Okay, so the elections are starting and the mud slinging is beginning. I have asked Dan to not do political posts on this blog since it is not meant for that kind of discussion but... I give up! If you come into Rockhoppers I generally will discuss just about anything with you and the truth is I will not change your mind (probably) but then you probably won't change mine either. In the meantime though we discuss our differences, celebrate our sameness and accept each others points of view. And when you leave, I hope you leave feeling you made a friend. But I have seen so much press in the last two days that does nothing but emphasize the negative. Now again abortion has raised it's awful head as an issue.
So let me begin this blog discussion rant by saying that I am very divided about the issue of abortion. This is an incredibly difficult issue for me. I was raised as a Catholic and did not separate from the church until I had my first son. Actually the day was when I watched Pope Paul stand in the center of some small ghetto in some South American country (when he did his South American tour in 1983?) and there were children running around naked and barefoot and emaciated women who were trying to take care of them. He told the people in the audience that birth control was a sin. My question was this: if birth control is a sin, then what do you call families forced to live in squalor and starvation because they cannot afford the children that keep coming from the marital bed? Where is the church when these people need food, or dry, clean accommodations to sleep in? Where is the church when these people need financial support for the 10 children that the church said they should have? So I left the Catholic Church. I considered it a difference of opinion and I just felt I could not support the Catholic view. Before anyone gets really upset by this let me state that I still believe in many things I was taught from the Catholic church and I do not dislike or disrespect those who follow the Catholic faith. I just knew I couldn't. In truth some of the most incredible people I have ever met were nuns and priests. I learned more about life and faith from them than any other people I have ever met.
Okay, so on to abortion. Abortion is to me a woman's choice. It is the woman who carries a baby for a full 9 months. It is the woman who is (often) forced to keep a family without the financial benefits of a male salary. In other words it is the woman who is too often forced into financial destitution when the males in our society decide not to support their wives and families, and frequently are backed by our government. It is the females who suffer mentally from unwanted pregnancies from rape or poor judgment, and are not supported by our society. It is the woman who suffers the physical ramifications of pregnancies that produce hormonal fluctuations that create mental instability. It is the woman... The list goes on and on. So why is it that it is still the men who are busy determining the legality of abortion? Why is this even an issue now when the numbers of abortions is down so low and the number of adoptions is actually rising? Why is this even an issue for our government to decide? Shouldn't this be an issue for each person to decide? If abortion is indeed a moral issue (which personally I believe it is, and I personally could not have one, but I personally do not feel compelled to walk in someone else's shoes and tell them they can't have an abortion because I don't feel it is right for me) than why do we allow our government to determine this issue? Government SHOULD NEVER CONTROL MORALITY! WHEN A GOVERNMENT ATTEMPTS TO DETERMINE MORALITY THEY FAIL! WHEN THEY BEGIN TO DETERMINE MORALITY. THEY BEGIN TO DIE AS A GOVERNMENT!
Okay so now I have upset a lot of people, but what if we took the personal aspect, the gut wrenching awfulness of abortion out of the issue and we examined it with out the personal opinions and beliefs? What if we said "Hey, I am a decent, and upright, and moral person but I would/would not have an abortion?" What if we left it at that, instead of trying to elect a president on the basis of whether or not they would allow "Roe vs. Wade" to be overturned. What if we elected a president who said: I believe that abortion is a moral judgment that should be decided between a woman, her family, and her physician -- not her President. And then went on to say: "What is affecting our families and our children more per capita is lower wages, pollution, and war with a country for the control of the OIL!" What if we got a president who said: "What we need to focus on as a country is not individual morals, but becoming a country that promotes family health and welfare through better paying jobs, created by incentives to manufacturing and industry with a goal to become 100% Oil Free! Wow! Now there is a presidential candidate I would vote for! But please don't tell me how to feel about abortion. The truth is this is an emotional issue for everyone, but it is a personal belief, and not one that the government should be foisting on everyone.
So now I will gladly go and shoot myself for being the awful person I am, but I had to rant somewhere. Frankly I wanted a public venue! I promise I will be the quiet (well not quiet exactly), demure (yeah right), coffeehouse owner you have all come to know and love and I will turn the blog back over to Dan now. Oh, by the way, since I have posted this, and it is political -- I now have no leg to stand on to keep Dan from being political. So for the next couple of months, I am sorry!
Politics on Whidbey Island.
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