Sometimes I find myself very puzzling.
Why, for instance, am I so terribly, terribly upset about the Hobby Lobby thing?
A bunch of very nice folks who, by most accounts, give their employees a great place to work relative to the other outfits in that space, are asking, in their minds, to not pay for murder.
That doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
So why am I so upset?
This probably says it better than I ever could.
http://aattp.org/when-corporations-become-indistinguishable-from-churches-government-isnt-far-behind/
It's a little long winded, and I have a few things to add, so here's a summary followed by some embellishments.
Summary:
It's one more step towards what the author so rightly points out is a uniquely American form of Oligarchy / Theocracy. Is the Hobby Lobby thing, in itself, a terribly big deal? Probably not. But, as the author points out, the supreme court has instructed lower courts to reexamine several cases related to birth control in light of this ruling. It's part of a larger pattern. Corporations are people. Money is speech. If my feudal Lord believes a thing, then by God it impacts me. And, the obvious answer of a single payer system is right out of the question, despite all the problems it would solve.
My first Embellishment -
It's that maddening abortion question that seems to be the end all and be all of every consideration in the conservative religion.
You believe life begins at conception.
OK - Why? There are several key points between conception and birth, actually including birth, that I could make an argument for. Why conception?
And, can you prove it sufficiently to design law around it?
And while I'm asking questions, why do you insist on calling me a murderer if I don't agree that this is where life starts? What great evidence can you site that gives you the right to poke your finger into the chest of my wife or daughter who believes differently than you and say "You have to surrender your body to the rigors and dangers of pregnancy for 9 months AGAINST YOUR WILL because I, THE GOOD AND PERFECT CHRISTIAN, BEELIEEEEVE that the thing in your belly is a person." I've come to see this whole issue as a power-grab, with you the Moral Majority imposing your will, once again, on people who do not believe as you do, against their will. Until you can prove that the thing in question is, in fact, a person, then MY RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS must be protected. Specifically, my freedom to disagree with your religious assertions.
My second embellishment - Sorry, but just the hypocrisy ...
The inconceivable levels of hypocrisy of the conservative religion.
I've heard them all. "Come to church, there's always room for one more." "I'm just a sinner saved by grace". on and on. You know what, that GREAT, until you start making LAWS.
Two of the most outspokenly anti-gay-marriage people I know are divorced and just got remarried in defiance of he word of CHRIST!! But YOU, you dirty Ho-Mo-SEXual, with your SATANIC a-GEN-da ... GOD WILL JUDGE 'MERICA if we allow you to jointly file your income taxes.
1/2 of my Pastor's family will be at work on Sunday in DEFIANCE of the very 10 commandments they want posted in every court house.
I could go on and on. It's like the "biblical" rules are for everyone BUT YOU, the CHRISTIAN who's hitting people over the head with them.
I have more, but this is getting long, so I'll cut to the chase.
My last embellishment - ultimately, there's the Obama factor.
There's a link that the author shared, which I'll not take the time to investigate, because I've done that too many times and no one cares. If you'd like to, feel free.
At any rate, it states that Hobby Lobby was ALREADY paying for these "abortifacients" before it became an Obama issue, It was paying for them, one would assume, because of a federal mandate that employers provide health insurance to workers that, if I'm not mistaken, dates back to the 70's.
Why, then, the current challenge? That demonic Obama character, that's why.
The Obama presidency has shown me a few things.
1 - The "liberal bias" of the main stream media is nothing at all when compared to the cold as steel effectiveness of the right wing machine. They've managed to convince their constituency that Obama was born in Kenya, that he's a Muslim, that he is doing horrible things by issuing executive orders, that the vast majority of the solar companies have failed, and on and on and on. Democracy is and will remain completely broken until something is done about that.
2 - I'm not at all sure that we, as a country, would be nearly so susceptible to this if Obama was white. I know, I know. You're not a racist. All I know is that white people have, quite collectively, gone completely off their nut. They will believe almost anything ... no. They will believe ANYTHING you say about that guy.
3 - NO ONE is better at dividing into us and them, loving us, and hating them, than members of the Conservative Religion, who normally call themselves Christian. Yes, Christian, I'm talking to you right now. What makes you so utterly brilliant at it is that you can't possibly imagine that you're doing it.
It's amazing to watch. It really is.
