# Phyllis Schlafly dead at 92 - Does anybody care? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 5, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155 "2016-09-05T23:58:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/261 "2016-09-12T14:10:56Z")
By your last post, **Bricker** , you seem to be admitting that, at least in some cases, a “liberal” SCOTUS would be superior to a “conservative” SCOTUS. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/262 "2016-09-12T14:16:44Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Then you don’t appear to have read my post. Plessy v Ferguson came after the 14th amendment, as did Jim Crow and all the other horrors of the antebellum, pre Civil Rights south. A “liberal” SCOTUS would have ruled the correct and just way on Plessy v Ferguson, would have invalidated Jim Crow laws, and the country would have been far better off for it. There was no appetite in the US for integration at that time. The idea that a handful of “liberals” (if that is even meaningful when comparing ideas over 100 years ago) could force the country to integrate simply isn’t in the realm of reality. Remember that in the early 19th century, Eugenics was a position held by many folks who were considered liberal at the time. The SCOTUS can only get so far ahead of the nation as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/263 "2016-09-12T14:20:38Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Has there ever been a thread here about the death of a prominent left-leaning commentator, pundit, or activist, in which the right-leaning board members expressed glee at the passing? Let’s roll the tape… > [@Ted Kennedy is dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-is-dead/507746/7): > > Gone at last to stammer his excuses to the shade of Mary Jo Kopechne just before God sends his ass to roast in eternal hellfire for leaving a young woman to drown. > > Disgusting apology for a human being, the world is well rid of this sanctimonious, hypocritical weasel. > [@Ted Kennedy is dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-kennedy-is-dead/507746/19): > > Those who gives Kennedy a pass over the events at Chappaquiddick have not read the accounts of what happened. > > He spent more time trying to cover up what happened than rescuing Mary Jo Kopechne. He tried to get his friends to lie for him and went so far as to swim back to the mainland so he would be seen at the hotel where he was registered. He then tried to smear the officer who investigated it. > > All his political accomplishments lay at the foot of this legacy. He deserves a burial at sea (at night) in the trunk of 1967 Olds 88 pushed off the deck while nobody is watching. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/264 "2016-09-12T14:24:40Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > There was no appetite in the US for integration at that time. The idea that a handful of “liberals” (if that is even meaningful when comparing ideas over 100 years ago) could force the country to integrate simply isn’t in the realm of reality. Remember that in the early 19th century, Eugenics was a position held by many folks who were considered liberal at the time. > > The SCOTUS can only get so far ahead of the nation as a whole. IIRC, Jim Crow-style segregation only began en masse around the 1880s. Before then, it wasn’t ubiquitous in the South (IIRC), nor for the rest of the country. Even afterwards, it wasn’t ubiquitous (though it was common) through the country, and I think it’s reasonable to believe that late 19th century Massachusetts, for example, wasn’t as invested in white supremacism as George Wallace and his ilk were in the 50s. I’m not saying it would have been problem-free, just that it would have been less messy (especially if done right after the 14th amendment), and caused a lot less suffering, had this stuff been overturned much earlier than it actually was. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/265 "2016-09-12T14:55:22Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > …Remember that in the early 19th century, Eugenics was a position held by many folks who were considered liberal at the time… Uh, **John**? > [@](#): > > …the modern history of eugenics began in the early 20th century when a popular eugenics movement emerged in the United Kingdom… > **[Eugenics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics)** > > Eugenics (/juːˈdʒɛnɪks/ yoo-JEN-iks; from Ancient Greek εύ̃ (eû) 'good, well' and -γενής (genḗs) 'born, come into being, growing/grown') is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have altered various human gene frequencies by inhibiting the fertility of people and groups purported to be inferior or promoting that of those purported to be superior. > The contemporary history of eugenics began in the late 19th cent... ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/266 "2016-09-12T15:16:30Z")
From our good friends over at _Daily Kos_, a collection from her Greatest Hits compilation… > **[Speaking ill of the dead](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/11/1567736/-Speaking-ill-of-the-dead#read-more)** > > Growing up in the Midwest, there are certain values you are born into. You may hear it expressed as Minnesota or Wisconsin “nice.” You say please and thank you. You excuse yourself, you talk to strangers in public places, and... > [@](#): > > So here’s Mrs. Schlafly speaking for herself: > > Sex education classes are like “in-home sales parties for abortions” — February 1997. > > "Our public school system is our country’s biggest and most inefficient monopoly, yet it keeps demanding more and more money.” — September 2004. > > "ERA means abortion funding, means homosexual privileges, means whatever else.” — August 1999. > > "Sexual harassment on the job is not a problem for virtuous women.” — April 1981. > > “The worst censors are those prohibiting criticism of the theory of evolution in the classroom.” — December 2004. > > “By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape.” — March 2007. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/267 "2016-09-12T15:25:02Z")
Anyone know what “homosexual privileges” means in that context? The cite sadly doesn’t go into any more detail. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/268 "2016-09-12T15:28:47Z")
