 Today, thousands of Americans took to the streets across the nation to march for women's rights. Many marched to support their sisters and to affirm the beauty and dignity of women. In many ways, this march was a healthy expression of the recognition of women's strength and powerful presence in the world. Amen to that, sisters! At the same time, something else was going on that wasn't so healthy, so I think the best thing to do is to look at the "Unity Principles" on the Women's March site itself. First, they start with "Ending Nonviolence," which is a great way for anyone to start: Women deserve to live full and healthy lives, free of all forms of violence against our bodies. We believe in accountability and justice in cases of police brutality and ending racial profiling and targeting of communities of color. It is our moral imperative to dismantle the gender and racial inequities within the criminal justice system. Did you notice that? Who is the perpetrator of violence? Not rapists or "rape culture," but the police and any other form of law enforcement. But they don't offer an alternative. This principle might be just fine, and certainly it's great to be against any systemic violence, but perhaps we should look at countries that oppress women to a far greater degree. The next principle is "Reproductive Rights": We believe in Reproductive Freedom. We do not accept any federal, state or local rollbacks, cuts or restrictions on our ability to access quality reproductive healthcare services, birth control, HIV/AIDS care and prevention, or medically accurate sexuality education. This means open access to safe, legal, affordable abortion and birth control for all people, regardless of income, location or education. I don't believe that every woman who marched today is pro abortion, and I don't believe that every woman who marched today is in favor of unbridled killing of innocent human life. I believe that most of the women who marched today are decent, law abiding individuals who want to make a difference, and that is a noble thing. That being said, they took part in an organization funded by blood money. The "Exclusive Premiere Sponsor" of the event was Planned Parenthood, and one of the "Social Justice Partners" was NARAL. The Honorary Co-Chairs of the event include radical extremists such as Angela Davis (who considers Israel to be an apartheid state, and who is a proponent of the anti-Semitic BDS movement) and Dolores Huerta (a great admirer of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez). Other partners funding the event include: #VOTEPROCHOICE Of course, mixed in with all these radical partners are some fine organizations who do some good work for women in the community. At the same time, these good organizations are diminished by association. The stink of abortion taints the entire thing, and that's too bad. It's tragic, in fact. Here's the thing: marches like this bother me because they treat women like helpless waifs who have no ability to function by their own wits, while at the same time affirming women's strength. For me, it's hard because, while I'd love to endorse any organization that supports women, I will not support any organization that offers abortion as a solution to problems. It's as though if Planned Parenthood lost its federal funding, that women would suddenly be incapable of regulating their own lives and their own fertility. Isn't that the opposite of the otherwise affirming message of the march? If women are strong and powerful and amazing, then why do they need Planned Parenthood to take control of their fertility? If women are fantastic, when would their lives fall collectively into ruin should there be even the smallest regulation on abortion? Don't they think women can cope? What happened to Rosie the Riveter proclaiming "We can do it!"? What do these organizers really think of women? Don't they trust women's abilities to regulate their own fertility rather than assuming they can't? Can't women have the presence of mind to keep their knees together without Planned Parenthood trying to tell them they can't? Who really does support the dignity and strength of women? There's probably a lot more I could say about this march. As a woman, I wish I could support it, but I cannot. All I can say is that I hope that women truly can see their own strength and really understand that they don't need Planned Parenthood or the government to dictate to them what they can and cannot do, nor make women feel powerless. The rhetoric today was such that it makes me worry that some will feed into that and start to believe it. As for me, I will do my best to keep my hope in women and in our ability to rise above. We do not need Planned Parenthood. We can make healthy choices that do not involve someone else's death. We can love our bodies and not turn it into a place of violence. And we don't need radical women with extremist agendas to try to tell us otherwise. 
