I am sitting here, listening to yet another pounding rain, watching election returns.
I have been praying for weeks that God would please not give us what we deserve, which would be another four years of Obama, the continued acceleration of the destruction of the unborn, disastrous overseas policy, lies, cozying up to Comrade Putin (who seems increasingly oblivious to the end of the Cold War), the ruin of the economy, the spreading persecution and villification of anyone who dares say homosexual behavior is wrong, the vast expansion of the GIMME GIMME GIMME welfare/entitlement state, etc., etc.
On Facebook, where my husband maintains a very limited personal account, a number of acquaintances have come up with such gems as, “The Republicans’ support is all stupid, white men; doesn’t that explain a lot?” Wow… let me sit and ponder that one. With all those degrees, that’s really all the logic she could muster? My opinion of advanced degrees and certain “prestigious” universities continues to plummet as I meet women with lots of framed paper on their walls and not one ounce of sense, but an overarching fear of being called our for it, masked by an obnoxiously loud and strident proclamation of how smart they are for not being like one of those stupid pro-lifers and/or conservatives. A complaint about the Republican platform would be fine, but this is just middle school name calling.
Of course, Facebook has also hosted its share of general rants about how Romney should ask women what they think about contraception. Well, I’m a woman, last I checked (I know, I know: “She’s not a woman! She’s a Republican!” as the line went about Palin), and I think contraception is about the stupidest thing we’ve done with technology. We managed to strangle our future generations while wrecking havoc in the stability of our own (divorce rates follow the availability of contraception, and it doesn’t go down, like contraceptives’ proponents say), all in one fell swoop. How’s that for scientific efficiency? And then, even though Hugh Hefner embraced contraceptives as the greatest gift to lust-ridden, irresponsible misogynist pigs everywhere… somehow, women still were convinced that they had to have contraceptives for their own good.
America, the Jesuit magazine for “thinking” (which is code for “dissenting”) Catholics, and the Huffington Post (almost equally useless in their ability to identify or promulgate sound Catholic doctrine) apparently both ran articles explaining to Catholics why Obama (since all Democrats are better for the economy, and abortion is really just about financial inability to raise a child) is really the more pro-life choice than Romney (who hates women and wouldn’t really have anything to do with the legality of abortion, you know). Scarily, some people actually reposted these articles as a “something to make you think” kind of thing. Yes, it makes me think we’re pretty stupid to accept that “financial hardship” is the real reason for the abortion, and not actually a symptom of the disappearing father, embarassed or coercive parents, unfeeling school administrators, etc. who all made it painfully clear to the pregnant mother that they would abandon her, penniless and homeless, unless she got the abortion and stopped making demands on them. And yeah, it makes me think… that catechesis in the Catholic Church in this country has absolutely and almost universally stunk, quite literally, to high heaven for decades, so that we’ve turned out a bunch of religiously illiterate adults who can’t perceive the moral difference between government handouts being somewhat decreased and government-funded murder.
And then we promoted some of those adults to the head of CCD programs and parishes, where they spout about the unfairness of working conditions in Nike factories in Asia and the evil, hard-hearted, poor-hating jerks who argued against Obamacare… but NEVER utter one word about the millions dying every year around the globe and around the corner because of the evil of abortion.
Of course, these people were shocked- absolutely flabergasted!- to find out that those crazy, extremist pro-lifers were right about Obamacare being doomed to bring with it mandatory abortions and contraception for everyone, religious objections be damned. (I’m not holding my breath for an apology. Apparently, being liberal means never having to admit you were wrong about the actual long-term consequences of your ill-considered idealistic actions. At least the bishops finally realized the danger they were in and sued the government over the HHS mandate.)
This morning, I spent two and a half hours in line to vote down here in southeastern Virginia. Our polling place made the local news, and, sadly, we weren’t the worst of it. (Four years ago, the line was outside for the first hour, and the wait took more like 3.5 hours.) Two extra computers for checking voter registration finally showed up after we’d been in line for two hours and had only finally made it to the far end of the school cafeteria from the voting booths. (Yes, I had all four of my kids with me. They were remarkably good, something I was very thankful for.)
The polls tell us that many people only made up their minds about who they’d vote for in the last few weeks.
It would seem more people have solid opinions about who they root for on “Jersey Shore” or in the “Twilight” series than in politics.
