This year, being a presidential election year, we will hear a word used more often than we are used to. That word is freedom. But exactly what is freedom?
Webster's defines freedom as:
1 : the quality or state of being free: as
a : the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action
b : liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another
Seems pretty clear, but if you listen to the Republican presidential candidates discuss freedom things get a bit cloudier.
All of the candidates use the word freedom to refer to economic freedom. To them it is very important that we be free to use our money as we see fit without being restricted by our government. Since we are required to pay taxes and since we can't decide specifically what our tax dollars will be used for, taxation, of any sort, is an infringement on our freedom. Of course in practice this is not what they really believe. First off none of the candidates are arguing that we should eliminate all taxes in one fell swoop. The Republican candidates all claim to want to lower taxes to some extent which in their minds would lead to greater freedom but most of their plans will lower taxes on the wealthy more than they would on the middle class and poor. Obviously they think that some people should be more free than others. What about those of such limited means that they are unable to take advantage of economic freedom? Our country has always been about spreading freedom, but the Republican candidates seem to be a bit stingy with economic freedom. We are all born with the right to free speech, so why is it that we are not all born with the right to economic freedom that the Republican candidates hold so dear? Why is it that someone who is wealthy should be able to use that wealth to overwhelm someone else's freedom of speech? Economic freedom is not specifically guaranteed in the US Constitution but freedom of speech is, so why do the Republican presidential candidates seem so eager to go against the intent of the founding fathers and impose their values on the Constitution?
What about religious freedom? The Republican candidates will all stand up and support this concept which was described by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 in this way;
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.
It was obvious to Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and one of our most respected founding fathers that the Constitution called for a separation of church and state. Is this what the Republican candidates believe religious freedom means?
We have seen the Republican primary evolve into a fight over issues like contraception, marriage equality, and abortion. The strange thing is that all of the candidates seem to be on the same side of the fight even as they try to punch each other in the face with these issues. The question is why are these issues being discussed at all? The candidates will all claim that their
stances on social issues like these are determined by their faith, and that is fine, we have the right to decide things for ourselves based on our religious beliefs. These men, however, want to decide things for the rest of the country based on their religious beliefs. They seem to believe that religious freedom means that they, and others who share their beliefs, should have absolute freedom to practice their religion as they see fit. Even if that practice means forcing their beliefs on others. They believe that they should have the freedom to practice their religion anywhere and at any time. If someone like Rick Santorum wants to hold a Christian prayer service at a mosque during afternoon prayers they feel that the Islamic prayers should be set aside. After all, if they aren't allowed to hold a Christian prayer service at that mosque at any time they want the Muslims are stepping on their religious freedom.
They feel that there should be organized Christian prayer is schools because not allowing organized Christian prayer in school is stepping on their rights. Of course you can't have a Hindu religious ceremony at a public school because that would be forcing Christian students to endorse a religion they don't believe in. They think if their religion doesn't support a woman's right to choose that no one should be able to choose. Just as we saw with economic freedom the Republican candidates all support religious freedom, but only for certain groups.
I could show examples of their selective support of freedom when it comes to all of the other rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights as well, but I am sure you get the idea by now. The Republican candidates love freedom... for themselves and people who are just like them. They hate freedom for anyone else and will try to eliminate the freedoms of those with whom they disagree. Apparently they have forgotten the last few words of our Pledge of Allegiance, "with liberty and justice for all."
So this leaves all of us with a decision to make. When you look at the four wealthy, powerful, well connected, Christian, white, straight, male, Republican candidates running for president do you feel like you are looking in a mirror? When you see these four men do you see four, or three, or two, or even one person who is so similar to you, who understands your world so well, that you want that person to decide what is right and wrong for everyone else in America? If you don't see your identical twin in that group then I urge you to think carefully about supporting any of them in their crusade to become President of the United States. They have clearly shown their willingness to fight for their freedom to not have anyone disagree with them even though that freedom isn't mentioned in the Constitution. I can only guess that they will fight for this freedom harder than any other though as it seems to be the one they hold most dear.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Success, the reason Democrats fail.
Why do the poor and middle class vote for Republican candidates when the policies they support go against the best interests of the poor and the middle class? This question baffles Democrats but the answer is probably quite obvious to Republicans. It all boils down to what the voter hopes for and what they see the two parties offering.
Democrats don't want to make the rich poor, but they see a world in which too many don't have enough to survive while a few have more than they could ever need. They want to change things just enough so that no one falls through the cracks. They want to see the success of the few spread around just enough so that no one has suffer any more than necessary. They won't promise you great wealth, but they will try and make sure that we all have what we need to survive in today's world, food, shelter, education, health care. This is, without a doubt, more in the best interest of the poor and the middle class, especially those in the middle class who live on the edge of poverty.
