Thursday, October 13, 2011

Calling it like I see it

In order to protect life Republicans, who have courted the religious right for decades have agreed to legislate a woman has no right to say what happens in her body.

They won't educate her on birth control or disease prevention.  Premarital sex is wrong and abstinence is the only way to completely avoid getting pregnant.

The religious right have provided women with assistance during their pregnancies, but subsequently discard them.  The baby was saved.  That's all that matters.

The girl or woman is then left to fend for herself however she can.  In many cases she has to return to a government subsidized life.  She will get TANF, food stamps and S8 housing.   She may get medicaid.  Her child may get medicaid.   She will be sponsored by the state, likely for the remainder of her life. 

Her child will be hungry.  

Her child will be exposed to poverty and all the destruction that comes with poverty. 

Her child will learn how to live and thrive in poverty.

When her child goes to school he will learn how to read and how to do math and maybe science or history.  The No Child Left Behind legislation demands the school maintain a certain standard of excellence in order to educate their children to the highest standard of reading and math. 
  
The legislation does not provide accommodation to guarantee the student learns history, social studies, art, music, theater, humanities, foreign language or physical education.

The school is not obliged to teach her child how to think critically or express himself.  Music, history, social studies, art, theater, humanities and physical education would teach him how to read and how to use what he reads.

When he gets out of school he will know how to read and probably do algebra but the abstinence only education may have given him a child or two by the time he graduates, if he graduates.  Living in poverty he may have been exposed to other, more lucrative opportunities.  

The republicans don't want kids to have sex because premarital sex is a sin.  They don't want his mom to have an abortion.   They don't want to support a welfare state.  No child left behind was bipartisan, but President Bush signed it into law, and many critics state it leaves all children behind.   And the cycle starts again.

All I see is the Republicans are perpetuating this vicious cycle by combining religion and politics.  We are an enlightened, civilized society but so many people fall between the cracks because of a book that started a world-wide movement resulting in legislation that prevents people from doing more than just survive.  Do you honestly think girls want to have babies when their 14 years old?  Do you think they were really capable of making an informed decision about what was happening to them.  Humans are animals after all.  Oh wait, they don't know that because they were taught intelligent design.

As I see it the welfare state is a self-perpetuating cycle founded on ignorance, hate and intolerance.  

What if we educated those students all year?  What if we gave them the time they needed to study reading and math and reinforce it with history and language and music?  What if we paid for them to go to college?  

They would join the workforce educated and capable of earning a higher wage.  They would earn more money to tax.

In Republican terms, it would be a long term investment.


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