My family

My family
2023

Monday, August 27, 2012

On a Soap Box

Normally, I keep my political views to myself as no one out there seems to see things the way on do. However, this year, lately I have noticed "everyone" out there sharing their views and opinions, with or without facts about our leaders, policies and country. More and more I am seeing a country divided. Left and right, conservative and liberal, rich and poor. It's breaking my heart.
I love this county and I count being born here and living here as a blessing. So, I am going to get on a soap box and share my thoughts and opinions on some of today's "BIG" issues. You will see they are neither Republican nor Democrat, conservative nor liberal, left nor right. I am probably about as "middle" as they come.
I will start with the one that has made the news most recently - abortion (usually lumped together with women's rights.). Personally, I do believe that life begins at conception and I would encourage any woman I know to choose not to abort a pregnancy. However, I don't think - in fact I know- abortions won't stop if we make them illegal. Want to stop abortions? I think all the millions of dollars spent on lobbyists, PR campaigns and so on should go into programs support families and adoption. Teach men how to be involved, plugged in dads (and husbands) and their daughters won't be seeking "love" from other men (studies have shown over and over again girls are more likely to get sexually involved if they don't have good relationships with their dads) and their sons will learn how to be respectful, responsible men (instead of dead beat dads). Support families so parents don't have to work 2,3 (or more) jobs just to make ends meet and they can actually spend time with their children. Make adoption a real choice - affordable for loving families and a real option for those faced with an unplanned pregnancy.
Social Security and I will add Welfare and Health Care here. I believe we all have the responsibility to care for our fellow man. The elderly, the disabled, the sick, the poor, the broken, the forgotten, our veterans and your average person whose had a run of bad luck - every man, woman and child who needs our help should have access to it. The problem is we don't help. We expect charities and churches to do it and then we don't give to them or volunteer. We expect the government to do it but we don't want to be taxed to pay for it. We expect businesses to treat their employees fairly, pay them well and take care of them, but they don't because profit margins are the bottom line. The rich get richer, the poor (and middle class) get poorer. I think in general most people agree on these points. So what do I think we should do about it?? Honestly, I am not sure. I think we need more businesses to adapt a Quaker model of doing business like the Cadbury Family who started Cadbury chocolates. Look them up - taking care of their employees and their families was just as important if not more so than profits. (you can read a bit about them here http://www.quakerinfo.com/quak_cad.shtml ) I think we all could do more through our churches, charities and tax dollars.
Marriage - another hot topic. Here's my stand on that. IF marriage is a religious institution, defined by God or Scriptures AND IF we in USA have separation of church and state, THEN how can we legislate who can or can't get married at all? In fact, if these assumptions are true, shouldn't government stay out of ALL marriages? If there is a need to see who is "legally" or "contractually bound" to one another then lets call all legal unions something like that. [That being said, I do believe we need to protect the rights of children and protect them from being forced into any relationship (religious or not).]
I could go on about schools and education, religious freedoms, free speech and many other issues that make the news and a chatted about on the social networks, but I think I have been on this soap box for long enough. I recently took a quiz to see which politician in the upcoming elections I agree most with. The results didn't surprise me - none of them. I agreed with 4 of them on about 60% of the issues. I have to believe there are others like me. Others who are not left or right, Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal have got to be out there. Someday maybe one of US will make it to office (but I am not holding my breath)