We received word via social media from Pamela Merritt, from Reproaction, on doings at the Missouri Democratic Party state committee meeting this past weekend:

I served on the MO Dem platform cmte for several months. We drafted a pretty good platform. It could have had more teeth, but it was way better than the Republican lite mess they had been working with.

Today, the party amended and voted on the platform.

I’m going to need someone from the Missouri Democratic Party to explain to me how a diversity of opinion on abortion rights is a strength, and how that positioning doesn’t make the party look like incoherent moderates in an age that demands articulate leadership.

Is diversity of opinion on voting rights a strength? Is diversity of opinion on immigrant rights a strength? Is diversity of opinion on civil rights a strength? Is diversity of opinion on LGBTQ non-discrimination laws a strength?

This is the very definition of bullshit.

But hey, message received.

I’ll have more to say about this in the next few days.

For now, I’ll just say that agreeing to disagree on core values is how we ended up with a battle to save Roe, families separated and children in cages, Muslim bans, a former Dem Governor and labor leadership organizing a fundraiser for racist police union spokesbigot Jeff Roorda, and a country where guns have more rights than women.

That’s not strength. Those are the predictable consequences of weakness and appeasement toward a core group who will never support you the way Black women did.

Past tense on purpose.

*spits*

Great. Someone(s) in the Missouri Democratic Party found a way to alienate the most loyal part of its base.

And, again, from Pamela Merritt:

…still disgusted with the MO Dem Party’s platform fail. Missouri needs more prolife Dems like we *need* another earthquake. We don’t. Dems who do not support access to abortion and the conservative voters they will allegedly attract are the shiny object that distracts from building a platform that appeals to the thousands of voters who stay home because Republicans are regressive bigoted fiends and Democrats are obsessed with appealing to moderately regressive bigoted anti-women fiends.

And I’ll ask again, how is diversity of opinion on abortion a strength but diversity of opinion on right to work an abomination. I’ll add that I am firmly opposed to right to work, I’d never ask any political party to welcome members or politicians who support it because it is horrible policy that will harm workers and damage communities.

See how easy that is? Didn’t hurt a bit.

*spits again*

I’ve always used the term “anti-choice” to describe those single issue voters and politicians.

I was born before Roe v Wade. I was a teenager when the then U.S. Supreme Court made the ruling. And before you ask me or criticize me, as a male, about anything in my past experience that would prompt me to or give me the right to comment on reproductive health and choice for women, know that my first response would be, “It’s none of your god damned business.”

It’s a personal medical decision. Period.

Against access to adequate health care for all? No way you’re “pro life”. Against Medicaid expansion in Missouri? No way you’re “pro life”. I can go on and on. There’s decades of this kind of right wingnut policy and behavior. I’ve always asked the anti-choicers (and believe me, I have), “Are you against the death penalty and war?” One memorable response, “Oh, no, it’s about the babies.” I have nothing but contempt for that kind of moral emptiness. It’s about nothing other than forcing their power over others. That’s it.

So, this past weekend, of all days, the Missouri Democratic Party state committee voted to alter the party platform on women’s reproductive health – which might allow for so called “pro life” candidates to feel better about themselves.

No.

Does that state party believe that there may be anti-choice voters and politicians who may feel like it’s finally time to abandon the republicans over putting little children in concentration camps because it’s just a tiny bridge too far for them and who also really reflect the values of the Democratic Party and the people that we’ve all been working on behalf of for decades? I’ve got news for you, you don’t abandon your base because you want to attract a few voters or politicians in the opposition party who suddenly become queasy over behavior that’s been going on in their party for decades.

You dance with them what brung you.

Against access to adequate health care for all? No way you’re “pro life”. Against Medicaid expansion in Missouri? No way you’re “pro life”. If you’re that kind of “pro life” you and everyone else like you can go to hell, you already have an oppressive party you can join.

And, if the state party is going down that road I’ve got the new state party logo for you right here.

And, by the way, there already is an inclusive stance on abortion. It’s called “pro choice.”