Culture War?
So, since the 1990's the new "Culture War" in America has been raging. It started, many people agree, with Pat Buchanan's speech at the 1992 Republican National convention, where he said, "The agenda [the Clintons] would impose on America - abortion on demand, a litmus test for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat - that's change, all right. But it is not the kind of change America wants. It is not the kind of change America needs. And it is not the kind of change we can tolerate in a nation that we still call God's country."
Since then, "Culture Warrior" has been a self-imposed titled of Bill O'Reilly, and Pat Buchanan has been bringing the issue up again and again.
The issue isn't anti-christian. I know several atheists that have their opinions but also realize that it isn't reasonable to force their views on people. What they, and I, want is a state starkly separate from faith. I want my laws based on legal ideas, not on ideas of faith that I may or may not agree with. I want women to serve in forward areas and in combat roles if they're as qualified as the men they serve next to. I want my sisters and female friends, I want any of my future girlfriends and my future wife or wives, to be able to have an "abortion on demand", just as if they'd have a tonsillectomy on demand or an appendectomy on demand.
I want to be allowed to live my life, my friends and family to live theirs and my political foils to live theirs with an agreement that laws are based in law, science is something we can all agree on, and that living in faith based communities is an old fashioned idea, right up there with cutting off hands for stealing and burning witches at the stake.
But these "culture warriors" are not okay with live and let live. They are not okay with saying, "I can't prove my faith is 100%, so let's meet in the middle". And so I say this:
To those who would rob my loved ones of rights, deny my loved ones rights to serve on the front line, to marry anyone they chose, to sentence strong women to the role of servants and to seize by anger, hatred and rhetoric the very rights they should have, I cannot fight a culture war, I don't have cultural body armor, a cultural gun, or cultural intelligence to attack you, but your attempts will, one day, be met with violence. Like Henry V, I feel confident in saying that while we, those would live in society in peace and security, happy to let our neighbors on one side go to church and to let our neighbors on the other side believe that when you die you rot in the ground, may resemble a weak and sickly guard, but We would not seek a battle as we are, yet as we are, we say we will not shun it.
Lock and load, fuckers...
Since then, "Culture Warrior" has been a self-imposed titled of Bill O'Reilly, and Pat Buchanan has been bringing the issue up again and again.
The issue isn't anti-christian. I know several atheists that have their opinions but also realize that it isn't reasonable to force their views on people. What they, and I, want is a state starkly separate from faith. I want my laws based on legal ideas, not on ideas of faith that I may or may not agree with. I want women to serve in forward areas and in combat roles if they're as qualified as the men they serve next to. I want my sisters and female friends, I want any of my future girlfriends and my future wife or wives, to be able to have an "abortion on demand", just as if they'd have a tonsillectomy on demand or an appendectomy on demand.
I want to be allowed to live my life, my friends and family to live theirs and my political foils to live theirs with an agreement that laws are based in law, science is something we can all agree on, and that living in faith based communities is an old fashioned idea, right up there with cutting off hands for stealing and burning witches at the stake.
But these "culture warriors" are not okay with live and let live. They are not okay with saying, "I can't prove my faith is 100%, so let's meet in the middle". And so I say this:
To those who would rob my loved ones of rights, deny my loved ones rights to serve on the front line, to marry anyone they chose, to sentence strong women to the role of servants and to seize by anger, hatred and rhetoric the very rights they should have, I cannot fight a culture war, I don't have cultural body armor, a cultural gun, or cultural intelligence to attack you, but your attempts will, one day, be met with violence. Like Henry V, I feel confident in saying that while we, those would live in society in peace and security, happy to let our neighbors on one side go to church and to let our neighbors on the other side believe that when you die you rot in the ground, may resemble a weak and sickly guard, but We would not seek a battle as we are, yet as we are, we say we will not shun it.
Lock and load, fuckers...