The
first plank rejects “the certified results of
the 2020 Presidential election, and [holds] that acting President Joseph
Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United
States”; have they not followed the
January 6 Committee hearings? Do they not know of the credible and vast information
indicating trump’s involvement in not only the insurrection but the complex web
of planning that led up to it? The many ways trump supporters planned to
overthrow the results of the election? How out of touch are these people?
requiring students “to learn about the dignity of the preborn
human,” including that life begins at fertilization; This anti-abortion plank defies all medical advice and could
cost hundreds of women their lives. It apparently makes no exception for
medical emergency, rape, and incest. The jury is still out on when life begins,
but many scientists decry the ‘heartbeat” rule, pointing out that what is called
a heartbeat at six weeks is merely electrical impulses in an unorganized clump
of cells. It seems certain life does not begin at conception—and how would you
monitor that? Many of the anti-abortion activists will tell you they are good Christians—they
apparently skipped the part of the Bible that says life begins with the first
breath.
treating homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice”; again, they ignore science and psychology experts who after
study maintain that homosexuality is not a deliberate choice but a recognition
of who a person was meant to be; by condemning homosexuality, the Republicans will
cause a great increase in teen suicides. Studies show that homosexual teens who
have support are far less likely to harm themselves.
locking the number of Supreme Court justices at 9; obviously, they want to keep the nine they have, and just as
obviously the majority of those nine are making judgements based less on
constitutional law than personal belief and party affiliation.
getting rid of the constitutional power to levy income taxes; how do they expect to run the country, to fund the government
and all the government benefits we enjoy. These ultra-conservatives are fond of
ranting about socialism, without recognizing that we live in a social
democracy. The government funds first responder services—police, fire, and
medical; postal service; garbage collection; maintenance of roads and highways
and bridges; social security (yes, they condemn it but watch them squirm if
they lost their monthly payments); medical services (except in Texas which has
turned away Federal funding), and a host of other things.
abolishing the Federal Reserve; got me
here. I don’t know enough to comment.
rejecting the Equal Rights Amendment; why? So they have more power over women? So women are once
again barefoot and in the kitchen? They are afraid of the increasing power of
women in government, business, art, all walks of life. The glass ceiling has
already broken, and their thinking is yesterday. It’s too late to repair that
ceiling.
returning Christianity to schools and government; Conservatives are all about defending the Constitution, as in
the Second Amendment, but they overlook the fact that the Founding Fathers deliberately
called for separation of church and state (Thomas Jefferson, 1802). We are not
a Christian nation. We have a diversity of religions within our population, and
we are a democracy. No one religion can dictate to all people.
ending all gun safety measures; this rests on a misinterpretation of the Second Amendment,
which called for a “well-regulated militia.” Having individuals wandering
around with everything from assault weapons to handguns does not qualify, At
the time the amendment was written, guns were single-shot muzzle loaders, which
required lengthy and complicated reloading after each shot The Founding Fathers
in their wisdom could not conceive of assault weapons nor a society so bent on
killing each other. I recently read a suggestion tha we allow muzzle loaders
and ban all other weapons.
defending capital punishment; this is
an ongoing debate and not a hot-button issue right now, though I will add that
conservatives given to a punitive turn of mind, overlook some facts: mistakes are
made and innocent people executed (see the Innocence Project); it costs more to
execute than to keep a prisoner for life; those Christians calling for capital
punishment, might remember the commandment, “Thou shall not kill,” and the
words of the Judaic deity, “Vengeance is mine.”
dictating the ways in which the events at the Alamo are remembered; John Wayne was wrong; read, Forget the Alamo.
protecting Confederate monuments; I’m actually in on this one. Confederate monuments honor a
horrific period in our history—and the horrific practice of slavery—but they
are history, and some are works of art.
ending gay marriage; Why? How does
it hurt anyone else? Why should one group of people be able to decree who can
marry who? See objections to the homosexuality clause above.
withdrawing from the United Nations and the World Health
Organization; Ukraine proved the folly of this one
and thank God for Biden who united the free world to fight tyranny.
and calling for a vote “for the people of Texas to determine
whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent
nation.” This is so patently ridiculous as to call
forth laughter. Have they thought about what running an independent country
entails—all those government services would go away; the state would need its
own army, navy, air force, education program (forget that, it’s not a
priority), postal service, infrastructure maintenance program, retirement system.
It would need to establish independent international relations which would not
be easy given the renegade status.
I’d love to hear what you think, and how we can protect Texas
and make it once again the state it was. Texas has a proud and strong history,
with a few bleeps, but we’ve lost it in recent years. Let’s vote it back in.
Sorry this is long.
No comments:
Post a Comment