Scouts all those years ago, an old Indian saying—“…never judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins…”