I fucking hate this government.
by V.E. on June 24th, 2006
filed under ladyamedeus, lgbt, personal, politics, thoughts
Granted, the U.S. government, assholes and all, is better than, say, the governments of Iraq or Iran or China, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good government. It isn’t, and here is my list of why.
- Abstinence-only programs. Yeah, right. People have been having sex since the dawn of time (I know ’cause we wouldn’t be here otherwise) and to assume that teaching kids NOT to have sex will keep them from having sex is stupid. I’m not saying that abstinence is a bad idea; it’s not. It prevents pregnancy, STDs, and AIDS. But abstinence-only programs are shitty for a couple of reasons. First, most are based on religious teachings. If someone doesn’t subscribe to those teachings, how does anyone expect them to take the program seriously? Second, such programs “have been propelled by the mistaken belief that comprehensive sexuality education itself somehow seduces teenagers into sexual activity.” That seems plausible on the outset, but really, if the kid doesn’t want to have sex, s/he wont, and visa versa, regardless of the sex ed. s/he has received (or not). Third, unlike comprehensive sex ed., abstinence-only education programs actually censor information about contraception, STDs, and other sexual health-related issues.
- The justification for going to war with Iraq. “Operation Iraqi Freedom”, it’s called, but it seems to be anything but freedom for Iraqis. Now, my issues with the war itself aside, the reason we’re at war just makes me so mad. Recently, White House Press Secretary Tom Snow said that Bush said that “there’s no demonstrated link between Saddam [Hussein] and 9-11,and we’re never going to make that argument.” Yeah, right, Bushie; that’s not what you said in March 2003 in writing. Now, I’m glad that Mr. Hussein is no longer in power; he was a bad guy. But WE shouldn’t have stooped to his level just to get to the oil in Iraq, or to get back at him for handing Bush Sr. his own ass (in the first war with Iraq), or to stop terrorists, or because we were angry about 9/11 (in which Iraq wasn’t involved), or whatever the reason we went in there in the first place. Good American soldiers are dying, for Christ-sakes.
- The Patriot Act. Speaking of 9/11… After reading the entirity of the Patriot Act, I have two thoughts. Such an act may have been appropriate just after the World Trade Center towers fell, since people wanted revenge and to feel safe and were willing to give up their liberty to get those things, but to re-approve it is not appropriate at all. It gives the FBI waaaaay too much power, including demanding sensitive documents about any person without that person’s knowledge or consent and without due process. They don’t need to show probable cause for demanding such information (which includes library records, wiretapping, internet spying, and other things) and those who are required to comply with the FBI’s “requests” may not tell anyone that a citizen’s privacy has been compromised, much less the citizen him/herself.
- Lack of respect for our environment. Although “protecting our Nation’s environment” seems to be one of the President’s issues, he (+ his underlings) is considered by many environmental agencies to be doing more harm than good. Big business gets away with murder, Alaska’s wildlife is under attack, and there have been HUGE budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Angency’s resources. I do NOT want to have to explain to my (theoretical) grandchildren why we’re living in a dump of a country 60 years from now.
- The Federal Marriage Amendment. Also known as the [so-called] Marriage Protection Amendment. Even if you don’t think that same-sex marriage is “okay”, the matter should be left up to the states. It’s not really even a “marriage” issue anymore; it’s about states’ rights. The amendment is completely ridiculous. If the government really wanted to do something to protect marriage, they’d make it harder to get married at all and harder to get out of so that people would take the whole idea more seriously. I mean, c’mon, people, there are MUCH more important things we could be focusing upon, like, for example, keeping kids off drugs and/or working to end poverty and homelessness.
- Threat of overturning Roe v. Wade. Wow, this one’s a biggie for me. I seriously felt like I was going to hurl when South Dakota passed that anti-choice law–the one that doesn’t even allow for abortions for rape or incest victims. It takes effect in July and one of it’s goals is to get the Supreme Court to rethink Roe v. Wade and ultimately overturn it. Plus, many states have “trigger laws” that would ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Some people tell me that such an action (overturning the 1973 decision) would actually be GOOD for abortion laws, since anti-choice advocates would have to stop complaining about “activist judges” and crap like that. I find that hard to believe, since there are trigger laws in quite a few states and although they probably won’t affect me personally, they WILL affect women in those states, especially those women who don’t have the resources to travel to another state or whatever for the necessary operation. Let me put it this way: abortion is going to happen whether it’s legal or not, so why don’t we keep our women safe by keeping it legal?
I wish I knew what to do, but voting seems useless (I do it anyway, and you all should, too). I don’t want to leave because I love my country and want future generations to have liberty and freedom just like we (sort of) do now. I know it could be a lot worse, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t also be a lot better. We should never stop striving for excellence.
