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August 29, 2004
Compassion
Something has got to give.
When we really get down to it, the fundamental difference between conservatives and liberals that conservatives represent the people that have and don't want to give it away and liberals represent the people that don't have and should. That's an oversimplification, but it suits the purpose of this article.
Take the issue of “gay marriage.” It has become entirely polarized as soon as it began. The people against the issue of “gay marriage” are representing those people (heterosexuals) legally entitled to enter into marriage agreements. Because I don't tend to listen to the narrow-minded and verbose proponents of the Federal Marriage Amendment, I don't understand what they have against it.
But clearly their opposition stems from some misplaced sense of fear of the unknown, because “preserving the holy state of matrimony” is an impossible goal from the get-go. Gay marriage will theoretically “chip away” at this “institution.” It “weakens the family.” The core of this thinking is idiotic, because generally when two people of the same sex go through some sort of ceremony to seal their bonds, it generally brings about a strengthening of their household. There's no depth to the arguments against same-sex marriage. It's just about one group of people denying the rights of another group of people, for two adults that are in love with each other to legitimize that love for one another with a ceremony.
I don't understand the term “compassionate conservatism.” The president proclaims himself a compassionate conservative. Why, then, does he only act in the interest of individuals who don't need anyone's compassion? I'm speaking, of course, of the richest 5% of the population.
But I hardly blame Bush for his idiocy—his IQ is fairly below average; he honestly cannot help himself. We knew what kind of man he was when the Supreme Court elected him in 2000. I do, however, blame the tens of millions of Americans who did, in fact, vote for him, knowing what kind of man he was; and who still intend to vote for him this year.
It's because these people have things. These are people who “earned” their luxury vehicles, their six figure incomes, their inheritance; earned it by walking over other people. It's a dog-eat-dog world for them, and they aim to make sure that they are top dog. Anything that might make the world; no, even the country, a more egalitarian place; theoretically takes away from them, and brings them down to the point they deserve to be at to begin with. There's no compassion in these people.
We lock people up and pretend they're no longer there. MSNBC reports that “about 3.2 percent of the adult U.S. population, or 1 in 32 adults, were incarcerated or on probation or parole at the end of last year.” (See full article here: MSNBC). That means, that, on average, everyone knows at least one person who was either incarcerated, on probation or parole at the end of last year. I know several, and that's not counting the gentlemen I met while taking a 12-step meeting into the Broward County jail.
Of course, our governments make contracts with catering companies who cost the least money because they food they serve is limited to a menu of “beans and rice,” for extended periods of time. Because of our mandatory minimum sentences, there are no mitigating circumstances for sentence reduction in many cases, so we're putting people in for longer periods. Where is the compassion in that?
I don't even know what to do about it myself. Michael says he's going to be a big prisoner advocate when he gets out, but then again, he'll be free, too. Sometimes people forget those commitments. Will he stay the course?
What could I, myself, be doing, besides writing this? I've forwarded prisoner rights items to the local Green Party email list, but none of them have ever responded. The Greens' priorities seem to be elsewhere.
I have to search for my own compassion.
Posted by Bastique at August 29, 2004 11:30 PM