To the editor:
Last month, I wrote a letter explaining some (not all) of the reasons why it was imperative that Issue One go down in flames. As we all know, it failed to get the simple majority it needed for passage. In fact, in a case of sublime irony, it was very nearly rejected by the super majority it would have required for future referendums. But just how bad did it fail?
It failed so badly that Elon Musk is suggesting that it try a rebrand.
It failed so miserably that the lookout on the Titanic wrote it a letter of condolence.
It was voted down so handily that Donald Trump thinks it actually passed.
It was such a stinker, that Pepe Le Pew is planning to sexually harass it.
It was so unpopular, Freddie Prinze Jr. is inviting it to prom on a dare.
It was such a bad idea that making a reference to a 1990s romcom in a letter to the editor looks like a good idea by comparison.
But all jokes aside, this stinker of a proposal was almost universally hated by Ohio's voters across the aisle, and that doesn't bode well for the right-wing fringe who put the issue on the ballot in order to block a somewhat more popular referendum come November. According to polls, nearly 60 percent of Ohio voters support the reproductive bill of rights proposal the August special election meant to block.
Here in the Ohio Valley, there is a vocal minority of those who oppose a woman's right to choose. So loud are they, that one might mistakenly believe they represent a majority. In fact, those responsible for this paper's editorial content are a part of that minority. Also, the RCC and the administration of Franciscan University of Steubenville are well-known proponents of compulsory gestation, as are many other prominent local Protestant church leaders, and they will let you know as much at every opportunity. Whereas people who think forcing woman to die in childbirth is evil or that requiring 12-year-old girls to carry the progeny of their rapists is probably not a great idea, tend to be more private in their convictions.
Make no mistake, the only way the life-begins-at-ejaculation crowd wins this vote in November is if some champions of the scientific consensus decide that the loud people must be more numerous simply by virtue of their cacophony. Don't stay home because you think voting is futile. It's not. We outnumber them; just like we did in August.
Come fall, get out to vote, and maybe my November letter can be more hilarious jokes about how badly Frank LaRose and his ilk got trounced again.
J. David Core
Toronto