We saw an increase of purposeful “leaks” as a strategy during the last administration.
I find it very remarkable that a serious leak has come from the Supreme Court, an institution that has almost never had leaks in our country’s history.
The plan was to leak information, whether genuine or false, in order to test the waters, create turmoil, or distract.
Though it could be a fortunate coincidence for the Republicans’ strategy, I would not be surprised if this Supreme Court leak was planned:
As a strategy to minimize the shock and societal repercussions that would result from a Supreme Court judgment that suddenly overturns Roe v Wade and reinstates a slew of pre-1970 statutes discriminating against women.
For example, Arizona has had laws banning birth control on the books since at least the early 1960s. Since 1973, the statutes have been unenforced due to the Supreme Court’s Roe vs Wade decision, which overruled those laws. However, the Arizona birth control restrictions were never repealed. This means that if Roe v. Wade is reversed by the Supreme Court, the Arizona laws prohibiting birth control will become active and punishable again should any prosecutor choose to do so based solely on their own beliefs concerning sexuality.
That’s not even counting the slew of trigger laws Republicans enacted years ago in anticipation of an eventual Roe v. Wade reversal.
The leak allows people to debate the subject for a month before the decision is announced.
During that period, half of the debate will center on whether or not the leak is even true. It is.
That will then turn into debates about whether it’s “the final decision” or an advanced draft “just in case.”
The other half of the arguments will be over what will happen next, with a portion of the population cheering, another sharing the worst-case scenarios, and a third “checking out.”
Another portion of the population will just philosophize about it in debates, downplaying the true effects on real people because it does not affect them personally. This is a popular pastime among men.
As a result, when the verdict is finally announced, no one will be shocked. The immediate tension caused by a final judgment and its repercussions will have diminished.
The majority of people will be already “accustomed to it” or simply “worn out.”
At least, that’s the plan.
Warnings that lobbying groups are currently developing a six-week nationwide ban for Republicans to carry through Congress, with limited or no exceptions for rape, incest, or maternal health will fall on deaf ears.
Concerns about the criminalization of contraception, like predictions about Roe v. Wade over the last decade, will be dismissed as liberal exaggerated fear-mongering… despite the fact that Republicans have been claiming publicly that birth control pills are a form of abortion that should be completely outlawed, even a “gateway to abortion,” since 2009.
It’s an excellent strategy.
Understanding the strategy, whether preplanned or coincidental, will hopefully remind enough of us that criminalizing abortion and birth control is only the first step in a very long-term plan for one monolithic group to gain power and control over everyone else, based on their own deeply held religious beliefs that do not reflect a free society.
The party of limited government, local authority, state rights, individual liberties, and even privacy has been sacrificed at the altar of power and control limited to some.
And, ironically, those who are presently limiting rights and power to their own insular group are also the descendants of those who declared independence on July 2, 1776, in order to escape the limitation of power and control against them by a very similar monolithic group.