October
2006
My Top Issues this Campaign Season
This election season I'm an issues voter. Issues of health and issues of morals are guiding my decisions. Candidates who fight against or don't support my values won't get my vote.
Here are my top issues:
Health Care: Last month my Mom had a heart attack. She's okay for now but the attack caused massive damage to the bottom of her heart. If she has another heart attack she will probably die. Her multiple sclerosis makes working on her heart more difficult than for most patients. She now has a few stents but despite her relatively young age, she would likely not live through an open heart procedure. My son could lose his grandmother at an early age. Don't think I don't hold these politicians accountable. Candidates who tout the inappropriately named "health savings accounts" as the solution fail to understand that those accounts are little more than another way to say the person suffering from a problem has to come up with more of their own money to pay for what they already can't afford.
Concealed Carry: In an effort to divide people, the NRA and the candidates they back are supporting an effort to let people legally pack heat. That's right — if they get their way, people will actually be able to carry guns into places like churches, shopping malls, child care centers… you name it. Then there's the question, why bother concealing? Why not just let people wear a holster like the old wild west? The answer should be simple — we don't want or need public shootouts. Cops and Deputies almost universally oppose this proposal as it would make our streets more dangerous places for even law enforcement to patrol.
Discrimination: Candidates who support discrimination written into our Constitution aren't getting my vote. This whole issue of gay marriage is a red herring. By writing a clause into the constitution that says that two people who love each other can't marry isn't going to make my marriage of 16 years any stronger. Anyone who believes in love and the sanctity of marriage should be just as outraged as I am that a bunch of misguided individuals have co-opted the bible to justify discrimination. Remember — the Ku Klux Klan was also a religious-based organization for Christians and hopefully their role is being extinguished in America. Those that seek to find legal ways to discriminate against groups of people are no better than members of the KKK.
Embryonic Stem Cell Research: This is a personal issue. Mom's health is failing and if a bunch of politicians who stood in the way of her cure would have gotten out of the way, maybe there would have been a cure for MS by now. If there was a cure, maybe she wouldn't have had that heart attack last month. Some misguided politicians are proclaiming that they aren't standing in the way of stem cell research because they support a narrow definition of stem cells as only being ADULT stem cells. Those stem cells which scientists believe hold the most hope are embryonic stem cells. With nearly a half million fertilized embryos on ice right now and with most of them not expected to ever be implanted in a woman, it seems a horrible waste to discard them when the secrets they may hold could save lives.
Reproductive Freedom: I'm amazed that this continues to be an issue. Some politicians actually think they know better than a woman does about her own body. Some even oppose women being able to decide whether they should be allowed to take a medication which would cause a miscarriage even in cases of rape or incest.
Jim McGuigan
Jim McGuigan
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If you don’t know why abortion continues to be an issue, consider calling up Peggy Krusick or Tony Staskunas, or even Jeff Plale. They could probably do a decent job explaining it for you.
For those who might think it unfair to bring up the KKK, the Republican Legislature foisting the “Defense of Marriage” on Wisconsin is on the same page as the KKK with their harmful amendment.
On November 5, 2005, Texas became the 19th state to add a gay marriage ban to its constitution when voters approved it in a ballot referendum. The amendment, Proposition 2, as it was called, passed with the full support of the KKK, which held a rally at the state capitol in Austin Nov. 5.
“Having the Klan involved probably doesn’t help my cause,” said Texas State Rep. Warren Chisum, who wrote the amendment. “This is one of those deals where you can’t control who signs up on your side.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aywzOFXEyFyw&refer=us
And for better reading:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A306953
“We just want to come and encourage people to vote for Christian Family Values and against legalized homosexual marriage in the state of Texas,” Klan representatives wrote in an e-mail to [Austin] officials.
In the newspaper link you provided, it quoted the KKK Grand Dragon (head honcho) saying `It’s time for Christians to come out of the closet and vote.’
There’s an interesting mix.
Is there any reason that my response was not posted??
mke,
Yes. It was fictional.
We don’t always catch fictional posts from our readers but yours stood out like a sore thumb. It was clear in that post that you did not read the original posting and were trying to deceive readers into thinking I said something contrary to what was written. We’ve got no problem with disagreements. We do have a problem with fiction presented as fact.
Jim - As much as I respect you and your opinions, I really don’t like being compared to the KKK. I have many gay and lesbian family and friends, who I care about. I just don’t agree with their sexual orientation. There is no hatred involved. They probably disagree with my sexual preference, as well. The Klan was an organization fueled by hatred and an above the law attitude. We, on the other hand, have a choice we are allowed to make by law. Please at least retract that generalization between Christians and the KKK.
Bill,
The real issue is, why do you care? Is it not in all of our best interests to support strong couples? Do you have to agree? No. But you don’t need to care about what they’re doing when their bedroom door closes either.
I’m a catholic and of course that means I’m a christian also. I’m offended as anyone else by the KKK and I’m also offended by those who co-opt my faith to further a personal agenda. I’ll remind you that Jesus loved the poor and even the prostitutes. He worked to feed the hungry and clothe the poor. The GOP has hijacked my faith for political and personal goals. Remember, it was Jesus who turned over the tables in the temple.
Are you not as outraged as I am at the people who have twisted the scriptures to justify discrimination?
Jim - All I have for you are the following passages of scripture from the Bible:
I Corinthians 6:9
Leviticus 18:22
Romans 1:26
Genesis 19:13
Malachi 3:6
I Corinthians 6:15
and finally Revelation 3:16.
You say you believe in God, and that you are a Christian, and that the scriptures have been twisted, Figure it out for yourself.
Bill,
That’s a lot to chew but here’s a few responses:
I Corinthians 6:9 - Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
Are you suggesting that only gays are the fornicators? If that’s the case, our species would no longer exist. What points were you trying to make to the current debate?
I Corinthians 6:15 - Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make [them] the members of an harlot? God forbid.
We’re not talking about legalizing prostitution.
I’m not going to research all of the other passages here but I will say that I’ve read Romans and I don’t believe it has any place in the bible.
Gays most certainly are not the only fornicators, and I am not the judge of anybody. But, I personally have to live MY life to the best of MY ability to glorify God. Yes, we all fail at times, but the Bible is our roadmap to get to heaven.
As for the Book of Romans, it makes me uncomfortable, too. (lol) It was written by Paul to the his fellow believers, and he challenges them to make sure they do their best to live a Godly life. He basically was condemning the whole “once-saved, always-saved” routine. It’s place in the Bible makes us all nervous.