Traditiiiiiiiiooooooooon

Raymond Williams, Marxist scholar, breaks down the meaning of "tradition" in Marxist terms in his book Marxism and Literature. He defines it in part as "the most evident expression of the dominant and hegemonic pressures and limits." What we see of tradition is inherently selective, an active process of choosing what will be represented and what will be discarded of the history that we use to shape our present. According to Williams, the hegemonic sense of tradition is the most active - meaning the structures that shape our whole social process, the process of social domination that keeps everyone in line, is the most active in the process of selection which accounts for what we see in the present tense as tradition. It "offers a historical and cultural ratification of a contemporary order".

What does it mean, then, when our President refers to the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funding to provide abortions, as "tradition"? The idea, when expressed, was politically loaded, but upon re-examination, so is the word itself. This means that the President is actively participating in establishing "dominant and hegemonic pressures and limits" on a woman's right to choose an abortion specifically, and on women's access to reproductive services generally. It means of the many traditions to choose from, including the tradition of unfettered access to legal medical services, the President has chosen instead to align himself with the conservative tradition of treating women's bodies as a grounds on which to establish extensive policy. And that, I feel, is much more deeply disturbing than the sentiment itself - what it means to uphold the tradition of and behind the particular sentiment, to choose that tradition over all others, and the ways that tradition over all others will shape the future of women in this country.