Republicans don't offer any hope of survival. They will allow you to fail miserably. They will allow you to go hungry, to be homeless, to be un-educated, they will even allow you to die just because you can't afford the health care that you need. SO why do the poor and the middle class vote for so many Republican candidates? While they don't offer any promise of survival, they do offer hope for great success. The Republicans hold out the promise that if you succeed they won't stand in your way. They offer up the great American myth of success, that anyone who works hard enough can be successful beyond their wildest dreams. They highlight the few examples of this that they can find and tweak the biographies of those who are close enough to being good examples of the American dream to turn them into people who pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps. The Republicans offer a lottery ticket like chance of great success to those who haven't experienced it.
So the Republicans offer the chance to succeed while the Democrats offer the chance to survive. Given these two options is it really such a mystery why so many poor and middle class voters support Republican candidates? Of course it isn't. The real mystery is why the Democrats haven't changed their message to show how the Republican vision of success is limited to just a few and how severely the odds are stacked against the average person in a country run under Republican rules. The Democrats can offer hope of greater success to more people, they can offer a vision of making smart investments in our country. The Democrats can offer a vision of an honest path to the American dream instead of one based on billion to one odds. Instead they focus on the facts and figures of survival.
The Democrats seem to be waiting for the poor and middle class voters to wake up and face reality. It may be the Democrats who need, instead, to embrace the myth.
Democrats don't want to make the rich poor, but they see a world in which too many don't have enough to survive while a few have more than they could ever need. They want to change things just enough so that no one falls through the cracks. They want to see the success of the few spread around just enough so that no one has suffer any more than necessary. They won't promise you great wealth, but they will try and make sure that we all have what we need to survive in today's world, food, shelter, education, health care. This is, without a doubt, more in the best interest of the poor and the middle class, especially those in the middle class who live on the edge of poverty.
Republicans don't offer any hope of survival. They will allow you to fail miserably. They will allow you to go hungry, to be homeless, to be un-educated, they will even allow you to die just because you can't afford the health care that you need. SO why do the poor and the middle class vote for so many Republican candidates? While they don't offer any promise of survival, they do offer hope for great success. The Republicans hold out the promise that if you succeed they won't stand in your way. They offer up the great American myth of success, that anyone who works hard enough can be successful beyond their wildest dreams. They highlight the few examples of this that they can find and tweak the biographies of those who are close enough to being good examples of the American dream to turn them into people who pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps. The Republicans offer a lottery ticket like chance of great success to those who haven't experienced it.
So the Republicans offer the chance to succeed while the Democrats offer the chance to survive. Given these two options is it really such a mystery why so many poor and middle class voters support Republican candidates? Of course it isn't. The real mystery is why the Democrats haven't changed their message to show how the Republican vision of success is limited to just a few and how severely the odds are stacked against the average person in a country run under Republican rules. The Democrats can offer hope of greater success to more people, they can offer a vision of making smart investments in our country. The Democrats can offer a vision of an honest path to the American dream instead of one based on billion to one odds. Instead they focus on the facts and figures of survival.
The Democrats seem to be waiting for the poor and middle class voters to wake up and face reality. It may be the Democrats who need, instead, to embrace the myth.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
What the presidential race means for Tennessee
This has been a very entertaining Republican primary. We have seen the social conservatives battle the economic conservatives as the libertarians fight against both of the other arms of the Republican Party. Democrats have always been jealous of the way Republicans can just fall in line and do what's best for their party. Now it seems that the Republican Party is splintering into three rather contentious factions and this can only be a good thing for the Democrats nationally.
The economy is improving and more importantly average Americans seem to be able to feel that it is improving. President Obama's approval ratings are on the increase and his possible opponents haven't shown that they could run a national campaign that would impress independents and conservative Democrats along with Republicans. Right now things look very good for President Obama although he could take a serious hit if the current unrest in the Middle East were to escalate and send gasoline prices higher at a faster rate than they are already rising. All in all, at the moment at least, it looks like President Obama is well on his way to being re-elected. So what does this mean for elections in my home state of Tennessee?