It sure looks like a huge chunk of the U.S. population thinks the government owes them and/or others, not that they have the responsibility to work to provide for themselves, their families, and the poor in their own communities. (Yes, Vice President Biden, I’m talking to you. Crap, I give away more money in a month than you did in a year as a senator, and I know my household makes a heck of a lot less than yours. No, Catholic social teaching does NOT support the idea that voting to give away other people’s tax money to programs for the poor is the same as tithing, the CCHD notwithstanding.)
It would also seem that most women, especially “educated” women, are dumb enough to believe that they have to vote Democratic, or else they’ll be seen as stupid. Or not worthy of their “lady parts”. Or that they’ll be chained to the kitchen sink, barefoot, and forced to have babies until they die, while being deprived of proper reading material, like the HuffPo.
I’d like to think we were smarter than this, that a clear explanation of things would open eyes, that we would not fall to what John Adams said could ruin our country: lack of morals and the realization that we could vote ourselves money out of the public treasury. The election should be obvious and not close at all, if we still remembered those things that made our nation great (faith, the rule of law equally for all, civic involvement, personal as well as group responsibility and charity, etc.). No matter who wins tonight, this election is too close to be excusable. Everything in our history says we should be smarter than this.
Thank God, I am solidly aware that my true citizenship is not here, that my deepest loyalties are not to the United States of America, and that all man-made kingdoms will fall and fade, otherwise, I would despair. (Besides, I learned more than what my pitiful CCD program bothered to teach me, so I also know that despair is expressly forbidden; it is a sin against God’s goodness. I have thanked God and blessed the Archdiocese for the Military Services repeatedly over the years for those marvelous, holy chaplains assigned to the Naval Academy.)
But I am losing heart in the power of words, logic, and even personal example to change most peoples’ minds.
Kinda a problem for someone trying to keep up a blog.
I feel so much better now after reading your post. I really do. Thank you so much. Come to think of it, I always feel better after reading your posts. God has given you this wondrous gift of being able to use words to affect people in a fashion that I am simply not able to do.
I sure hope you keep it up. You are a blessing.
Oh, goodness, thank you! I’m glad to hear it encouraged you; that encourages me.
Thank you for putting my very sad feelings into articulate words.
A wonderful post…and you are correct, don’t despair, we must continue to fight on and your words do matter, keep at it.
Vivat Jesus
Please don’t loose heart!
hahahahahaha. Wow. Tripped onto this post COMPLETELY accidentally, thanks for the laugh. Many of your reasons for voting are tied in with your religious beliefs, which–while I’ll admit to not agreeing with you on this matter–is a totally legitimate method of casting your vote. However: our country was NOT formed as a Christian nation. Despite the fact that many of the founding fathers were themselves Christian, they felt it was supremely important to the building of America to leave it as a secular nation, even granting us freedom of religion in the first amendment to the constitution. The FIRST amendment, which would lead one to believe that this was one of the most important things to them. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”.
Regarding some of the accusations you’ve lobbed against my president: The economy COLLAPSED in 2008, BEFORE Obama was even elected. Worth remembering that that took place under George Bush’s watch (I voted for him in 2004, much to my regret now, but I’ll share that blame). The economy is NOT helped by billionaire businessmen who keep their money in Swiss bank accounts (Romney), or large corporations who say that they’ll have to lay people off rather than pay the marginal increase for employee’s medical insurance (Papa John’s). Our overseas policies are CERTAINLY less “disastrous” than those of the previous administration, which got us embroiled in a war which is still being fought, with poorly defined goals. WMDs, the whole supposed reason we entered Iraq in the first place? Total lie. I recently spent some time in England, and had the good fortune of spending some time with people from other countries. And they still laugh–out loud–about George Bush. And they all have a good opinion of Obama. Romney’s disastrous trip overseas made these same people distrustful of him, and it was universally agreed upon at the table that they hoped that Obama would be reelected. Of course for them it was a casual hope, but I think that that says something about the way our country has come to be perceived and also how we can begin to improve ourselves in the eyes of the rest of the world.
