Saturday, October 23, 2010

The Pro-Life Ballot

I had finished sugaring the kids up with the cinnamon roll breakfast (because a healthy breakfast every morning sucks) and was enduring multiple episodes of Scooby Doo (third season DVD (birthday present for the boy) of the original ones, not the updated shit) when I could see, out the front window, someone loitering.  As is my wont, I sent my daughter to stick her head out.  Being sufficiently clothed (not always the case in the morning, but it was this morning), I followed when it was apparently not my landlord or a neighbor.  Instead, it was a shiny, cute teenie bopper and her cute teenie bopper friend/associate. They were delivering the "Ohio Right to Life PAC PRO-LIFE BALLOT" to every house like the sweet little lemmings they were. 

Too bad it was far too early for me to think; otherwise, there would have been the questions that popped in my head later as I actually made headway cleaning (REALLY, I DID IT!!!!!!11!!!1!).

Now before I get to those questions, I can report that all the people that I know on the ballot happen to be Republicans.  And most of the ones I'll vote for (but not all) happen to also be there, but for clearly different reasons.

And seriously more important ones than fucking abortion.

Now, before all of you on the pro-life kick start screaming about how it's an important issue, let me explain why it's NOT THE LEAST BIT IMPORTANT in this election.

This election is all about stopping the incessant creep of government into our lives.  To that end, there are two things that need to be done:  Remove the Democrats from absolute power, and elect conservatives and libertarians who will not vote to increase the size of government in any way. 

Because the reason you have taxpayer-funded abortions to whine about is because the government is in the business of supplying health care to people.  Eliminate that bullshit and one thing I can agree with you is off the shelf.

The second one is a little harder for you to hear and swallow.  And that's the limitation of government, especially in issues directly affecting individuals.  Like, say, women who find out they got knocked up because the rubber broke.  Or the one whose birth control failed.  Or the oft quoted 1-2% of abortions that result from rape, incest, etc.  At a point, the unborn baby gets some rights.  But when your obsessions is from 5 minutes after the cumshot does its job (like the morning-after pill), and there is no wiggle room to discuss things, you lose people that agree with you on the general principle but are also unwilling to give the government the ability to jail the desperate.  And women who seek abortions are too often just that.

So drop the obsession with voting "pro-life" and start looking at the kind of people you are empowering.  Because many of the pro-life candidates you vote for are RINOs.  And if you keep electing them, then the government gets more control over us.  And if you want to see the results of that, look at having babies in China.

So yeah, I'm wiping my ass with the pro-life ballot.  Because there are more important things than a little topic that won't be solved in the next decade, especially if we lose the country in the process.

7 comments:

dmarks said...

"Because many of the pro-life candidates you vote for are RINOs."

Is that the case in Ohio, or everywhere?

Toad734 said...

Agreed with the overall message here but:

"elect conservatives and libertarians who will not vote to increase the size of government in any way"

Really, you think conservatives are going to decrease the size of the government?? Name the last "conservative" President who did that. You are fooling yourself if you think that will be the case. And even if it were, with the government accounting for over 40% of the GDP, decreasing their spending isn't something I think the economy can take right now.

Speaking of lilbertarians and small government, I also love the irony of saying "decrease the power of the government" in the same post where we are talking about these hypocritical "small government" republicans who want to have power over a womans body. Oh the irony!! Again, small government and republican, should never be mentioned in the same sentence. I don't know why people continue to think that.

Now, I am not saying the Democrats necessarily stand for smaller government either; the difference is where they want the power of the government.

The conservatives only want small government in these areas:
Business
Environment
Aid
Health Care
Welfare / foodstamps
unemployment benefits
Guns
Christianity


They however love big government( because it mainly benefits their districts) in these areas:

Empire / defense spending/ nation building
Personal freedoms (censorship, non-warrant searches, hold without charges, drugs)
Forcing Christian dogma and ideology on to the rest of the country
Woman's right to choose and privacy
Subsidies to Ag business and oil
Immigration
Union busting

The Democrats are certainly for a smaller, less powerful, less intrusive government when it comes to all the things the Republicans are against and vice versa.

So neither can really call themselves the party of "small government".

At least when the Democrats do it it is usually in the interests of the actual people as opposed to defense contractors and corporations and special interests groups although I know D thinks all those things are people too so...

dmarks said...

To the Democrats, "union busting" is a synonym for allowing workers free choice of whether or not to join unions. No surprise: most union members are forced to join against their will, and then forced to give money to Democrats.

Restoring power to workers in this matter is not "big government": all you have to do is get rid of laws which make it easy for unions to force members to join.

"Woman's right to choose and privacy"

More weasel words. Republicans, like most Americans, tend to oppose abortion. Not "Choice", a word put forth by the abortion industry to hide what they do.

You are flat out wrong on empire, too. There is none.

And you have proven you are flat-out wrong on censorship, putting forth an extremely narrow definition of the First Amendment which leave no freedom of speech at all. The conservatives have been on the side of individual liberties on this one, rather strongly.

But I probably agree with you on immigration.

Toad734 said...

