POLITICIANS: THEY ARE NOT ALL THE SAME

The pendulum of the Republican party has swung so far right, it's liable to knock us all out cold on its inevitable swing back.

A sadly misinformed politician from Missouri (Rep. Todd Akin, R.) has created a shitstorm of controversy with his recent comment, to the effect that "legitimate rape" can't result in pregnancy because a woman's body will "shut down" if attacked in this way and won't allow fertilization.  This, to justify a ban on abortion even in cases of rape or incest (which has just been included in the draft of the official Republican party platform).  It also helpfully explains, I guess, that if pregnancy did occur in cases of rape, well, it just wasn't "legitimate"... as in she secretly wanted to have sex at knifepoint?  I need further clarification on that.

Mr. Akin is not the only one who thinks this way.  I saw on a news show the other night a piece detailing how this line of thinking (and speaking it out loud!) about rape not resulting in pregnancy goes back at least three decades amongst (male) politicians, all Republicans from the south (I don't blame the south, but they do seem to have a disproportionate number of dipshit politicians.)

You can tell my ire has been raised.  I have worked so hard to let so many things go.  I'm practicing compassion, lovingkindness, "nowness".  So, this political season is a challenging teacher for me. It's  hard to let go of the outcome of this election, because I believe politics really do matter and that politicians are not "all the same" as some disillusioned in the electorate like to lament.

There is a busload of Catholic nuns who are criss-crossing the country to educate and protest the "Ryan Budget" as immoral in its draconian measures to cut funding for programs that help the poor and the working poor, who are drowning in spite of treading water as fast as they can.  I thought, at first,  "Who is this Paul Ryan guy and that budget of his will never pass anyway."  Well, the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, just chose Ryan as his running mate.  Even though Romney changes his tune to sing whatever song his audience of the day wants to hear, at least we now know what he really believes.  Ryan's views are well-documented and consistent.

I've seen a lot of elections -- some of which went the way I wanted, and some didn't.  But really, none made me truly fearful, even though I was not happy with cowboys or paranoids in the Oval Office.  This being a democracy, I believed reasonable people would ultimately demand responsible leaders.  Now I'm not so sure.

The "good guys" of the Republican Party seem to have abandoned ship.  They've handed it over to right wing politicos who appeal to what I thought was a minority, but who now have been given a great deal of power.  Or at least the power to take over the debate and somehow drag others along with them.  And to enact laws aimed at ensuring Republican-leaning districts in some states will have an unfair advantage over those who traditionally vote for Democrats -- the young, poor, and/or elderly would be most affected -- by requiring a government issued ID to get their hands on a ballot.  (My own mother would have been denied a vote if she had lived in one of these districts).

This year we have a billionaire Republican nominee who will say anything he thinks you want to hear to get elected.  He has chosen a running mate who is the darling of the far right.  Both of them will reward the excesses of the rich at the expense of the middle class and the poor.

And we have the incumbent, a pragmatic and perhaps over-reaching, but well-intentioned President who swept into office on a wave of "Yes We Can" only to realize, "no you can't" if the other party sees as Job One personally vilifying our President and thwarting absolutely any legislation he proposes--the American people be damned--then blaming him for "doing nothing".  Talk about a Catch-22!

I believe that having an intelligent, articulate, principled black man in the White House who embraces diversity across the board, inclusive of ethnicity, race, class, gender, and even divergent ideas, has created such fear and aversion that an ultra-conservative uprising of unhinged classism, racism, and sexism was perhaps inevitable.  What I didn't see coming was how the rest of the Republican party would stand for it.  There must be some who are appalled, embarrassed, outraged.  But will they express this dismay by switching parties in the privacy of the voting booth?

Don't know. Hope so.

Because I still want to believe that my country, which I dearly love, will not abandon the very democratic, egalitarian principles we so fondly espouse to uphold.

(Here's a clip from an Aaron Sorkin-written TV show; so the bias is obvious, but the points are factual and well made, even if he went a bit far at the end in my judgement.  He's entitled to his opinion...we do still have freedom of speech here (even money "talks").

http://front.moveon.org/what-we-already-knew-about-the-tea-party-and-the-newsroom-finally-said-out-loud/#.UD024cIjA8g.facebook

And, sisters, if men like Todd Akin continue to think they can tell women how our bodies work and what's best for us politically, and we let them do so by not standing up for our own truth, then we do not honor the sacrifices of the women who worked to ensure we have a voice in this election, or any other.

At least, that's the view from here....©

Read this easy abbreviated history lesson about women's voting rights: http://www.pbskids.org/wayback/civilrights/features_suffrage.html
Also, watch this "Hollywood-ized", but factually accurate portrayal of the fight for the vote:  Iron Jawed Angels 2004-HBO Movies (Netflix has it).