Tennessee is a very conservative state, we have large numbers of conservative Republicans, conservative independents, and even conservative Democrats. President Obama is not a terribly popular president here with consistently lower approval ratings and higher dis-approval ratings in state wide polls than are seen in national polls. We have quite a few socially conservative Republicans in Tennessee and they are a driving force in our state politics. If you are not from Tennessee you may have still heard of recent legislation that has come up in my state. The "Don't Say Gay Bill", a bill to legislate which public restrooms have to be used by transgender persons that was introduced by Richard Floyd, a state representative who threatened to "stomp a mudhole" in a transgender woman who tried to use the same restroom as one of his female relatives. Last year a bill was passed, not to make it illegal to discriminate against gays and lesbians but instead to make it illegal to pass any laws that would make it illegal to discriminate against gays and lesbians. Yes, the social conservatives are a powerful group in Tennessee. So how does this relate to the presidential election?
If Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination I doubt that you will hear a lot of cheers from social conservatives. His stances on gay rights and abortion have varied, seemingly based on geography more than anything else. As governor of a liberal state, Massachusetts, he was pro gay rights and pro choice. When he decided to run for president in 2008 we found that his feelings on these issues had changed dramatically. I have no problem with a politician studying an issue and finding that over time his or her opinions have changed, but Romney's conversion seems a bit too politically convenient to accept as a simple change of heart. Because of this social conservatives simply don't trust him and no matter how much they would like to see Obama defeated in November I doubt they will get overly excited about a Romney presidency and many of them simply won't make the effort to get out to the polls and vote. In a state like Tennessee this is good news for Democrats, possibly the best news they could get.
Of course Romney may not get the Republican nomination. He has been a fundraising powerhouse but he has also shown himself to be a pathetic campaigner. He has committed one gaff after another, and at a time when America is leaning more and more toward some version of populism Romney says that corporations are people and that he enjoys firing people. This is not an effective way to convince voters to support you. One of his opponents, however, has been very effective at speaking to his base of socially conservative supporters. He has been ideologically consistent throughout his political career. He has problems, while in the Senate he was a major user of earmarks and as an incumbent suffered a major loss to Democrat Bob Casey who received 59% of the vote compared to Santorum's 41%. Santorum's name returns an interesting if rather crude result when googled because of statements he has made against gay marriage. But he has a strong, large, and growing groups of supporters who are willing to overlook his shortcomings. He is a polarizing figure and that's exactly why he could be so important to state elections in Tennessee.
While Romney might not be able to excite social conservatives enough to get them to turn out at the polls in large numbers Santorum can. The chances of Santorum winning the general election against President Obama are very slim, but his impact in Tennessee can't be doubted. Social conservatives in Tennessee, if Santorum wins the nomination, would not only be able to vote against Obama, they would be able to vote for a candidate that firmly agrees with them on the issues they hold most dear. While in the voting booth they won't be just voting for a presidential candidate, they will also be voting for state representatives and senators and they could effectively eliminate any legislative opposition to the radical and extremist social legislation that has been pushed on our state since Republicans took over the state house, senate, and governor's office two years ago. We may need to change our states name from Tennessee to Theocressee.
As someone who believes in smaller government, especially when it comes to the government being in our homes and bedrooms, as someone who believes in economic growth, and who also understands that making it illegal to acknowledge the existence of homosexuals in our schools does not create jobs, a Rick Santorum candidacy in the general election scares me to death. When you drive into our state you see a sign that says "Welcome to the Great State of Tennessee" not the "great, conservative, medieval thinking, you aren't welcome if you don't agree with us, State of Tennessee" and I am willing to do what I can to make sure we don't get any closer to our state putting a new slogan on our "welcome" signs. We are already traveling down that road at a speed that seems far from safe to me and it is up to us to put up a speed trap and pull over the individuals who are drunk with unrestrained power and driving us down this dark and dangerous road. We must all get ready for a fight to keep Tennessee a place for all Tennesseans. We must remember that every vote counts and that every voice needs to be heard. We must be willing to use our voices to show our friends and family the danger of a state run unopposed by theocratic ideologues who want to force their beliefs down our throats leaving us no other choice than accept their bigotry masquerading as religion or move to another state. Of course if we move they can continue increasing their political power unopposed and finding ways to spread it to other areas of the country. Knowing that we have only one real choice, stay and fight for the kind of state and the kind of country our Founding Fathers obviously hoped to create. I'll be here standing up to the oppression. I hope to look around and see my friends standing with me.
The economy is improving and more importantly average Americans seem to be able to feel that it is improving. President Obama's approval ratings are on the increase and his possible opponents haven't shown that they could run a national campaign that would impress independents and conservative Democrats along with Republicans. Right now things look very good for President Obama although he could take a serious hit if the current unrest in the Middle East were to escalate and send gasoline prices higher at a faster rate than they are already rising. All in all, at the moment at least, it looks like President Obama is well on his way to being re-elected. So what does this mean for elections in my home state of Tennessee?
