The following prophetic words came from Sojourners today. I get a regular mail from Sojourners and many days like today the quotes really speak to what is going on in my life or in our national political dialog. Today was no exception.
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.- Proverbs 29:2-2
Recently I heard one party describing themselves as pro-life and another as pro-choice. The pro-life party seems to be unconcerned with life after birth. As long as your unborn you have rights, but after that your rights quickly fade. You’re not entitled to health care. It’s okay for ten million children to have no health care. It’s okay to forget about the health care of war veterans. Funding for more wars is all that occupies these pro-lifers. There is a well written piece at Just Plain Foolish that talks about some of these problems in more detail.These pro-lifers are pro-capital punishment, pro-war, pro-greed. The pro-choice seems perfectly willing to talk about choice but not really provide one. They use euphemisms like “veto proof” majority to evade their responsibility both under the United States Constitution and common morality.
I’ve had it up to the top of my head with being told that pundits and politicians know better than I do. They lie and lie, depriving me of choice, and others of life. Enough.
Until I see them at the grocery, stocking up on shelf-stable foods that can be simply prepared, even without a microwave, I will not believe they are taking this seriously. My husband and I have been preparing care packages for years now, and are well aware that *even if* this stupid war stopped this instant, everyone putting down their weapons and heading home, we’re facing problems for years to come stemming from it.
The wounded face long recoveries. The soldiers of this war are already discovering, as generations before did, that the gratitude of a nation doesn’t pay the rent or the kid’s orthodontist. It also doesn’t banish dreams at night. And they, like so many others, are discovering what those tax breaks are costing our social net.
As a Canadian, I think this polarization in american politics is a national form of insanity. “Feed the children, kill the unborn babies!”, “Save the unborn babies, burn them alive after they are born!”. Neither of those is a fair characterization of anyone’s ACTUAL beliefs. So why, if you dislike having someone offer up a distorted view of your own priorities, do you persist in the reverse distortion?
How is it reasonable and true to say that any political group is “unconcerned with life after birth”. Thats wheezing polemic worthy of an elected politician, right there. You get yourself, and the rest of the world nowhere, and you just muddy up the water.
Warren
Thank you for offering your insight. 🙂