Responding to the abortion ruling
Senate Democrats are considering ways of defending Roe vs. Wade. Wisely, many supporters are framing the issue in libertarian terms. As the president of NARAL puts it, “This is an issue about freedom and privacy.....What people in this country know very clearly is that government is not to intrude.” This is the best approach for reaching out to other potential supporters beyond the liberal base -- note that some Republicans have taken a favorable position on abortion rights as well.
The article also discusses some measures for increased gun control which are being considered. So far the proposals (such as improving precautions against legal gun sales to people with criminal backgrounds or mental problems) don't sound dangerous in themselves, but the use of rhetoric like "rogue gun dealers" suggests the presence of a massive potential slippery-slope problem. The NRA needs to be watching these proposals like a hawk, as it doubtless will be.
The way these two issues have flared up at the same time offers a perfect microcosm of why it's impossible for me to identify with either the left or the right. The side which is good for personal freedom on abortion is bad for it on guns, and vice versa.
The article also discusses some measures for increased gun control which are being considered. So far the proposals (such as improving precautions against legal gun sales to people with criminal backgrounds or mental problems) don't sound dangerous in themselves, but the use of rhetoric like "rogue gun dealers" suggests the presence of a massive potential slippery-slope problem. The NRA needs to be watching these proposals like a hawk, as it doubtless will be.
The way these two issues have flared up at the same time offers a perfect microcosm of why it's impossible for me to identify with either the left or the right. The side which is good for personal freedom on abortion is bad for it on guns, and vice versa.
posted by Infidel753 at 8:47 AM
7 Comments:
Politics is so hard to deal with for me because I can never seem to find any one candidate that I really agree with, wholeheartedly. Best we can do is to try and vote for the lesser of the two (or more) evils there for the picking.
It's definitely stupid to allow legal gun sales to criminals and to people with mental problems. Maybe this is another area, like illegal immigration, where existing laws just need to be better enforced, without making new laws? No reason to deny other people the right to have and to carry guns. Except in places like schools and courtrooms. The abortion issue- what a bunch of gak the latest ruling is! Ya know, you are right about each side, the left and the right, backing some reasonable moves while pushing some unreasonable ones. All things considered, I'm ready to stop calling myself a liberal or a Democrat lately, because the labels aren't quite stretchy enough. Picking a side isn't important as long as you stand up for what you think is right.
Good evening ladies, thanks for stopping by.
Politics is so hard to deal with for me because I can never seem to find any one candidate that I really agree with, wholeheartedly.
Needless to say, I have the same problem. At least here in Oregon many political disputes are settled by referendum, which offers me the chance to vote on just one question rather than for candidates.
Maybe this is another area, like illegal immigration, where existing laws just need to be better enforced, without making new laws?
I think that's it. It's already illegal to sell guns to people in those categories, as far as I know. The Democrats are proposing to improve the systems available to ensure that such sales do not happen. As long as that's all they're proposing, I don't have a problem with it. What concerns me is more their rhetoric than the substance of their proposals.
Hmm... good overview of a difficult subject.
"The way these two issues have flared up at the same time offers a perfect microcosm of why it's impossible for me to identify with either the left or the right. The side which is good for personal freedom on abortion is bad for it on guns, and vice versa."
Which is indeed something of a dilemma. The Democrats may be puting too much on their plate for the public to swallow.
On the other hand, we should remember that the President of the NRA is responsible for the end the world. (Not that we should hold it against him, or anything.)
I'm fairly young (26), and my first presidential election was Bush vs. Gore. I grew up in a christian household, so my views were conservative. I really got into it, I was a member of Young Republicans and the whole thing. By 2004, I was still holding on to some of the Republican ideology, although I think in reality, I started thinking more moderately.
In 2004, I finished my bachelors degree and took my first teaching job, at a high poverty school, and then my political orientation changed in a big way. I haven't gone left, I've gone to the middle. I am an independent now, I can't associate with either side, and I'm still not 100% sure why, but I like to make up my own mind, not follow one group blindly. In 8 years, we're all going to be talking about how terrible it is that the Democrats have too much power, and the pendelum will swing again (poly sci 101 right?).
With a (mostly) pro-choice candidate leading the Republican pack, and the Democratic front-runner taking a realistic view of the Iran situation, I'm hoping that the pendulum swings are being damped down and that politics is moving toward the center.
That's where the majority of the people are, after all.
The two major parties find themselves picking a) the issues that will shore-up their base and then b) everything else goes to the middle. Notice Republicans start at Bob Jones U., Democrats start at the UAW and by the end of campaigning nobody does a speech more controversial than MADD.
Crazy.
Post a Comment
<< Home