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Stuck in the middle with you
by anna at 02:46 PM on May 30, 2005
I might have mentioned that I am apolitical. But I am not apathetic. To the contrary, I'm very interested in the issues of the day. My problem is that everyone's argument sounds compelling. I applaud those on the left for their altruism. I like their common good theories. They believe the rich should help and share with the poor, and I agree. This is true even though by some measures, I am one of said rich.
I also dig the right's notion of personal responsibility and plucky self-reliance. They are right that many of the poor are that way beacause they're shiftless and lazy. I am also down with their belief in religion and blind patriotism. I agree with them that the so-called "international community" is a chimera. There are reasons we are separate nations---primarily that we hate eac other's guts. Why do you think France refused to ratify the stupid EU constitution, much to the chargrin of their longtime foes in England and Germany.
Just about all liberals favor abortion and oppose the death penalty. Just about all conservatives oppose abortion and favor the death penalty. (The problem with their position, when it is based on moralistic "sancity of life" arguments, is that you can't be selective with something that is supposedly sacred. This is so obvious I shouldn't even need to point it out.)
So I am kind of stuck in the middle, receptive to any well-thought-out position on any issue. You could say I lack convictions and you too would probably be right.
Ah but I do have thoughts on these 2 hot button issues. If any state is going to have and actually carry out executions (unlike say, California, where you're more likely to die on death row than get the axe,) then they all need to have it. And there needs to be uniform criteria to qualify. If you qualify you get nixed and pronto. No appeal. No more racism or sexism either. Whites and women will need to start getting the heave-ho too.
I agree with Hilary Clinton that abortion should be legal but rare. We need to do away with convenience abortions. If there is a health issue or there's something wrong with the fetus or the parents can't support it, then okay. And we need to do more on the prevention end. Condoms should be handed out for free at high schools. It should be a crime to have unprotected sex with a minor, even if you're a minor. Anyone having sex with youths must wear 2 condoms just to be doubly safe.
Of course, as a middle-aged man I really have no business having opinions about what is essentially a young women's issue. So it seems strange that at the rallies on both sides you see so many folks who couldn't have an abortion if their life depended on it. Just as the people involved in the death penalty debate are seldom if ever the types who'd ever be directly impacted by it themselves.
People are just nosy, I guess.
comments (9)
I think I'm the only one who thinks abortion is not just a woman's issue. Why doesn't the father have any say in regards to his offspring coming to term? It takes two to tango and I find it off balance that the woman can decide weather or not to have the child while the man has no choice but to pay child support if she does keep it.
I don't believe Hilary Clinton for one second. She's a liberal freak who's pretending to be middle of the road.
by MrBlank at May 31, 2005 9:02 AM
PS: I do agree, mostly, with her point about abortion being legal, but rare. If the mother's going to die or the kid will be born with 2 heads, do the abortion. I disagree about it being okay if the parents can't afford the kid. There's always adoption. Let the gay couples adopt! maybe they'll stop doing the freaky, mad scientist shit with test tube babies, surrogate mothers, donated eggs/sperm. Ick.
by MrBlank at May 31, 2005 9:11 AM
Abortion is as much a woman's issue as is the man's...
I'm waiting for AIG to collapse...
All I need is one grand speculation...
...I'm on my last leg...
...Anna, I willl send you my resume... perhaps you can help me get a job in insurance... I did work for Northwestern Mutual for a while back in the 90's.
by Lockheed at May 31, 2005 5:50 PM
I'd be happy to help. Whether it's a woman's issue or not, it certainly is something for people of child-bearing years. All I see in the photos of rallies are old fux. And yeah there's always the adoption option. But after carrying the baby for 9 months and then going thru labor the lady often doesn't want to give it up. And then you've got one more kid born into poverty and strife.
by anna at May 31, 2005 6:28 PM
I don't want to get into policitcs, but if you honestly don't think someone can be against abortion but for the death penalty you are a nut. If you believe a fetus is a person and that abortion is murder, the difference between putting a criminal convincted of a capital crime to death and putting an innocent child to death should hopefully be pretty obvious.
by mg at May 31, 2005 9:19 PM
Blank, I think that's just a thing that can't be changed. What's the alternative? To force or coerce women to abort, to injure them so they miscarry, or to murder them so the fetus dies at the same time? It does take two to tango, but if a person is worried about being obligated to support a child (people disobey child support orders all the time), the time for a person to decide whether to tango will have to be different for each sex. For men, it will have to be before sexual contact. For women, it's before the third trimester by our current laws.
by jean at June 1, 2005 12:50 AM
Jean, what about partial birth abortion? That goes on all the tiem in tri-3.
MG, what I said is that if you oppose abortion on sanctity of life grounds as opposed to just not digging it for whatever other reason, then you can't turn around and say the criminal's life isn't sacred. Either all "life" is sacred or none of it is.
In Russia the average woman has like 11 abortions. No wonder there's so few of them around anymore. In a few years there will be more Iranians.
by anna at June 1, 2005 6:56 PM
I hadn't thought of that, Anna. I'm not sure how often it happens, for example all the abortions I've heard of in real life happened in the first trimester, not long after the people realized they were pregnant. I think what I meant to say can stay the same: there is no changing the fact that men in this example will have to decide much earlier on whether they are ready for the possibility of raising a child.
I am not sure what can be said about inequalities such as these. Both men and women can be raped, for example, but when a man is raped, he does not face the possibility that a child may begin growing inside him as a result. A woman does. Every day that pregnancy lasts will bring some kind hardship, and none of it was asked for. This can't happen to a man. It is unfair. But it is unchangeable.
by jean at June 3, 2005 3:13 AM
For some reason I have figured out my number, 44. What is yours?
by anna at June 4, 2005 9:25 AM