The “spreading persecution and villification of anyone who dares say homosexual behavior is wrong”–I COMPLETELY disagree with this whole viewpoint, but here it is in a nutshell: this goes along with the first amendment. If you don’t believe in homosexual behavior, than don’t participate in it. If it offends you because of your religious beliefs, then don’t watch Glee, don’t watch Anderson Cooper, I don’t care. If you’re respectful to other human beings about what you believe, then generally speaking, you’ll be left alone. And if you are tweaked about it, at least you’ll have the moral high ground. But if you go around with vile signs spewing hate, you deserve what you get back. Same thing with abortions. I identify as personally pro-life, but I DEFINITELY believe in a woman’s right to chose. If you believe that abortions are amoral, or murder, or a sin, then don’t have an abortion. Raise your children in such a way that they won’t come to require abortions for unplanned pregnancies. Perhaps have discussions about sex and contraception and preparedness. But don’t presume to hold the entire country to the old-school Catholic way of thinking. Should there be more “family planning” resources available to everyone? Absolutely. If you believe life begins at conception (which I’m relatively certain you must), how can you possibly complain about making contraception available to people and educating them about it? I understand Christianity has a lot of ~no sex until marriage~ bits, but please remember: ours is not a “Christian” nation. Beginning a family should be a CHOICE. Not just based on someone’s financial ability to care for a child, but on any number of factors, different to each person.
Also, this managed to catch my eye as being particularly inflammatory: “It would also seem that most women, especially “educated” women, are dumb enough to believe that they have to vote Democratic, or else they’ll be seen as stupid.” Wow. Education sure is dangerous, right? I know just as many “educated women” who voted for Romney as Obama, for the record. Of course I live in New England, where educating us womenfolk is hardly unheard of, and has in fact been done since the 1700s. Gosh. Now, maybe I’ll be slightly less offensive to you, as I don’t have an advanced education, or a fancy piece of paper tacked up on the wall. Or maybe I’m still “dumb”. To be honest, the Republican party’s views towards women’s rights are to me, archaic, and one of the most repulsive things about the party. Republicans, they’re all for taking government out of everything: deregulate the economy, deregulate gun laws, etc. Except on the progressive social issues, all they can spew is “Ban gay marriage” and “Ban Abortion”. I believe women SHOULD be concerned when “Legitimate” and “rape” show up in the same sentence. If a man walking down a street with no shirt on was pulled into an alley and sodomized, people would be OUTRAGED (and so they should be, don’t get me wrong), but there would be none of that “He was asking for it, wearing such revealing clothing, walking down a street by himself” that we so often throw in the direction of women who have been raped. Think about the culture we live in, and think about what would happen in your dream society if your daughter was raped. If she wasn’t too ashamed to tell you in the first place, you would take her to a catholic hospital, where they would patch up any scrapes or bruises, but she certainly wouldn’t have been on contraception, so perhaps she’ll get pregnant. I mean, you all can go to church and pray that she doesn’t, but it is a very real possibility. Perhaps she’s only 16, and is in no way capable of raising a child. She certainly is not going to marry the father (who is going to get off on the “she was wearing a short skirt and a tight top, I couldn’t help myself” defense), so maybe you and your husband will raise the child yourselves, at least until she’s more capable. And that would be awesome. Except for not everyone has a family that is able to step in and help. I’m just throwing around hypothetical situations that might be worth discussing when your children reach the appropriate age.
Basically, I have no closing arguement. I realize that maybe you’ll read this comment, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll delete it in rage, maybe you’ll share it with all your friends and laugh at it. Whatever. We live in a free country, and what I chose to do with 45 minutes of my own time is no one’s business but my own. I don’t know you, and I know I’ll be okay if I never do. The only thing I want you to know about me is that I am a Democratic woman, who votes based on the social issues. I believe that men and women, old and young, rich and poor, are created equal IN THE EYES OF THE CONSTITUTION. I’m an atheist with Judaistic leanings. I have never taken a handout from the government, the closest thing to it has been the $1200 in student loans I took out for a 2 semesters of college, which I only have 2 more months left to pay on. I do not live a decadent lifestyle, I do not party or sleep around, I have never had an abortion (and can’t imagine the situation when I would), and I donate time and money to my local secular charities. The world is not going to end because Obama was elected. There will be an election in 4 years time, and you will again have a chance to cancel out my vote. However if you really want to enact change in the country, you might have to accept that the majority of the country will not be voting based solely on matters of religion, and you might want to consider that when you perform your responsibility and privilege as an American and vote.
tl;dr Stop being a hater and judging, and don’t forget to vote in 2016
Well, in spite of your rude laughing at the beginning (and dismissing me as if I’d just post your comment for everyone to laugh at or “delete it in rage”), I will try to deal with your arguments better than you dealt with mine.
Let’s try your logic: if you don’t believe in slavery, don’t have slaves.
