Free to be you and me – The New Seekers & Marlo Thomas
There’s a land that I see where the children are free
And I say it ain’t far to this land from where we are
Take my hand, come with me, where the children are free
Come with me, take my hand, and we’ll live
In a land where the river runs free
In a land through the green country
In a land to a shining sea
And you and me are free to be you and me
I see a land bright and clear, and the time’s comin’ near
When we’ll live in this land, you and me, hand in hand
Take my hand, come along, lend your voice to my song
Come along, take my hand, sing a song
For a land where the river runs free
For a land through the green country
For a land to a shining sea
For a land where the horses run free
And you and me are free to be you and me
Every boy in this land grows to be his own man
In this land, every girl grows to be her own woman
Take my hand, come with me where the children are free
Come with me, take my hand, and we’ll run
To a land where the river runs free
To a land through the green country
To a land to a shining sea
To a land where the horses run free
To a land where the children are free
And you and me are free to be
And you and me are free to be
And you and me are free to be you and me
I grew up in the 70s. I remember the quiet things that were unsaid between women when talked about pregnancy. I remember the attitude that the following article referenced; When getting felt up by the doctor during an abortion was the best thing that could happen during one… Now, 50 years after the event of the pill, we’re fighting about it even more than we were then, we’ve got this – Birth Control – still a new social concept and people who want to repeal Roe vs. Wade.
What’s surprising is that the attitudes that fostered these problems still persist in this day and age. I see two varieties of people making noise in either politics or my personal (pretty large) Face book world. They are; the loud ones who are pro-birth – I cannot call them pro-life, because they are *usually* not about the quality of life of the individual after they arrive. Typically, though not all, these are the folks who want the babies to arrive and then refuse to put the social supports in place to give them a life or they wish to cut the existing services that would support these same children. The other type is the liberal who believes in pro-choice and who supports services. Those have typically been quiet, because they don’t want to rock the boat or to get in anyone’s face, politically – they’re scared of the first loud type. That second type, however, is beginning to gain volume. I approve because it creates better balance.
The thing that REALLY gets me is the new argument of the pro-birthers, that their position is not a political one. By virtue of the fact that there is a disagreeing opposite party, and this topic needs mediation, it’s political or an example of politics. Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines political as this:
Definition of POLITICAL
1
a : of or relating to government, a government, or the conduct of government b : of, relating to, or concerned with the making as distinguished from the administration of governmental policy
2
: of, relating to, involving, or involved in politics and especially party politics
Definition of POLITICS
1
a : the art or science of government b : the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy c : the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government
This is a political topic by definition. Refusing to admit that simply does not make it so. Worse, obscuring the topic of whether or not something is political by bringing in other topics like Downs Syndrome and Nazis just confuses the issue. Refusal to agree to language that would help to clear the issue is a topic. Answering questions with questions and making inflammatory statements about one’s projections of other’s future does not help the discussion. It simply makes the side that is doing it look more extreme and frankly, crazy.
The battles that our mothers fought to get these freedoms to us are under assault.
Republicans don’t listen to the constituency they pretend to represent. I can’t even say Republicans anymore, because the people currently calling themselves Republicans bear little to no resemblance to the party that I know as Republican, even 10 years ago.
Democrats are little better. They, at least, have not gone completely bat-shit crazy, but they are frightened of the “Republicans” and their labeling. They refuse to address topics and the opposite party because they don’t want to have the confrontation. The conservative party is being run by hate and the democrats are being run by fear. Where is the willingness to stand up and do the right thing? Has it been chased off by the hate and fear coming from both parties?
I can foresee a world that is close to the horrible world of Margaret Atwood’s “A Handmaid’s Tale” if the current Republican party takes office. That’s frightening. That’s not a world I want for my daughters to live in. On the other side, with the Democrats, I can see them allowing Monsanto and GMO’s taking off, due to political expediency, and giving us a HUGE food problem due to too little research. Whatever happened to balance and sanity?
This is where my basement comes back into the discussion. I garden to provide my family, (my LARGE family, by the way, for while I am pro-choice, I have 4 kids, believe in gun ownership, and the death sentence) with non-GMO, healthy food. I can obsessively for a couple of different reasons. 1) I control what goes into it. No funky chemicals or lots of salt. 2) I can put up a LOT of food as a hedge against economic hard times or something freaky happening, like a weeklong ice storm or the Zombipocolypse. 3) I can share with my family. 4) Things I make a WAY tastier than things from the store.
In short, our political system has gone haywire and our politicians are completely ignoring the public’s wishes. Neither side can even see the point of the other’s arguments and are so far from each other as to be nearly different sides of the world. So far different, that they’re not talking the same language and don’t even realize it.
Perhaps it’s time to agree on some mutual language with which to have the discussion.
I find it very ironic that the Republicans, who used to stand for financial conservatism, freedom of religion, guns and the death penalty are now standing for the “pro-birth” movement, religious mono-theism and are only about 50% on the death penalty. Meanwhile, these original items are being picked up by the Democrats.
Me? I’m an independent. I vote my conscience, sanity, and try to follow what will give my kids the best world to live in.
I give you one last set of thoughts…Whatever happened to choice? Why do many of us feel that our rights are being reduced by politicians and corporations? Are they? Has choice truly gone?
Shopping in my basement 