Most, if not all, of the quotes are from Ms Shafly’s _Eagle Forum_ publication. I assume you can get more there. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/269 "2016-09-12T15:35:29Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Uh, **John**? > > [Eugenics - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics) :smack: Yes, 20th century. early 1900s/ early 20th century. Not to mention that Separate by Equal wasn’t exactly a thing in the early 19th century… ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/270 "2016-09-12T15:55:30Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > That’s the other side of the philosopher king problem: when the kings need an army. It’s always important to put forward a [good argument](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ultima-ratio-regum) in these instances. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/271 "2016-09-12T16:25:02Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > It’s true that every now and then the right will manage to come up with a faulty constitutional interpretation. But I’d wager just about any amount you’d care to wager that for every example of the right doing this I could show you 50 by the left. Doubtful, but by definition (I guess), the liberal judge would tend to be the one wanting to re-interpret the constitution to meet new social demands and the conservative judge would be the one resisting such a re-interpretation. Whether or not the liberal judge’s reasoning is faulty or seeking to correct a fault is something of a matter of opinion. If you can cite 50 examples, why not show us some? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/272 "2016-09-12T19:39:47Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Doubtful, but by definition (I guess), the liberal judge would tend to be the one wanting to re-interpret the constitution to meet new social demands and the conservative judge would be the one resisting such a re-interpretation. > > Whether or not the liberal judge’s reasoning is faulty or seeking to correct a fault is something of a matter of opinion. If you can cite 50 examples, why not show us some? We would require more than 50. I cited two examples of 5-4 right-wing SCOTUS rulings of such an appallingly activist nature that **SA** himself agreed they were “a faulty constitutional interpretation”, and I also explained exactly why. Right off the top of my head I can think of at least four more that eviscerated yet more campaign finance laws on the same principle as _Citizens United_, so on the claimed ratio of 50-to-1, **SA** should be able to cite for us at least 300 SCOTUS decisions that were egregious examples of appalling liberal activism and easily explained as obviously unconstitutional. But let’s be generous and just stick with those two right-wing travesties I cited. **SA** only needs to cite 100 SCOTUS decisions demonstrating obvious liberal judicial activism and explain, as I did, why it’s a blatant misreading of the Constitution. I’ll wait. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/273 "2016-09-12T19:47:45Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > From our good friends over at _Daily Kos_, a collection from her Greatest Hits compilation… > > [Speaking ill of the dead](http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/11/1567736/-Speaking-ill-of-the-dead#read-more) Wow!! It’s like the pronouncements of a specially constructed Stupid-Bot with all the hate, misanthropy, and bigotry options dialed up to 10! > [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Anyone know what “homosexual privileges” means in that context? The cite sadly doesn’t go into any more detail. I believe in that context it refers to “the right to exist”. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/274 "2016-09-12T21:38:57Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Then you don’t appear to have read my post. Plessy v Ferguson came after the 14th amendment, as did Jim Crow and all the other horrors of the antebellum, pre Civil Rights south. Minor note: “antebellum” typically refers to the years _before_ the Civil War. The period you’re describing - after the CW (and Reconstruction) up until the Civil Rights Era - is often called “The Solid South”. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/275 "2016-09-12T22:13:11Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Minor note: “antebellum” typically refers to the years _before_ the Civil War. The period you’re describing - after the CW (and Reconstruction) up until the Civil Rights Era - is often called “The Solid South”. Oops. Actually, I was thinking “postbellum”, though I’m not sure if that’s used very commonly. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/276 "2016-09-12T23:24:25Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Let’s roll the tape… What did I say in that thread? What did Shodan say? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/277 "2016-09-12T23:26:31Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > By your last post, **Bricker** , you seem to be admitting that, at least in some cases, a “liberal” SCOTUS would be superior to a “conservative” SCOTUS. The death penalty for parking violations is superior to the $25 fine… if the analysis begins and ends with whether parking violations decrease. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/278 "2016-09-12T23:38:54Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > The death penalty for parking violations is superior to the $25 fine… if the analysis begins and ends with whether parking violations decrease. But a liberal SCOTUS could have gotten Plessy v Ferguson correct, and could have overturned Jim Crow laws before the CRA and VRA. If you think it would have been too “messy” in the 19th century, what about the early 20th? What about in the 40s, with the support of FDR? Would you agree that such an “activist” SCOTUS determined to overturn such discriminatory practices in the 1940s would have produced a better long term outcome than waiting another 20 years? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/279 "2016-09-12T23:42:03Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > The death penalty for parking violations is superior to the $25 fine… if the analysis begins and ends with whether parking violations decrease. I think a strict textualist interpretation of a hypothetical principle like, say, “No Person shall, without the consent of the Owner, park his horse, cart, or other contrivance but in a manner to be prescribed by law”, one could easily support the interpretation that no penalty would be too great to preserve this sacred right of the owners of parking spots, even if the horse, not actually on such spot, happens to shit upon it. The core question always seems to me to boil down to the ability to use one’s brain, filtered through the perspective of contemporary social values and mores, to arrive at a rational interpretation of how principles elucidated 240 years ago should apply today. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155/280 "2016-09-13T01:03:16Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > IIRC, Jim Crow-style segregation only began en masse around the 1880s. Before then, it wasn’t ubiquitous in the South (IIRC), nor for the rest of the country. Even afterwards, it wasn’t ubiquitous (though it was common) through the country, and I think it’s reasonable to believe that late 19th century Massachusetts, for example, wasn’t as invested in white supremacism as George Wallace and his ilk were in the 50s. It was a [big problem in the 1970s in MA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_busing_desegregation). I can’t imagine it would have been better 80 years earlier. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phyllis-schlafly-dead-at-92-does-anybody-care/765155.md?page=15)