Whose moral values? - posted at 14:04

Over the last week and a half I've grown weary of the pundits on the right championing "moral values" as the victor of the recent election. I feel that, just like in the case of patriotism, someone needs to inform the Republican party that they do not have a monopoly on morality. I am neither a supporter of Bush and the Republican party, nor am I a member of the religious right -- yet I am a person who lives by integrity and values. I have come to live by these values because I have given them a good amount of critical thought and not just because they have been dictated to me.

I find it to be immoral that you seek to end abortion while simultaneously making it policy to willfully deny people information about their bodies and about methods to protect themselves. Education -- not forced ignorance -- is one of the best methods for preventing abortion and STD's. Your religion may lead to you to believe that abstinence is the only right way, but many people do not share your religion, and that is a right guaranteed to them by the Constitution. Willful disinformation and campaigns of lies funded by government dollars are not only destroying lives, they are violations of tenets like "Thou shalt not lie" and "Separation of church and state." Many more people would benefit from information like "Abstinence is the most effective, but condoms and birth control prevent abortion too" than from "Don't have sex."

I find it to be immoral that you seek legislation that codifies discrimination in the Supreme Law of the Land while at the same time heralding a religion that preaches love, tolerance, and acceptance. Last time I checked, "Judge not lest ye be judged" and "Let he who has never sinned cast the first stone" were major tenants of the Christian faith. The fact that the basis for such legislation comes from two very poorly-translated Greek words makes such actions even more shameful.

I find it to be immoral that a great amount of attention is focused toward war and homosexuality instead of poverty. The Bible, a guidebook of morals for the Religious Right, dedicates far more text to helping the poor than to sexuality, much less homosexuality. The marriage amendments (at both the state and federal level) have been a great way of distracting people from the fact that we are engaged in an unjust war and the rich are getting richer and the poor and getting poorer. People may not be able to feed their families and their grown children are dying in an unwanted invasion, but hey, at least marriage is still "safe from the queers."

I find it to be immoral that a sovereign nation was invaded in order to enact "retribution" for an attack against us. More than 100,00 innocent civilians have died and hundreds have been tortured because of attacks that a group (that was completely disjoint from the invaded nation) sent against us. The Bible would tell us to "turn the other cheek," but we have continued our activities even though they had nothing to do with the original attack in the first place.

I find it to be immoral that a "culture of life" routinely sends its young minds to be killed in an unjust war. If we respect life, why are we systematically destroying it? Why do we allow victims of disease and their families to suffer while refusing to pursue promising cures and treatments? Why do we allow millions of people to be without health care? Why don't we strive to make our Earth more habitable for all forms of life?

These morals of mine are based on social injustice and the reality of what is happening to our brothers and sisters in humanity. I find it shameful that such things like those mentioned above are going on not only in the name of our country, but in the name of the deity that so many people profess their belief in. So to those that believe that moral values have won out over depravity, I urge you to take a long, hard, critical look at what you endorse and what you are doing to the people of this country and your fellow inhabitants of our planet.

cleolove commented:

I coudln't have said it better. I am sick to death of this claim to higher morality, not to mention the outright falsehoods.

The first line of my poem "The Day After"

Burning insanity -
no rational sense.
A lie born of faith,
has no defense.

Sometimes, I feel like banging my head against the wall would be more effective than trying to make these hypocrites "hear" the truth behind all the lies that were told to prey on their fear.

But .. I'm not giving up. I am a true patriot, and I will defend to my death, the Constitution.

I'll be linking to this post, it's excellent!

brianF commented:

I'm convinced that information publicly available is either useless, false, or the agenda of someone else. I rate my information on this: how hard was it for me to get it. Easy being useless, and hard being poignant, and really hard is usually freaking scary.
And thus I don't base my sanity or the perceived insanity of the outside world on publicly available information. As paradoxical as that is.
And all contradictions are true. Unless they're true.

The Dancing Fool commented:

Beautiful! Thanks for your words about morality. I have always felt that morality boiled down to one idea: that which affirms life is good. To make that choice we must be educated and be willing to take responsibility for our lives and choices. True morality is the most powerful thing on the planet. Moralism is just another lie that will be exposed for what it is. Blog On! - tDF

Stacey commented:

Thanks to all above for your comments! It is heartening to see that I am not the only one who sees something wrong with the way the people of America and the world are being portrayed. It helps me regain a bit of hope and faith in humanity that tends to get lost in times like these.

Oh, and Brian: interesting thoughts, but what prompted them? I can't see how that relates at all to my post.