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 Let the freakout begin. Remember back in 2008 when Obama won, and some conservatives freaked out and called him a Muslim and a Communist and then liberals said they were a bunch of crybabies and racists and sore losers? Remember that? Yeah, well now it would seem that the Birkenstock is on the other foot. Some of you may remember when conservatives freaked out over the video below--look at the title! Paramilitary Obama Youth Corps! Then there were some who compared these kids to the Hitler Youth. Remember that? Remember these kids? These gradeschoolers who sang all about Obama (at the behest of their teachers, naturally) Yeah, remember that? Remember how Obama voters slammed critics of these videos as racist, conspiratorial, Nazis who were mad about the election because the white man lost and the black man won? Remember that? And the critics had a point--these kids didn't become drones of the World State, and they didn't go to re-education camps funded by George Soros. They went on with their schooling and are probably in college now. Let's just hope they're not among the SJWs who are having temper tantrums about words written in chalk. I've seen a lot of inflated rhetoric these days, much of which uses the words "racist," "xenophobic," "hater," "fascist." That last one really puzzles me because, while Trump is a lot of things I don't like, he's NOT a fascist. As Jonah Goldberg points out HERE, "So, yes, sure fascism was seen as being to the 'right' of Communism, because it was." But Goldberg also points out The Nazi organization of the economy was certainly to the left of what FDR did during the early New Deal. It was also very similar in numerous ways, as many New Dealers admitted at the time (including FDR himself). Many respected historians (such as Wolfgang Schivelbusch, John Garraty, et al) have noted these similarities. To be sure, the New Deal was right-wing compared with the Soviet model too. But that makes the New Deal “right-wing” only from the Marxist perspective, not the laissez-faire/classical-liberal perspective. Benjamin Barber wrote in the Huffington Post that I know that clarifying the actual meaning of such terms, deployed by ignorant zealots to vilify opponents in our over the top Congressional elections, is unlikely to make much of a political difference. People who use words as clubs are not really interested in their meaning. But just for the record, words do have meanings. Barber made a great point back then, but unfortunately, many on his side of the aisle don't seem to practice what they preach when it's their candidate who lost and the other side that won. The prevailing excuse for this double standard is to use epithets as stated above, but what does that accomplish? It frightens people, it "poisons the well" by not allowing the new Administration to get a fair start. Oh, conservatives did that to Obama? Perhaps, but wait, didn't Obama supporters accuse his opponents of being un-American and unsupportive? Didn't they take conservatives to the woodshed over that? Yet now they're doing the same thing. Interesting. Remember that quote from Rush Limbaugh, the Left's Moloch? "I hope he fails." Remember that? Remember the outcry? the accusations of racism? ThinkProgess wrote: Barack Obama has not yet taken office, and Rush Limbaugh is already rooting for his failure. (ThinkProgress 2009) Wasn't that so unfair? Here Obama was, fresh from his victory over an old white guy and now the mean conservatives aren't being fair? Remember all of that? And now that Trump has won, we get this rhetoric: One recalls Adolph Hitler and the rise of German Fascism. Hitler started out preaching his form of political gospel in the beer halls of Germany, where he frequently got a standing ovation. He honed his message there. Word of Hitler's speaking came to the ears of Dietrich Eckart, who was a famous German playwright and political activist, specifically the founder of the German Workers' Party. Eckhart was also an occultist and the occult society that he belonged to had predicted the coming of a "German Messiah" who would lead the workers forward. Think of Eckhart as Morpheus and Hitler as Neo from "The Matrix" and you have the concept. So Eckhart, mesmerized by Hitler and wealthy and influential, convinced his equally wealthy and influential friends to embrace Hitler as "the One" and they did; and put their bank accounts behind Hitler and got him onto the radio and into the newsreels as well. Hitler and his followers took Eckhart's Workers' Party and morphed it into the Nazi Party. As much of a jerk that Trump is, to connect him in any way to Hitler and the Shoah is vile and inexcusable. You can say a lot of negative stuff about him (I already have), but to equate him with concentration camps and Jim Crow and white supremacy is going too far. This is inflated rhetoric on steroids, and it needs to stop if we are ever to move ahead as a nation. It was ugly when it was done to Obama, and it's ugly now. Let me leave you with this graphic below, just as evidence of the way in which some on the left are characterizing both Trump and the Republican Party. This should offend you, but it should also show all of us that this rhetoric is powerful and it's not going anywhere any time soon. Unfortunately, many will look at a graphic like the one below and buy into it and take from it that all conseratives are like this. It is this kind of ad hominem attacks that all conservatives, therefore, must confront and address.  Clearly, we're headed for some strange times, from many areas of life. Let's just hope that we can rise above, keep our own rhetoric healthy and helpful, and never cave into bullying or vilification.
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PoliticsOur national problem is not political, but spiritual. As long as we live in a godless society, we will continue to have the Obamas and Clintons and Trumps of the world. Archives
November 2017
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