Doesn’t work, does it? Doesn’t work with abortion, either. Murder is murder, no matter what we call it, and we’re murdering more than a million children a year in this country.
Your example of, “Well, what if your 16-year-old daughter gets raped? She can’t raise the baby. Therefore, Republicans are evil.”
SERIOUSLY, did you bother to look around my blog? All four of my kids were adopted. At least one of them was the child of a rapist. I’m thankful that birthmother said, “I can’t care for this child after what happened, I need to find an adoption agency,” instead of, “I can’t care for this child after what happened, I need to find someone to rip its arms and legs off so I can go on with my life.” You tell me which option is more respectful of women? Why do feminists, who constantly harp on women being ever-so-strong, love to tell women they’re too weak to bring good out of an awful situation?
Canada has approved gay “marriage”. Quite quickly, the lawsuits started, and a number of pastors and even bishops have been hauled in on charges of “human rights abuses” for saying that marriage is between a man and a woman. Cities in the U.S. tried to close down Chick-fil-A because one of its founders stated his support of traditional marriage. So, I guess you’d say everyone “had it coming” because we’d voiced an unpopular opinion that had been deemed evil. (I guess all those poll workers and civil rights activists who were killed in the South just “had it coming”, too, since their opinions were going against the laws of the time, right?)
Weird, wasn’t that what the first amendment was supposed to protect: unpopular speech?
If you believe “rich and poor are created equal in the eyes of the Constitution,” why did you vote for Obama, who has repeatedly campaigned on the idea that the rich are evil, nasty, profiteers who deserve to have all of their income taxed away from them?
I do not vote based “solely on matters of religion,” as you claimed. No society, of any religion, has ever survived when it has encouraged people to look to the government as the biggest giver of gifts (and morals) available. When you take everything away from those who worked for it and give it to those who didn’t, eventually the workers quit working. Ask the Soviets. Ask the Europeans, who have riots in the streets every time they even say, “We might have to trim back government benefits a little bit…” Now, Catholic social teaching and Christian tradition has certainly long held that charity without respect of people’s inherent desire to be responsible for their own lives has bad long-term effects, but any secularist could tell you the same thing.
Any basic ob/gyn textbook will tell you life begins at fertilization, not birth. My opinion on that child’s soul is a matter of religion; the fact that that is a CHILD is a matter of science. Unless you’re ok with declaring certain people to be, you know, not really “people” enough to deserve rights? We’ve done that before, too; whether it’s blacks in the post-Civil War South, non-Arabs in Sudan, girls in China, Christians in Egypt or Syria or Saudi Arabia, or Jews in Europe in the 20th century, it never ends well and a whole lot of people end up dead before it ends.
If you want to buy contraceptives, that’s your choice. Please explain to me why President Obama feels it necessary to say everyone has to pay for it, even if they view it as immoral? Your ability to do it (because of religious freedom) does not translate to forcing others to pay for it. Don’t like it? Find a company that includes contraceptive coverage in its insurance. Your freedoms end where others’ start.
I suppose you think Obama’s just fine to force all employers to buy their employees contraceptives, even against their objections, because that’s just an evil opinion the government has decided we aren’t allowed to have? (You do realize that the Pill is an abortifacient, not strictly contraceptive? Some other methods of “contraceptives” are actually entirely abortifacient. I have religious objections to contraceptives. I have very scientific and philosophical objections to abortions.)
And we’re back to the “your opinion means you had it coming”. Funny, but you just argued that a tight skirt in a bad neighborhood should never be mentioned to a rape victim, because it doesn’t excuse the rape. No, it doesn’t, and someone’s “offensive” opinion doesn’t justify their business being picketed, death threats left on their car, protestors surrounding their house screaming, or city campaigns to kick them out. Yet, that’s what we see from the left.
Including, as I pointed out, a number of strong, independent women, who seem to think they’re only strong and independent and educated because of the “right” to abortion, and who incessantly have to add in just how mind-boggling stupid pro-lifers are. Or Tea Party people. Or anyone else they disagree with.
I actually addressed your arguments; you called names and trotted out the old, tired, “If your daughter was raped, you’d be pro-choice, too!” crap. “Respect for women” is not synonymous with “abortion on demand, paid for with tax dollars.” It’s really a little more complicated than that, and women deserve better than to be told that all intelligent women are pro-abortion, otherwise you’re voting for your own enslavement.
But, as you said, I’m just a “hater”, so I guess we can’t really have much of a reasoned argument.