There is no Empire?? Is that supposed to be a joke?? America is the only true Empire left in the world. We have 820 military installations outside the US in 135 different countries, not including actual US territories. I think Australia is the only continent where we don't have a base that I know of.

We have 78,000 Troops stationed in Europe! 47,000 in East Asia! We still have 5 bases in the UK who we beat over 200 years ago! There are more than 2.5 million US military personnel serving world wide.

We just recently militarily overthrew two sovereign governments and replaced them with puppet regimes not to mention all the governments we installed all over the world without the use of military intervention and not to mention the opposition we support to many other freely elected leaders around the world.

The Sun never sets on the American Empire!

We have more bases than Britain at the height of its power in 1898 or Rome did at the height of its power in 117AD. We are in fact the largest Empire the world has ever seen. The Pentagon is one of the largest land owners in the world!

Total "defense" related spending for the US is approximately $1,000,000,000,000 per year.

So, what else are you wrong about...Well, most Americans don't oppose the right to choose. A little over 50% of American support choice in all or most cases, Over 80% support it to save a womans life or if her health is at risk.

And no, most Union members aren't forced to join the Unions nor are they forced to "give money to Democrats". Who wouldn't want to be treated fairly and get paid what they deserve?? Where do you get this shit? What color is the sky where you live??

dmarks said...

"There is no Empire?? Is that supposed to be a joke??"

The idea that America is an empire is a joke. America hasn't engaged in imperialist activities since before WW2. The sun set forever on the American empire then.

"We have 820 military installations outside the US in 135 different countries"

So? None of those are colonies. What few colonial territories we still have are tiny, like Puetro Rico.

"We just recently militarily overthrew two ... governments"

Both of which attacked us, and we fought back only as a last resort.

"and replaced them with puppet regimes"

Are you really this ignorant? Have you not heard all the news about the Iraqi and Afghanistan governments (chosen by elections in those countries, not by the US). Your statement might have been true in the days right after we were forced to overthrow both terrorist regimes. But since we are not an empire, we quickly worked to bring both places to democracy. Not colonial status.


"Total defense related spending for the US is approximately $1,000,000,000,000 per year."

No quotes needed around defense. The defense budget is actually less than half of what you claim.

"So, what else are you wrong about"

I've been correct about all of this so far.

"Well, most Americans don't oppose [abortion]".

Actually, it varies over time. But the most recent polls show a slim majority on the anti-abortion side.

"And no, most Union members aren't forced to join the Unions nor are they forced to "give money to Democrats""

You are so blatantly wrong about this:

1) Most union members are in forced-unionization closed shop states such as Michigan, New York, and California. Workers are forced to join unions as a condition of employment at many employers in these states.

2) Union dues in all but a few case are funneled to support Democratic campaign efforts.
I suggest you check the laws in these states, and the demographics.

For starters here is an informative map. Workers in the states colored yellow are forced into unions against their will.

Of course workers want to be treated fairly and earn a fair wage. That is why most say "union no!"

Most workers know that union-jobs such as being paid $45 an hour to do shoddy work on a job that is really worth $10 an hour is a pipe dream, and is not sustainable.



"Who wouldn't want to be treated fairly and get paid what they deserve??"

"That's Where do you get this shit? What color is the sky where you live??"

The "ground" is yellow where I am. According to this map. This is why our unemployment rate is so high. Unions are very powerful here, and have forced much major manufacturing to leave the state.

People speaking out of the government, children, and workers who want to earn a fair wage without being forced to join political organizations. I wonder who else you are hostile to?

dmarks said...

correction: I was wrong on the defense budget claim above. That was left in the post in error. Unlike... some... I admit it when I say something wrong.

Toad734 said...

What part of our military expansion do you not understand?? If we have more bases in more countries than Rome and Britain at the height of their power, we are the largest Empire the world has ever seen. Rome didn't have colonies either!

However, just because we don't call them colonies, doesn't mean they arent.

Guam, Guantanamo, Northern Mariana Islands, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, etc..

Total defense related operational budget, with support staff and contractors to all of our bases and operations is absolutely $1 Trillion. What we spend on actual military hardware and troops is approximately half but it doubles with our support staff, leases, and not military equipment, staff, etc.

You don't have jobs in Michigan because of bad trade laws and outsourcing,bad management, design and marketing of the auto companies, not because of unions.
Detroit had Unions for over 50 years and until we started importing foreign cars and exporting jobs, there were plenty of jobs in Michigan which is why Detroit was one of the largest cities in the country at one time.
The textile industry in the south is pretty much gone and it was never unionized (nor was it when it was in the North East)and Japanese and German auto workers are also unionized so you have no argument there. The difference in the CEOs pay in Japan in Germany vs the CEOs pay in the US, is the big dramatic difference with US CEOs making many many times more than their Japanese and German counterparts (aside from Porche). That's why you don't have jobs, because one guy makes all the money the company generates and them makes, designs and markets cars no one wants.


Oh right, you are still under the impression that we were invaded by Iraq and Afghanistan...Sorry, I forgot that you lived in the same world as Glen Beck and aren't really dealing in reality.

You are like talking to a 4 year old, I have to stop.