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Abortion suddenly dominated politics when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a half‐century of constitutional protection for reproductive choices. The issue varies around the world but is especially powerful in the United States because Protestant fundamentalists and Catholics cooperated to capture one of America's two major political parties. That Republican Party has now packed the courts. The result is the decision that melded political and religious ideologies into the radical Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. This article contends that anti‐abortion arguments are flawed and that an effective anti‐abortion policy requires a harsh authoritarian, if not totalitarian, government, fueled by misogyny and disregard for human rights. Such policies force pregnant women into what must be described as a condition of slavery. With Dobbs, the restrictions on individual freedom immediately began. There have been significant counter‐reactions, also, such as the referendum in Kansas on August 2, 2022, that overwhelmingly rejected a church‐led effort to strip abortion protections from the Kansas State Constitution. Related Articles: Carmines, Edward G., Jessica C. Gerrity, and Michael W. Wagner. 2010. "How Abortion Became a Partisan Issue: Media Coverage of the Interest Group‐Political Party Connection." Politics & Policy 38(6): 1135–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2010.00272.x. Doan, Alesha E., and Corinne Schwarz. 2020. "Father Knows Best: 'Protecting' Women through State Surveillance and Social Control in Anti‐Abortion Policy." Politics & Policy 48(1): 6–37. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12337. Medoff, Marshall H. 2010. "State Abortion Policy and the Long‐Term Impact of Parental Involvement Laws." Politics & Policy 38(2): 193–221. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2010.00235.x. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abortion is an issue around the world, varying in intensity by location. In the United States, it generates enormous controversy, especially because Protestant fundamentalists have joined Roman Catholics in strenuous opposition and have essentially captured one of the two major political parties. This extended commentary essay contends that anti-abortion arguments are flawed and that an effective anti-abortion policy requires a harsh authoritarian, if not totalitarian, government, fueled by misogyny and disregard for human rights. Such policies force pregnant women into what must be described as a condition of slavery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article directly and bluntly challenges traditional thought by casting aside conventional wisdom regarding the national economy, replacing it with Modern Political Economy and Public Policy. American national policies, I argue, should always, whenever possible, be universal, not targeted toward specific groups. Moreover, policies need to be crafted to achieve their goals, not to fit within budgetary constraints. The least government is the worst, not the best, and a miserly approach to spending is not "wise use of the taxpayers' dollars." The national government controls the currency, paying its bills in dollars. It issues dollars as needed, in whatever amount it chooses, and is unrestrained by the need to "find the money" or "pay-as-you-go." Taxes are useful for purposes of regulation and control of income inequality, but are not relevant to expenditures. "Anything that is technically feasible," I claim following Kelton and coauthors, "is financially affordable," and there is no need to fear inflation so long as spending does not exceed the productive capacity of the economy. Despite conventional wisdom to the contrary, and regardless of the widely used jargon of politicians, when government spends, it is not using "The Taxpayers' Money." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]