Wednesday, November 3, 2010

My disppointment about the election results

OK: I have to concede that I am politically liberal which I know will stop many people from reading any further once they see this sentence.  As a woman (OK--I am 18, but I am still an adult woman), I cannot figure why ANY woman would not be politically liberal!  All one needs to do is look at the constant battle women have--even today--for equal access and equal opportunity to understand the need to remain diligent concerning our rights.

Regardless of this preface, the one thing I wanted to blog about today was the idiocy of this guy in KY, Rand Paul.  Now I know that at this point, some readers may be saying: "She is some raving women's lib, bra burning bitch who is venting her sour grapes."  But let me illustrate why I refer to the idiocy of Mr. Paul.

Here is a man who has been campaigning and is now moving to the US Senate.  In his acceptance speech last night, he referred to the framers of our government and how the commerce clause of the Constitution is an establishment of their vision concerning capitalism; here is the video:

A couple of observations: First, capitalism as an economic concept did not even exist in the time of the frames of the Constitution.  Capitalism was a 19th construct emerging from the work of many economists, such as Adam Smith.  The framers would never have even thought in those economic terms and there is nothing in the Constitution that supports "capitalism." 

A second observation: Mr. Paul mentions several times in his speech about the American value of "freedom" and that we are some of the "freest" people in the history of the world.  Yet, Mr. Paul's social policies contradict this assertion.  For example, the Tea Party does not support the decision of Roe vs. Wade and would roll back that decision. The Tea Party does not support the free gathering of workers to petition employers for better pay and better working conditions.  The Tea Party does not support the free movement of people from around the world into our country--which, in Mr. Paul's own terms, is a beacon for many.

Because Mr. Paul is so ill-informed about a document that he is going to be taking an oath to support and defend and because Mr. Paul dissembles so much concerning the word "freedom" which his own positions gut, I have no choice but to refer to him as an idiot!



Now with Tea Party representatives such as Mr. Paul in the Congress, I am fearful that we women will need to be even more diligent and, therefore,  we must stand up to sell-outs like Sarah Palin and like the governor-elect  of SC, Nikki Haley, and assert what the Constitution DOES really say: All of us are guaranteed rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and that government's role is to assure that these rights are protected.  All of us are guaranteed protection from the intrusion of religious positions into our civil life.  All of us are guaranteed free speech, free practice of our faith--what ever that faith or belief system might be, and free exchange of ideas! Yet these very freedoms would be given away by the ilk of Paul, Palin, and Haley to business and industry who guarantees us NOTHING and is only motivated to deliver profits to shareholders.  That is why government has had to intervene!  It has nothing to do with expanding the power of government; government is working hard to protect our rights against those who care less about rights of speech, gathering, press and ONLY care about profits. . . . .

So women, be prepared for the 2012 campaign and attend carefully to those Tea Party candidates and those right leaning Republicans.  If we are seduced by the smoke and mirrors of economic debate and if we are seduced about the big lie of government intrusion into our lives, we are--liking Esau--giving away our basic birthright for a bowl of porridge!