Making The Case.

Like many Republicans, I think the government has a little too much to say about how I live my life. Apparently, today, unlike many Republicans, I don't think I should answer or be required to act on a belief system that is not mine.  More and more I see Republicans trying to legislate how I should think. Not only do I resent that. I will battle that.

So, my question is.. When I agree with Republicans.. less government.. why do I find a tenet of contemporary republicanism forcing its way into my body? How do true Republicans support this? There is in fact a separation of Church and State. It is in the constitution. Christian ethics are now supported by nearly everyone in the Republican Party (as far as I can tell) at the expense of the Constitution. I don't understand this. Sorry, but this country is not "Christian." It is an amalgam of many religions and many do not believe in "Christ, the Savior." We have spent generations supporting our Jewish, Muslim, Mormon, Buddhist, Atheistic and Pagan cultures. People in my country are free to worship or not. It is the major tenet of Americanism. We are Americans together. We are not individual churches pushing one agenda over another. We are not.

This is in part why we have laws protecting minorities. The constitution guarantees protection for people who do not quite conform. This is the glory of our country. We will take in all. Or we used to. Or we used to say we would... we would at least try...

Now we seem to be in a battle that was fought long ago. I was part of that battle. At the time the fight  was ultimately about looking at women and respecting them as people. There is a group in the Republican party that want to take away my hard-won rights. I won't stand for it. (By the way, The Equal Rights Amendment has never passed. Women are still second class citizens in this country.)

Something I've not heard anyone say or admit. I will say it. I do believe life starts at conception. So what? Really, so what? That fact does not change the right to control what lives or does not live in my body. The potential child you are so driven to give "person-hood" rights to relies on my body to live. Do I or do I not have control of my own body? Really? I don't? Then I am just a slave to you and you might as well call me nigger. (As John Lennon said, "Woman is the Nigger of the World.")

Back to the Catholic Church. The Church will not baptize an unborn child. I know. I helped bury a child in a secular cemetery...heart-breaking... Because he was born dead the Church wouldn't baptize him. He couldn't be buried in a Catholic cemetery. I watched his father carry the smallest casket I'd ever seen to the cemetery that would take this poor dead baby. The Church won't grant heaven to an unborn child. The Church did not recognize the in utero life of that particular child. Look at that hypocrisy. It hurt the father so much. I will never forgive.

I am not going to give specious arguments about sperm or eggs. I think somehow we have generated the most uncaring generation in many many years.

When will someone finally believe that women are people too and are intelligent enough to make their own decisions? Trust me. Not only do I know my own body better than any religious leader, I am probably exponentially more intelligent.

xo.