So. This has been awhile in coming, but today I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger on a political post. I have refrained from this because I don't want to come off all preachy and whatnot, but then I realized a few things and changed my mind:
- I have been getting a lot of questions about my political views from people I go to church with -- especially since I stuck two Obama stickers on our car and then had the gall to drive it to church and park it next to all the Romney supporters' vehicles. ("Ohhhh, YOU'RE the ones!" -- we hear this pretty much every Sunday as we get back into our car). I figure if you really want to know what's up this is as good a way as any.
- This is my blog (well, Boone's too, but he feels the same way I do and has better things to do than post). Since this is my blog, I can say whatever I want. That being said...
- ...you can stop reading this whenever you want, although since I sift through all the conservative Republican forwards I get (I roll my eyes all the way through, but still...) I think the polite thing to do is keep reading until the end before you question my integrity. Feel free to roll your eyes, I can't see you.
Now that I have convinced myself that it is okay to share my views, let me also tell you that what I am about to post came from someone else's blog. I stumbled onto her site a few days ago and I think I may have found a long lost best friend in cyber-space. She is also an active member of the LDS church AND a self-proclaimed liberal Democrat (who bleeds Diet Coke just like I do:)
When I read what she wrote, I just felt that she had stated very simply what I have struggled to articulate, so I am borrowing her words:
"In the course of writing this blog, lots of people have asked me how I reconcile being Mormon and a Liberal. To me there was nothing to reconcile. I based my decision on my very Christian values. Help the sick. Aid the needy. For
LDS readers, I am always reminded of
Mosiah 4, where King Benjamin tells his people to help the poor, even if they don't necessarily deserve it.
I do not understand how a political party which clings to ideas such as "Family Values," the "Christian Right," and "National Morality," can be against universal
health care. I do not understand the thinking that allows someone to decide that sick people should be rendered helpless by a
bureaucracy.
I do not understand how someone reads the Bible, and at the part where Christ says "Suffer, the little children," interprets it to mean "Suffer, little children." Because in America the Republican Party will vote down laws that will give you
health care. Republican administrations will cut the funding for
WIC (
health care for
underprivileged INFANTS.) They will vote against
SCHIP but fund a war we have no hope of winning. They will cut funding for public education, thus widening the gap between the rich and the poor.
I do not understand it.
I do understand this-
"The
uninsured are sicker, suffer more from chronic disease, and rarely get
rehabilitation after an injury or surgery. They also die sooner-knowing that, with insurance, they might have lived." (Newsweek, September 07)
I also understand numbers-46 million Americans are uninsured. 46 million people die earlier because the Republican Administration says that
government-run
health care is socialism. Forget the fact that we've had
government run
health care for decades. (It's called Medicare, and oh, they cut funding for that too) What I want to see is some more 'Compassionate Conservatism." I want more "Family Values" that care less about what Americans are doing under the sheets and more about what sick kids,
elderly people, and
veterans are doing when they can't see a doctor. I want a type of Morality that knows the difference between good-
health care for children, and bad-depriving infants of
pre and post natal care.
Where are the Christians in the Republican Party? Where are the good
Samaritans who help their sick and
uninsured neighbors and their
underprivileged kids?
I guess I just can't think that way. I guess I just can't vote that way. That is why I'm a Liberal. That is why I'm a Christian."
I read that and said, "Amen, Sister!" I do not expect many of you to agree with me, but I decided that's okay. We can disagree and still be civil to one another, and maybe after reading this you will understand a little bit of why we vote the way we do.
And maybe,
just maybe, the number of "Obama is a secret Muslim"/"Democrats are conspiring to drive up gas prices"/"global warming is a hoax" emails will quit flooding my inbox:)
In case you want it (and to fully credit the author), the link to the blog I borrowed the quote from is:
www.mormonchildbride.blogspot.com
Don't get all freaked out by her blog's name -- she is hilarious, intelligent, and insightful. Thanks for listening (all 3 of you who made it this far). I will resume talking about unimportant stuff like weight loss and the smell of my hall bathroom ASAP.
