North Carolina Legislature Wants to Allow State to Get on One Side of the Abortion Rights Debate

Conservatives Idea of a Fair Argument – We Get to State Our Side; The Other Side Does Not Get to State Its Case

One of the silliest things in American political society is that ability to put political or election messages on license plates.  For some reason proponents of all arguments think that if they can just put a word or two or three on a license plate supporting their cause this will make a huge difference.

One can imagine the anti-abortion rights advocates thinking, “If we  justput “Choose Life” on license plates millions of Americans who support abortion rights will change their mind and millions of American women who undergo abortions will cease to do so.”  Exactly right, of course, almost all of us form our political and social positions on what is placed on license plates.

So in North Carolina the Republican controlled legislature voted to allow motorists in the state to buy license plates that say “Choose Life” as a way of expressing their support on not allowing abortions.  Now The Dismal Political Economist has no problem with this, if anti-abortion rights activists want to give the state of North Carolina an extra $15.00 for a license plate with an inoffensive phrase, more power to them.

But Conservatives can never stop with just exercising their own rights, they have such weak arguments that they feel they must stop opponents from exercising their rights, and so in North Carolina you have this

The legislature, led by a majority of Republicans for the first time in more than a century, refused several efforts by Democratic lawmakers to authorize a license plate with the pro-abortion rights message “Respect Choice.”

The Republicans apparently feeling that a phrase like “Respect Choice” is so powerful it would cause previously anti-abortion activists to change side, and to cause both men and women, even women who were not pregnant to go out and get an abortion.  So the issue ends up in court, wasting judicial time, taxpayer money and demonstrating once and for all that Conservatives are just not serious about this democracy thing.  For them, too often voters freely choose positions and candidates that Conservatives think they shouldn’t and so they need the power of government to stop that sort of thing.