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A Proposed Speech for Joe Biden [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-09-02

I recently was participating in an Emptywheel discussion about Dobbs and the upcoming election, and my last post in that thread said this:

I feel strongly that Joe Biden can make a powerful counter-argument to this, and that it could be a far-reaching game changer if done well. I’m going to post a sample of what he could say in a prime-time address below. He is uniquely positioned to make this argument in Harris’ stead, and such a message to the American public would cement his position as one of the best Democratic Presidents in our era.

The current image surrounding Catholics in the US has been conjured by the strident “blue army” contingent (Virgin Mary blue, not Dem blue, lol) who have allied themselves with their former rw protestant enemies, all based on visceral opposition to abortion of any kind, and anti-feminism of course. (Ironically and disingenuously, the evangelicals only recently converted to strict anti-abortionism when it dawned on them that allying themselves with rw Catholics was strategically smart.)

I did write a “fireside address” type speech for Joe in that vein, but it was too long for the Emptywheel format. Therefore I’m posting it here, anticipating that it will get more looks in the process, and will post this diary’s link right under my last comment there instead.

Please let me know what y’all think about this short speech, it’s content, format, and whether it would be a game-changer (or win-amplifier, hopefully more like).

So here it is:

My fellow Americans:

I am speaking to you tonight not as your President, but as a concerned citizen. That’s why I’m recording this speech at my home in Delaware rather than from the Oval Office, and why my own political action committee is producing it; I want you to understand my personal position on a subject that has caused a deep rift in the fabric of our civic discourse. This message tonight is my attempt to offer some perspective, as I get ready to leave public service, that I think may offer some clarity to help heal that rift. The subject I want to address is abortion and my position on the recent Dobbs decision of the United States Supreme Court.

As many of you likely know, I am a practicing Catholic and have been all my life. As part of my faith, I believe that God imbues an embryo with a soul, and He does so even before an embryo begins to develop, at the moment of conception. This is a belief that I share will millions of religious people around the world, including some Protestant congregations – but it is just that, a religious belief, not based on science or anything other than the Faith I adhere to.

At the same time, I understand (as we all do) that not everyone holds that belief about when a fertilized human egg becomes a human being, with a soul and deserving of rights. Therefore, I find it presumptuous, indeed oppressive, to consider imposing that belief that I share with millions of Americans on the many millions of us who don’t share it. I have no business doing that, and neither does my Church, or a televangelist, or anyone who shares that belief, no matter how strongly I or they believe it, and no matter how much power in our government I or they wield.

You see, I don’t believe that our Constitution describes a religious form of government. On the contrary, that founding document brilliantly outlines the framework for a civil society that is peopled by members of all faiths and creeds, as well as those who practice no religion whatsoever. Many Founding Fathers of our country, by the way, were deists who believed in God but discounted the miracles. Thomas Jefferson himself published a New Testament without the miracles, in order to highlight the moral teachings of Jesus.

Instilling a fertilized human egg with a soul is certainly a miracle, and Franklin, Jefferson, Monroe, Madison and many other Founders who didn’t practice traditional religion would likely have discounted such a belief, if the subject had been presented to them, which it certainly hadn’t been. And Jefferson, the author of our Declaration of Independence, was also the author of the concept of “a wall between Church and State.” In 1779 he wrote "that our civil rights have no dependence on religious opinions," and I agree with that.

This is why I object to the Dobbs decision, which gives states the right to dictate to their citizens how early in a pregnancy a fertilized egg, or an embryo, or partially developed fetus is to be considered a full human being, worthy of the rights and protections people receive after birth. Dobbs is wrong because no one in this country should have the right to impose a religious belief on anyone else in this country.

The Roe decision, which Dobbs overturned, did provide protection to fetuses who are viable outside the womb while taking the mother’s welfare into account, which is a rational and science-based provision, and which isn’t religiously derived. It was a mistake to supplant that ruling with what amounts to the demolition of that wall between church and state that Jefferson founded.

Now of course there are certain religious edicts which we do share in our civic compacts with each other: the laws against murder and theft, for instance, occur in the 10 commandments which Christians share with the Jewish faith, and which is recognized in Islam. But those are also strictly civic laws in our legal system, meant to prevent taking the life or the personal property of our fellow Americans. That’s because they are rules common to all civilized societies, designed to promote social stability and personal safety. Note that none of the other 8 Commandments (belief in God, respect for one’s parents and laws against lying (except under oath), idolatry, adultery, envy, and Sabbath-breaking) make it into our legal framework in America, although slander is illegal in extreme cases.

I think this aversion to religious dictates entering our public lives is widespread in our country, and that’s why we’re watching the spectacle of Donald Trump, who put forward three Supreme Court Justices who were instrumental in the Dobbs ruling, now doing the abortion pretzel-dance. You see, when he was in office prior to my term and prior to Dodds, he was outspoken in his support for the overturning of Roe. That was because he needed the votes of those religious groups who were committed to abolishing abortion in this country. But now he’s making many quasi-pro-abortion comments because he knows two things: that he will lose if he’s seen as pro-Dobbs this election, and that his supporters who support Dobbs will understand that he’s just pretending to oppose it now. That’s the abortion pretzel-dance.

No one in this country’s legal system should be able to tell a woman that her pregnancy or her body is governed by a religious decree, but that’s what Dobbs allows state governments to do. And make no mistake, the widely reviled Alabama IVF ruling by their Supreme court (which candidates Trump is also pretzel-dancing around) was a completely logical outgrowth of Dobbs and was widely hailed by pro-life religious groups – but by no one else; even the Alabama Legislature quickly passed a law semi-nullifying that ruling. That was because that ruling brought the nature of the religious edict that Dobbs enshrined into high relief. That Court’s Chief Justice’s words regarding frozen embryos were, "Even before birth, all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory." Again, that’s an outright religious edict, my fellow Americans.

I am hopeful that a future Supreme Court will soon overturn Dobbs for these reasons, but I want you, the American public, to know that that will not happen with Donald Trump, who enabled Dobbs in the first place, back in the Oval Office. This is just one of many reasons Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the right team to take our country to the next phase of our growth in freedom and fairness.

And while I refuse to impose my religious beliefs on my fellow citizens, nonetheless I fervently ask God to bless our country as we work through these tense and difficult issues, and I pray for all of us to respect one another’s beliefs and personal autonomy.

Thank you for your attention, my fellow Americans.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/2/2267491/-A-Proposed-Speech-for-Joe-Biden?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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