The repeal of Roe will liberate the Democratic Party, as the abortion issue will be decided state by state. Authentic Democrats seeking national office will at first make conciliatory noises to the strident abortion faction, but will gratefully consider it an albatross taken away from their necks. Suddenly, when they don't have this issue to satisfy the affluent fanatic Merlot liberals with, the majority of Democrats will be revealed to be almost indistinguishable from the corporate whores of the Republican Party. Within five years after Roe's repeal, absolutely no national Democrat will utter anything about abortion ever again.
     Roe helped make the Democratic Party a permanent minority party. Even people I knew in college 25 years ago who were firmly pro abortion now find it disgusting. And aside from people obssessed with social issues popular on colonies in the Coasts and in the bubble worlds of university towns in between, Americans everywhere else you meet, even in government, will tell you that there is no real difference between the parties, as they continue to sell out ordinary American people.
     The American Prospect has a wonderful article this month on the success of the Working Peoples' Party, constructed on the ability of New York State's ballot system to allow "fusion" candidates to run on more than one ticket. It dumps the entire morass of social issues for old time America pragmatic politics to help people in their everyday lives, yeah, what the Democrats used to be about. And it really seems to be able to steer alienated voters of both parties and independents, too, to politicians of either major party who will not only not stab them in the backs but help them in the ever nastier struggles of everyday economic existence. I urge Larry to look this up and comment on it; he has long been fascinated by New York election law and fusion history. "TAP" and "Dissent" are the two best authentic liberal/left magazines out there to confront the squalid mess of corruption and hypocrisy that both parties have fallen into. Almost everything else is either more elitist pap of the neoliberal consensus (NYT, New Republic, etc.), or cartoon leftist agitprop (e.g., The Nation).
   See also: http://www.democratsforlife.org/