Republican Propaganda
My parents got an interesting piece of mail today; it lists ten issues that Bush and Kerry disagree on. Trust me when I say that they'll be worth reading:
Who shares our values? YOU DECIDE
Defense of Marriage Act - Defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
Partial Birth Abortion Act - Ban abortions in which unborn child is partially delivered.
Unborn Victims of Violence Act - Laci's Law - Protect pregnant women from violence.
Marriage Protection Amendment - Protects marriage as a union of a man and a woman.
Expand Child Tax Credit - Double the child tax credit from $500 to $1000.
Nominate Judicial Conservatives - Judges who interpret law, not legislate from bench.
Parental Notification - Require parental notification for a minor daughter's abortion.
Ban Morning After Pill - Prohibit public schools from distributing morning after pill.
Stop Taxpayer Funded Abortions - Prevent taxpayer funded abortions.
Protect the Boy Scouts - Allow the Boy Scouts to meet in public schools.
An impressive list, but only if you're a conservative and and idiot. Here, I will react to the supposed values:
1. Bush is against gay marriage. We all knew this, and though I don't agree with it, it's a legitimate voting point for many people.
2. We also all know that Bush is anti-abortion. Partial birth abortions are the most extreme case, and people who don't know better might think it means killing the baby just as it would have been born naturally. A real attempt to demonize Kerry on this issue, but it's a legitimate point.
3. The subtext says it's to protect pregnant women, which of course everybody wants to do, but clearly it has an ulterior motive of making unborn children legally people, so it falls under the abortion issue, which they already covered.
4. This is the exact same thing as the first one. They even use a bunch of the same words!
5. I actually agree with this one. Your number of children has a direct correlation on your financial burden, and those are the people who need tax breaks. Sort of encourages overpopulation though. Not really a value though.
6. This isn't a value either. Of course a conservative president would nominate conservative judges. And really it's just to make sure that their anti-gay and anti-abortion legislation gets through.
7. Abortions again. Basically the only reason a daughter wouldn't tell their parents is because they're afraid of the reaction. So having the clinic tell the parents would scare some girls out of having an abortion. Though, they're also probably scared of having their parents find out they were pregnant in the first place.
8. Hrm... I'm sensing a pattern here. The morning after pill is different from other birth control, because it's not preventative. Sure, the ball of cells is only one day old, but that's an abortion if you get very Biblical about it.
9. Alright Bush... we get it. You don't like abortions.
10. I'm cool with the boy scouts. I suspect the reason they aren't allowed in some schools is that they're rather strongly tied with religion. But that's a reason to not let your kid join, not to make it so that all the other Christian kids don't have a convenient place to meet. But really not a value. Kerry probably just considered it a non-issue.
Man, that list of ten issues turned into two issues and a handful of policy decision pretty fast, didn't it? It also told me nothing that I didn't already know. I'd like to see the Kerry version of this list, with issues like the environment and fiscal responsibility on it. Oh, and if any of my conservative friends read this and think I've turned into a complete liberal monster, I'm still very pro-life. But I don't want to ban it for the same reason I want to legalize marijuana and prostitution. If people are going to do it anyway, make it safe.