I remember, just after the fiscal collapse of 2008, it seemed that the battle cry for every candidate on the state and federal levels was "Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!" We heard this from state representatives, to governors, to senators and representatives in our nation's capitol. To quote a Dallas Morning News article from September 24, 2010:
"In the legislative blueprint that Republicans hope will serve as a road map to winning control of the House, they declared their two highest priorities to be creating jobs and stopping "out-of-control spending" by the federal government."Also mentioned in that article is a quote from none other than John Boehner, then just the House Minority Leader, "To create jobs, we need to end the uncertainty for job creators and the spending spree in Washington." Quite bluntly, jobs were the priority and in the wake of the recession, the Republicans used this emphasis on jobs to regain a majority in the House. However, this focus on jobs was used on the state level too, as the Republicans would pick up 675 state legislative seats by November 2010 alone, essentially a landslide. In my home state of Texas, Republicans picked up 23 seats alone. Needless to say 2010 was a massively successful election year for the Republican Party and my expectations were that the focus would actually be on jobs and the economy, as well as limiting spending. But as the evidence will show, it just wasn't the case.
2011 was quite the busy year politically. It seems that the Republicans came out of the gate swinging, not at the economic issues however, but the abortion and reproductive rights issues. Cited in a Reuters article, almost 40 laws were passed in 15 states in regards to women's reproductive issues since 2011. You may remember some of these. We have the abortion law in Mississippi that essentially attempted to close the state's lone abortion clinic. Then, there is Arizona with its ban on late-term abortions, one that has faced intense scrutiny on the national level (it has recently been blocked by a federal appeals court). According to NPR, 2011 was a near-record year for abortion laws in the United States.
Why the focus on abortions? Where is the focus on jobs and the economy? Here in Texas, our state legislature too, passed a reproductive rights law that has drawn much scrutiny, Governor Perry's sonogram law. I have a personal issue with this one. Rick Perry is into his third term now and long have I heard him often speak of small government, keeping taxes low and not burdening small businesses or citizen with restrictions. Honestly, I think for the most part, he has done a decent job as governor. We did get some tort reform here in Texas, which I think is sorely needed on a federal level and he did have the foresight to fund a desalinization plant, something many states talk about, but few have actually implemented. Considering the drought currently plaguing our nation, I think the water issue is quite important, but I digress.
I just find it insanely ironic that someone who is so outspoken and devoted to the cause of small government can actually implement a law telling people what to do with their bodies. That is the problem with most of these new abortion/reproductive rights laws, they are mainly being passed by small government republicans, yet these laws infringe upon the rights of American women in regards of what to do with their bodies. Don't believe me? I have already mentioned Texas, Mississippi, and Arizona, the other states that have touched on this issue since 2011 are: Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The irony of the situation is further compounded that many of these men who have pushed the abortion and reproductive rights laws through have also been very defiant towards the Health care Mandate, with Governor Walker of Wisconsin and Rick Perry of Texas serving as two great examples. Rick Perry summarizes his views fairly well while in a Town Hall session during attempt to secure the Republican Party's presidential nomination last year. So the health care mandate is unconstitutional, but forcing government between the doctor patient relationship for the sake of abortion, isn't? That is probably what irks me the most. I understand the arguments against Obama care. Socialized medicine, unconstitutional, government getting in the way of the doctor-patient relationship, etc. We have all heard those many times from many different detractors of the health care bill. While those arguments are valid, they all lose their credibility when these same people like Governor Rick Perry pass a sonogram law that not only forces government into the cherished doctor-patient relationship, but also pushes costs to the doctors, patients, and insurance companies as well for these required sonograms.
Texas is not alone in this hypocrisy. The cherry on the sundae is that many of the states that challenged Obama care in court, chiding the federal government for over-stepping their bounds, are also the same states that have pushed for more restrictive abortion laws! They are: (28 states total challenged Obamacare/PPACA, while 26 doing so in a joint action): Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. Nearly every single state that passed an abortion or reproductive rights law post-2010 elections also filed suit to the federal government challenging Obamacare.
Just more hypocrisy when it comes to the "small government" arguments made by many Republicans today. All for small government with the exception of our views on religion and social issues, which we will gladly push upon you! I believe such contradictions are what is truly killing the Republican Party. As I mentioned in my previous post, instead of hammering the Democrats on the economy, we are now still talking about social issues, which at the end of the day legislating for or against them do not help to solve our looming budget crisis, our deficit, cure our ailing economy, rectify social security, and a host of other issues I am sure you can think of. It makes you wonder had all this effort been spent on working together to fix this economy and to make the United States more competitive, instead of on abortion, how things could be different right now...instead of being stuck in the quagmire that is our current economy.
References:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/20/as-santorum-seizes-social-issues-romney-demurs/
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/washington/20100924-GOP-still-has-sales-job-ahead-7742.ece
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/13/AR2010111302389.html?sid=ST2010111400091
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/usa-abortion-idINL2E8IIHRL20120719
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-01/news/sns-rt-us-usa-abortion-arizonabre8701l8-20120801_1_late-term-abortion-total-abortions-republican-governor-jan-brewer
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/01/19/145465011/new-restrictions-on-abortion-almost-tied-record-last-year
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2012/07/02/20120702arizona-abortion-fetal-defect-cases.html
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-20/politics/texas.abortion.sonogram_1_sonogram-procedure-abortion?_s=PM:POLITICS
http://blog.chron.com/rickperry/2011/09/perrys-texas-involved-in-texans-lives/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68392.html
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/tort-reform-has-had-just-the-impact-we-2417411.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-07-01-drinking-sea-water_N.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act
http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/column/gov-scott-walker-for-wisconsin-obamacare-not-a-remedy/article_a9fdb33c-cd2b-11e1-9e0b-001a4bcf887a.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP7gI842cUA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTmQsWrQkEw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_challenges_to_the_Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Federation_of_Independent_Business_v._Sebelius
Next Up: I will examine Mayor Bloomberg's recent Soda Ban as well as investigate other such edicts being dubbed as "Nanny State" laws becoming prevalent in America's largest cities.
No comments:
Post a Comment