Alan Keyes is a nut. That is a stand alone point but reading one of his speeches is what got me started this morning so he gets the mention. I try to steer clear of personal attacks whenever I can. It's not productive and detracts from sincere discussion of topics. But this time I can't help it. He really is.
According to conservatives there are a frightening number of things out there that will destroy the US as we know it. Gay marriage, abortion, a living wage for every citizen... You know, what they consider to be the liberal agenda. But I have yet to hear one of them tell me HOW any of these things will destroy the US as we know it. Will someone, anyone, conservative or non, please explain to me how gay marriage will destroy the United States of America????? Or abortion???? Or a higher minimum wage???? Or anything in the so-called liberal agenda??? HOW will this happen. What will the mechanism be? Outline the process. How will we go from living our "normal" everyday lives; going to work, going to the store, picking up the kids at daycare, going to the beach on the weekends to some kind of apocalyptic cataclism when gay people start getting legally married? Please detail to me how my life will be suddenly dessimated by women being allowed to excersize control over their own bodies?
And exactly what form will this annihilation take? Will the ground under our feet be suddenly rent assunder plunging the entire population into a firey lake of lava? Will the dollar automatically devaluate the minute two women legally say "I do"? Will the entire societal structure from the bottom of Texas to the tippy top of Michigan and everywhere in between immediately unravel if Roe vs. Wade is upheld intact and unwatered? PLEASE someone tell me.
But, here's another thought. Perhaps "as we know it" is a key phrase here. The US as we know it will be destroyed. In the 1860s the United States as the contemporary citizens knew it was ripped apart and destroyed. There was a civil war over states rights. Previously, the United States was a loose union of states and territories where it was legal to own slaves. Afterward, it was a solidified union where it was illegal to own slaves and states rights were secondary to federal law. The US as they knew it was destroyed and I think most people (aside from White Supremesists) believe it was a good thing. Thomas Jefferson once said that he would be terribly dissapointed if there wasn't a revolution in this country every 20 years or so.
The US as I knew it in 1999 was destroyed in 2000. Within 100 days we had gone from a country with a thriving economy, committed to the environment, global unity and 5 years from eliminating the national debt to being further in debt than we were, we have the largest deficit in the history of the nation (and that's saying a lot 'cause in the '30s this nation went BANKRUPT!), the EPA is fighting to drill in the Arctive Reserve and our pResident has either alienated or invaded the entire rest of the PLANET!
Excuse me if I don't find the idea of destroying the US as we know it now to be a dredfully bad thing. To borrow a phrase, Bring it On.
at 11:34 AM :: ~#~
