While wandering the blogosphere, I came across American Lady. I asked her to write about why she was a Republican and Bush supporter given Bush’s feelings towards abortion as well as his dismantling of Title IX.
Instead of replying via the comments section in her blog, I’m hoping she and I can have civil political discourse via our personal weblogs.
Rather than getting bogged down in tearing apart each others entries line by line, I’d rather focus on the overall message in effort to get above partisan politics. I’ll just jot down some overall thoughts after reading her first entry.
- Liberals: Liberals, such as feminists and civil rights advocates, have always been subjected to challenges. The perspective of history makes those early advocates look less silly than they did at the time. Remember, being a liberal is merely being someone who proposes alternative ideas to today’s problems. Don’t hate them for that, but instead try to learn something from them.
- Abortion: I personally do not approve of abortion, but I understand that current social situations have led to the need for it (cases of women committing suicide or dying from underground abortions are undeniable). What I would like is for us to eventually be able to reduce abortion to a place where it is used in only the most extreme circumstances (mother’s health, rape, incest, etc). I also don’t believe in any death penalty, including that rapist you mentioned. I just don’t believe that any God would approve of it.
- Birth control: Similarly, I’d love for us to get live in a world where personal responsibility was the best form of birth control. But again, history has shown that we haven’t lived in that world. Rather than saying, “sorry, you’re screwed”, I’d like to keep the option available but also focus on education and moral responsibility such that it isn’t needed.
- Equal pay: I don’t know of anyone that proposes women get paid the same as a man who is more qualified. But I do know people who wish for women and men to be paid the same, regardless of race, religion, sexual preference, or anything else — assuming that they are equally skilled. While you may feel like that fight of feminists is ridiculous now, always remember that people also thought it was ridiculous back when women didn’t even have the right to vote.
- AIDS: We cannot simply dismiss AIDS as a problem due to irresponsible minors. It is an epidemic in Africa and is by leaps and bounds the most deadly transmitted disease in human history. We must find a solution both medically and socially.
- Patriotism: World War 2 was pretty clear cut: a country attacked us, so we attacked back at that country and the countries that were allied with that country. Today’s world is not that clear cut. No country attacked us and our role in Iraq isn’t so straight forward.
- Anti-Americanism: Don’t fall in to the trap that people who question the policies of our government are ant-American. Political discourse is the greatest form of patriotism, as it keeps us honest. Just as I would never want a government entirely controlled by Democrats, I’d never want a country that all feels the same way. Difference of opinion should be valued and we should all try to learn from it (that’s exactly why I’m engaging in these discussions with you).
Lorraine, you didn’t discuss Title IX, but I can assume how you feel about it. I too believe in self discipline and hard work. I am 22 years old, I’m consider myself extremely successful thus far, I have a published book, and I am extremely happy. I definitely understand what hard work is all about. But I also have known people who have faced adversity much greater than I have. Some were able to overcome it, some were not. All of them worked as hard or harder than I have. I’d be more than happy to explain why I think hard work isn’t enough and why government should help out (to some degree) to bring equality to all. But we can save that for another day.
Right now I’d like to ask you to discuss your feelings on gay marriage (after all, it is the big social issue of the day). The Republican platform is pretty clear where it stands on this issue, and I’d like to know if you feel the same way, and if so, why. You can read my previous posts on gay marriage here and here.
on Nov 7th, 2004 at 8:43 pm
Hi, Patrick! Thanks for reading my posts. To respond to a few points or to clear up something:
“Remember, being a liberal is merely being someone who proposes alternative ideas to today’s problems. Don’t hate them for that, but instead try to learn something from them.”
I understand the messages and the intent that they have, but the way that many of them carry it out is very inexcusable and ridiculous.
“I also don’t believe in any death penalty, including that rapist you mentioned. I just don’t believe that any God would approve of it.”
I don’t believe that the rapist should be killed. I just said that he deserves more than the innocent child to be killed. And as for God, as much as I believe in God, this isn’t about my religion – but my feelings on justice. Religion plays a lot less influence on my political views than many people assume.
ABOUT AIDS: “We must find a solution both medically and socially.”
Of course we need to. Don’t get me wrong- I think that it is a huge problem that does need to be solved! But don’t you think that the people could help out the government first by having responsible sex? We’d have less cases to deal with, and we’d waste less money on trying to contain AIDS.
“Don’t fall in to the trap that people who question the policies of our government are ant-American.”
Ahh. Every liberal tells me this one. Why? Personally I believe that liberals always think that I’m hinting at them when they say it. They KNOW that the true anti-Americans are generally liberal Democrats. But I know the difference between the people who are anti-American and the people who disagree with our government. I am in Europe often, I have seen anti-Americanism at its prime.
And as for Title IX, I don’t believe in it. There are only so many policies that can work and really benefit everyone at the same time. It’s like affirmative action, which I am very much against (I can do an entry about that too- I can talk for hours about it).
Glad to be having civil conversation with someone on the other side! Feel free to stop by and leave more comments, I enjoy your responses.
The gay marriage issue will come up in an entry this week. Will you guess that I actually disagree with the Republican party about this? Explanations to come in the entry.
~Lorraine
on Nov 7th, 2004 at 9:25 pm
Patrick, first of all I will say that I find you to be among the minority in my readers (you don’t agree with everything I say, but you speak in a very intelligent way, and you respect the fact that we have the right to disagree)
Second, in respect to WWII, you’re right, a COUNTRY attacked us, and we struck back at them and their allies, but we have been shown that Sadaam Hussein and his regime worked with TERRORIST organizations, and even paid benefits to the families of suicide bombers, therefore, he was an allie to terrorism, and the world is safer without him.
On a COMPLETELY unrelated topic, how do you like MT? I’m about to register my own domain and I’m looking for a platform. It’s down to wordpress, greymatter, or MT. So any help there would be GREATLY appreciated!
on Nov 7th, 2004 at 9:35 pm
Smoke,
MT is pretty good — just a bit more complicated than it probably needs to be. But if you’re looking for “power”, it’s got all the bells and whistles. I’d recommend using the Textile-MT and MT-Blacklist plugins if you use it.
I don’t disagree that Saddam was aiding terrorists (though his involvement was arguably less than other nations). My personal opinion is that terrorism is just an entirely different beast than Japan and Germany were. I think the only true way to solve terrorism is to educate the world in the ways of democracy, compassion, tolerance, and peace. Democracy by force, I fear, will only bring thousands of more terrorist that will be ready to strike years down the road.
on Nov 8th, 2004 at 9:04 am
Just to set the record straight on G-d’s opinion, He is in favor of the death penalty. If you read the Bible, you will find places where He tells people to kill or creates laws that include the penalty of death. In fact, He ordered an entire nation wiped from the face of the Earth.
You have to keep in mind that Evil is one of His creations, and He has placed us here to learn the difference between Good and Evil. That hippie approach to loving everything doesn’t really fly with G-d. There are Evils that do not merit our love, and we have to be conscious enough to recognize them and destroy them.
on Nov 8th, 2004 at 10:48 am
Hey Lee,
When God actually tells you to kill someone, then I guess I could support you in the killing of another human. In the meantime, realize that the Bible was written by man and has plenty of points in it that we now choose to ignore (http://www.godhatesshrimp.com). Instead, I try to look past the words of the New and Old Testament and seek an underlying message: one of love and compassion for all people.
Do you eat shrimp?
Patrick
PS: The Bible isn’t the end-all be-all source on God. After all, there are other religions too!