I should start this by sharing what is a well known secret. I am agnostic. That doesn't mean I don't believe in God, I just feel that it can not be proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that God existed. Ever since I was a child, I always have doubts and ququestions.
I guess what confuses me the most is how a political party that greatly associates Jesus into their rhetoric, actually flat out refuses to embrace the views Jesus had. Jesus, according to the gospels that were allowed into Scripture, was a peaceful hippie who embraced the idea of healing the sick without charging. No, they more or less remind me of the one in the scriptures left out, like when he blinded a man in spite simply because the man did not like the work Jesus' father did. Spiteful, cruel hearted children, like the gospels dealing with Jesus as a youth seem to make Christ out as.
Republicans seem to be against everything that would help the poor. Medicare, nope, they want to gut that. Food stamps, nope, they would to eliminate programs like that. Mitt Romney even admitted that he will engaged in cutting funding to PBS and Planned Parenthood.
We'll gloss over that fact that only 11% of Planned Parenthood's services are abortions. We'll gloss over the fact right now that the funding that goes to PBS would take 117 years to equal what defense gets in one year. The Conservatives are such skinflints that they want to cut funding for almost everything, except for defense. Defense is the calling card for them, because deep down, they like war. Maybe they view them as modern day crusades?
But listen, I don't want to get bogged down in the numbers, because the point is missed. Instead the goals need to be examined. I listen to the rhetoric that the GOP offers, and I hear vague power words, and no solutions.
To me, programs like medicare and food stamps are needed. People who are on food stamps are not the type of folks that they are made out to be. The contribute to the economy. If they weren't on food stamps, then the food products that they purchase would remain on the shelves, and the stores wouldn't make the money off of said product. Which means that the company that produced the product wouldn't make money either. You don't make money off of things that don't leave the shelves.
Now the GOP makes these bombastic claims that people on food stamps are moochers of society. As you can clearly see, this is not the truth. Instead of trying to help these people, the Conservatives want to use them as leverage in order to frighten the middle class. This is why many Conservative middle class folk view those who collect food stamps as being lazy, They are brainwashed into doing so by the GOP. Instead, we should focus on helping these people. They aren't a bogeyman, they are mothers with children, people who are under employed and can barely scrape together the money to survive. They simply are people, who are not as lucky as you or I. Remember that next time you crack a joke about someone on Welfare, or scoff at them when you see them in your local supermarket. And remember you are one twist of fate away from being there yourself.
As for the abortion issue. I find it ironic that people who claim that life is sacred and are against abortion are so in favor of always being at war. As Carlin said, they want live babies so they can grow up to be dead soldiers. Why else would some of them be so dead set against allowing a woman the right to choose? Some, like Todd Akin, feel that even if the woman is a victim of a rape, or if her life is in danger, should be forced to carry the baby full term. That is wrong headed thinking, and anyone who feels that why doesn't not belong in any public office! Besides, who the hell are they to decide what another person should/can do with their body? Planned Parenthood mainly deals in contraceptives, and other issues. Abortions are a tiny sliver of what they do. But the GOP doesn't like the idea of Planned Parenthood, so they use the abortion bogeyman to make people think that Planned Parenthood is a forest of abortions.
I could go on, but I don't wish to come off as rambling. I think the next time, I'll focus on why gay marriage should be legal.
No comments:
Post a Comment