Lately, 2012 is really looking to me like it could be the end of the world.
At least to a lefty like myself.
What’s got me worried is the conservative backlash against the “Obama-nation.” I really thought “PALIN — 2012” was just material for a skit on “Saturday Night Live,” but in virtue of some socially conservative ideas circulating this February, I’m starting to think a starch conservative like mamma grizzly herself could realistically run this country.
You’re all probably reading this and thinking, “Oh God, anything but politics.” You’re probably more concerned about Justin Bieber’s new haircut than the state of the country, but I swear you’re going to want to hear this.
The conservative agenda of the past month has got me pulling out my hair, probably much like the conservatives did when Obama passed the Affordable Care Act. Payback’s a bitch.
On Feb. 18, the House of Representatives voted to cut all federal funding for Planned Parenthood. That’s from over $300 million in aid to zilch. Come again?
It goes without question that Planned Parenthood and movement conservatism don’t mix well. The claim that the bill is a result of tapes showing that Planned Parenthood helps sex traffickers (that’s the claim) is just an excuse to attack the organization. Let’s be frank. Most conservatives just don’t like what the institution represents — in their eyes, abortion and sexual promiscuity.
But the plain fact is that federal funding to Planned Parenthood doesn’t even go toward abortions; a previous amendment, the Hyde amendment, already bans this.
Rather, the money goes toward a plethora of women’s health services such as cervical cancer screenings, counseling, STI testing and preventative birth control.
This is that moment where you realize that Washington politics affect your life. Condoms and birth control flow through this school with as large of a volume as do packs of Easy Mac. I really doubt you want to be having any babies in the midst of studying for the LSAT. And I can assure you that a lot of respectable girls at Binghamton University have gone to a Planned Parenthood at some point in their lives.
The proposed crippling of women’s health clinics is sickening to me, especially for some backward political ideal that doesn’t take into account the dire long-term consequences for low-income women and the country as a whole.
Even if tax money in some way went toward abortions, it seems hypocritical to me that conservatives say that government has this “duty” to preserve the life of an unborn fetus yet the government has no “duty” to preserve that fetus’ life through universal health care once it’s actually alive. For many professed pro-lifers, human life begins at conception and ends at birth.
It’s pro-choice for a reason; a very personal choice to be made by individuals and not a government. It is a delicate subject, not one to be used by a certain party for political gain.
It’s not like the bill is going to pass in its full form with a Democratic majority senate, but the mere suggestion of it makes me want to scream as loud and as obnoxious as Bill O’Reilly does when he realizes he is losing an argument.
You know when you have those days when you think it just can’t get worse, and yet it does? A week after going into a rage over the assault on Planned Parenthood, my jaw again dropped, upon hearing that about 10 states, including Texas and Arizona, are seriously considering bills that would allow firearms on college campuses.
That’s right, students and teachers alike over the age of 21 would be allowed to carry a loaded weapon to Medieval Literature 101. Has the world gone mad?
I’m sorry, but I just don’t trust any of you with a deadly weapon, especially you vulnerable, life-questioning philosophy students and MCAT-crazed organic chemistry majors. Who knows when they’ll crack?
Is adding more guns to the equation really the solution to problems like the Tucson, Arizona shooting? Is it right to blindly salute to the anachronistic second amendment, without looking to the ramifications of widespread gun possession in schools? No, and NO.
I feel like I’m in a time warp and I’m back in a primitive America with armed cowboys and limited women’s rights. I’m considering building a bomb shelter once the 2012 elections roll around, to brace myself for the devastating impact of social conservatism.