A Line in the Sand

Some friends are visiting their old stomping grounds of Scripps Ranch from their home in South Carolina, so we had a lovely impromptu night out last Thursday--starting with a straight-from-work trip to Ballast Point-our neighborhood brewery--and continuing with a barbecue at another friend's home. Yes, life is good.

On Thursday night, I still had the remnants of a tired headache from being glued to the live feed and livetweeting of the action in Texas surrounding SB5 and the amazing and thrilling senatorial backbone of Wendy Davis and historical civil disobedience of the crowd.

(Anybody getting their news solely from television is woefully uneducated and misinformed. My husband became a believer as the minutes and hours ticked by and nothing that I and almost 200,000 other Americans were raptly following on YouTube turned up as he clicked through station after station. As was wryly observed on Twitter, the revolution will definitely not be televised.)

So . . . beers with friends means conversation and I had to ask the Republican males (there being no Republican females) in the group--how can you continue to do this? To be Republicans? To be associated with people who think so little of women and our autonomy as adult human beings that they continually try to legislate us back to a time when institutionalized sexism was the order of the day? These are good and kind men and though they may not be feminists in words, they most certainly are in deeds, so I am perplexed.  

In one case the anwer was, to paraphrase, I'm still registered Republican, but I can't find any Republicans I would vote for these days.

The other answer was thought-provoking to me as he feels that the Democratic route is leading to socialism and that is scarier to him than what the Republicans are dishing up (though he disagreees with their stand on virtually every social issue).

I guess I sort of understand that (except for the part where Obama has not done anything that can be considered vaguely socialist in my opinion--you might be able to make an argument for a social democracy, but even that would not be supported by the actual actions he has taken).

Anyway, I think I might have given him some pause when I said, that if I concede your interpretation of what each party is offering as our future, then we have a Sophie's Choice between becoming Iran (a theocracy) or Cuba (a socialist state). 

Cuba. I pick Cuba.

Thankfully, that's not the choice and I--and many other Americans--will continue to fight for an America that can stay true to its origins as the land of the free and the home of the brave while evolving as a society that allows for us to live in a way that respects our differences and the autonomy of all citizens--not just a self-chosen few.

 

 

Comments

[Lisa G. in CT]

Can you link to what you were watching on Youtube?

[Lisa G. in CT]

I went and Googled (of course) about SB5, which I hadn't heard of. While I am pro-life, I abhor the methods used by the Texas legislators.
Just to throw another perspective in the fire, have you come across this article? http://www.salon.com/2000/10/19/mens_choice/

It seemed to be a balanced look at where men fall in some of the abortion issues...

I am also an evangelical Christian. I agree that you'll never get great news coverage by watching TV. You also won't see the "typical" evangelical Christians that I know on TV either. Many I know are compassionate, gentle, understanding and forgiving; as opposed to harsh and judgmental.
I feel frustrated that many pro-lifers as portrayed in the media seem to have zero compassion for the women who are faced with or have made a heartrending choice, whether they decide on abortion or not. I am equally frustrated that the pro-choice movement frames the debate SOLELY in terms of "women's health" and "women's rights". I think the link above addresses some of the others involved....
Thanks for the thought provoking ideas...

[Cassi]

I am always amazed that anyone could vote Republican. Really, amazed. I guess I've always thought that basically they are voting against the idea of taxes being used to help form healthy communities, and for money staying in their own pockets. I think the Republican party is good at using emotional subjects, such as abortion or gay rights, as a way to fool poor people into voting against their own fiscal interests.

And female Republicans?! How can such a thing be?!

[falnfenix]

for anyone reading the comments: i'm registered Independent. i fully intend to remain so. sure, this prevents me from voting in the primaries, but i just can't bring myself to pick a side when both sides disgust me.

i'm still amazed this country is bipartisan, and tends to vote the party line. there are always better candidates than those the party tells you to vote for...but those folks are the reasonable ones, and they're not polarizing enough to end up on the ballot.

it upsets me a great deal. this country could use better people than what the Republicans and Democrats tell us are our options.

[Green Girl in Wisconsin]

It exhausts me how people are so hypocritical--"Small government" when it comes to welfare and social security and health care and reasonable safety control over stuff like guns and environmental poisons but "Big Invasive government" works just fine for trolling through my emails and deciding who can marry who (or is it "whom?") and legislating my access to birth control or medical procedures.
We need common sense government about 10 years ago.

[gary rith]

if anyone is stupid enough to vote repub. and thinks the dems are leading us to socialism: how could anybody be so ignorant?

[Brightside-Susan]

There is so much spin and finger pointing that most people have shut down and are no longer attempting to educate themselves. It is head in the sand time for most people and during this time we are being legislated into oblivion by the Republicans who say one thing (small government) and promptly vote another (Intrusive government.)

[mrs. g.]

Amen. I agree with Gary, subtle as always!

[Jocelyn]

"Cuba!" I vote Cuba, too. Definitely, I can't see Socialism as the Greatest of All Evils (not that I actually can see how our country is heading the way of Socialism, anyhow).

That Wendy Davis stuff? You tuned me into it, and I'm not over it yet.

As far as the idea that the pro-choice movement is limited in that it only talks about women's health and women's rights, I can't see that as limited. I see that as HUGE--attempting to redress thousands of years of off-balance treatment and regard throughout history. It's exactly what the decision to have a child or not is: all about the woman and her body.

[Aunt Snow]

frustrated that the pro-choice movement frames the debate SOLELY in terms of "women's health" and "women's rights".

But in terms of a policy debate, that IS the sole point. If you want to convince women to choose not to have an abortion, or if you want to make it easier for women to carry their child to term, that's fine, but the debate truly IS about whether women should have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies when they find themselves pregnant.

It seems to me that if anti-abortion people wanted to decrease the number of abortions there are, they should support efforts to prevent unwanted pregnancies and also make it less difficult and less punitive to carry a child to term, and easier to be a mother of a child in today's society.

The words and actions of anti-abortion people lead me to believe that what they really want to do is punish women for their sexuality, and take away women's ability to have control of their own bodies.

[shrink on the couch]

I wish I were so brave as to ask Republicans in my network what you've asked. Instead I deliberately spend less time with them. Too much rush limpballs and too little thoughtful consideration of the topics would be my guess.
And even if a man doesn't give a flip regarding women's rights doesn't he care that he or his sons can get stuck with 18 years of child support, to take the man-selfish view for a moment? Because Republicans definitely have the selfish motive wrapped up in their hip pocket.