Tennessee is a very conservative state, we have large numbers of conservative Republicans, conservative independents, and even conservative Democrats. President Obama is not a terribly popular president here with consistently lower approval ratings and higher dis-approval ratings in state wide polls than are seen in national polls. We have quite a few socially conservative Republicans in Tennessee and they are a driving force in our state politics. If you are not from Tennessee you may have still heard of recent legislation that has come up in my state. The "Don't Say Gay Bill", a bill to legislate which public restrooms have to be used by transgender persons that was introduced by Richard Floyd, a state representative who threatened to "stomp a mudhole" in a transgender woman who tried to use the same restroom as one of his female relatives. Last year a bill was passed, not to make it illegal to discriminate against gays and lesbians but instead to make it illegal to pass any laws that would make it illegal to discriminate against gays and lesbians. Yes, the social conservatives are a powerful group in Tennessee. So how does this relate to the presidential election?
If Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination I doubt that you will hear a lot of cheers from social conservatives. His stances on gay rights and abortion have varied, seemingly based on geography more than anything else. As governor of a liberal state, Massachusetts, he was pro gay rights and pro choice. When he decided to run for president in 2008 we found that his feelings on these issues had changed dramatically. I have no problem with a politician studying an issue and finding that over time his or her opinions have changed, but Romney's conversion seems a bit too politically convenient to accept as a simple change of heart. Because of this social conservatives simply don't trust him and no matter how much they would like to see Obama defeated in November I doubt they will get overly excited about a Romney presidency and many of them simply won't make the effort to get out to the polls and vote. In a state like Tennessee this is good news for Democrats, possibly the best news they could get.
Of course Romney may not get the Republican nomination. He has been a fundraising powerhouse but he has also shown himself to be a pathetic campaigner. He has committed one gaff after another, and at a time when America is leaning more and more toward some version of populism Romney says that corporations are people and that he enjoys firing people. This is not an effective way to convince voters to support you. One of his opponents, however, has been very effective at speaking to his base of socially conservative supporters. He has been ideologically consistent throughout his political career. He has problems, while in the Senate he was a major user of earmarks and as an incumbent suffered a major loss to Democrat Bob Casey who received 59% of the vote compared to Santorum's 41%. Santorum's name returns an interesting if rather crude result when googled because of statements he has made against gay marriage. But he has a strong, large, and growing groups of supporters who are willing to overlook his shortcomings. He is a polarizing figure and that's exactly why he could be so important to state elections in Tennessee.
While Romney might not be able to excite social conservatives enough to get them to turn out at the polls in large numbers Santorum can. The chances of Santorum winning the general election against President Obama are very slim, but his impact in Tennessee can't be doubted. Social conservatives in Tennessee, if Santorum wins the nomination, would not only be able to vote against Obama, they would be able to vote for a candidate that firmly agrees with them on the issues they hold most dear. While in the voting booth they won't be just voting for a presidential candidate, they will also be voting for state representatives and senators and they could effectively eliminate any legislative opposition to the radical and extremist social legislation that has been pushed on our state since Republicans took over the state house, senate, and governor's office two years ago. We may need to change our states name from Tennessee to Theocressee.
As someone who believes in smaller government, especially when it comes to the government being in our homes and bedrooms, as someone who believes in economic growth, and who also understands that making it illegal to acknowledge the existence of homosexuals in our schools does not create jobs, a Rick Santorum candidacy in the general election scares me to death. When you drive into our state you see a sign that says "Welcome to the Great State of Tennessee" not the "great, conservative, medieval thinking, you aren't welcome if you don't agree with us, State of Tennessee" and I am willing to do what I can to make sure we don't get any closer to our state putting a new slogan on our "welcome" signs. We are already traveling down that road at a speed that seems far from safe to me and it is up to us to put up a speed trap and pull over the individuals who are drunk with unrestrained power and driving us down this dark and dangerous road. We must all get ready for a fight to keep Tennessee a place for all Tennesseans. We must remember that every vote counts and that every voice needs to be heard. We must be willing to use our voices to show our friends and family the danger of a state run unopposed by theocratic ideologues who want to force their beliefs down our throats leaving us no other choice than accept their bigotry masquerading as religion or move to another state. Of course if we move they can continue increasing their political power unopposed and finding ways to spread it to other areas of the country. Knowing that we have only one real choice, stay and fight for the kind of state and the kind of country our Founding Fathers obviously hoped to create. I'll be here standing up to the oppression. I hope to look around and see my friends standing with me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
