Rant Catalyst: Marco Rubio's proposed ban on all Zika-related abortions.
I'm sure this story has already been shared and discussed here at length, probably several times over, but I feel especially compelled to bring it up again because it infuriates me to no end, and is a prime example of why I have come to loathe all things GOP. Even if I agreed with them on every single issue concerning economic and foreign policy, I can never and will never support the party because of their stances on social and environmental issues — imo, these are the areas in which governance stands to do by far the most lasting damage.
Marco Rubio is not a doctor. He is not a scientist. He is not a social worker. He is not a woman. He is not a mother. He has no concept whatsoever of the profound implications of these empty, baseless belief statements he makes. To make the argument that he makes requires a total lack of both clinical/scientific credibility and moral/social/ethical insight, foresight, thoughtfulness, sensitivity, humility, intelligence, and intelligent ignorance — meaning the capacity to at least know what you DON'T know.
It would be one thing if he proposed this zika-related abortion ban WITH appropriate support measures in place post-womb, which ought include, at a minimum, basic pre-natal and post-natal care for mother, child, and family; the sum of all birthing costs for a high-risk pregnancy; senatorial quality health care coverage for the entire life of the child; both family/marital and individual counseling services to help the family cope with the psychological damage incurred by being forced to carry a profoundly mutated fetus to term and the aftermath of all that entails; special education, tutors, and likely clinical-level daycare services for life; optometrists; physical therapists; neurologists; ENT specialists; psychiatrists; cognitive behavioral therapists; speech therapy; swallow studies; joint specialists; wheelchairs; brain implants to control debilitating seizure disorders; and virtually everything else this profoundly disabled child and consequently distraught family unit might ever need, in the event ignorant politicians were to decide to ignore all medical and scientific understanding and instead impose their irrationally radical, idiotic, immoral, unconscionable policy upon the rest of us, guided not by reason nor evidence but by misguided and zealous religiosity and/or personal agendas to secure re-election by pandering to an equally ignorant, thoughtless electorate.
Is he proposing even one iota of any of that? Of course not, and I'm sure he would vote against any/every bill that included any aspect of it. And oh, by the way, he's also against sex education and family planning services that stand to do the most to prevent abortions generally. And he's against the expansion of Medicaid which might be a mother and child's only hope of assistance with or relief from this LIFETIME of hell and heartache he would sentence them to if given the opportunity.
An the most egregious part? The number of women, families and clinicians who will find themselves in the position to grapple with this nightmare has effectively been increased by many orders of magnitude because our useless idiot Congress has incomprehensibly FAILED TO FUND CONTAINMENT OF ZIKA AS THEY DAMN WELL SHOULD HAVE.
Money markets and international affairs are important, to be sure; but they are at least minimally self-regulating and highly resilient networks at the systems level. But social policy and the environment are absolutely not. Decisions in these realms affect vastly more than the price of a stock a week from now, or who agrees to what terms on an international trade deal. Social and environmental policy shape the trajectory of not just our daily lives, but the trajectory of human rights and quality of life for countless generations to come, the sustainability of our fragile pale blue dot, and the ultimate survival of our species as a whole, along with every other living thing on our planet.
And you want to tell me you disagree with the GOP on social policy, but that's still your chosen party because you're fiscally conservative and economics carries more weight for you? I think this is shortsighted rubbish. All of this, among many other reasons, Is why I will absolutely never even consider supporting any Republican candidate in any election whatsoever unless and until this rabidly anti-science, anti-reason, anti-intellect, hyper-dogmatic epidemic that has come to be synonymous with all things GOP either dies or is run out of office by a wiser electorate. And that's a big, big IFF, with a purposeful double-F.
When I voted for Gore in 2004, and for Obama in 2008, I was registered as an independent, and that was/is most consistent with my bi-partisan ideology. But in the span of a decade, the Republican party has mutated beyond all recognition, and devolved into a state of utter lunacy. Most people bitch about the inefficiency of the two-party system (myself included); but as it stands, I submit that we are kidding ourselves because we don't even almost have that. The Party of Lincoln has become the party of the Westboro Baptist Church and that asshole from The Apprentice.
To those Republicans who feel locked into their party preference by time, honor, loyalty, familiarity, tradition, career longevity and/or various other social constructs — believe me, I feel you. I miss the Grand Old Party as much if not vastly more than you do. But if we are being honest with ourselves, we must face reality for what it is and not for what we wish or remember it to be. Even when you're the lone Captain at the helm, we must all be willing to admit that there does come a point at which it becomes futile or even fatal to make any choice besides abrupt abandonment of an already sunken ship. In my estimation, you stand to fare far better and substantially increase the likelihood you'll have your true ideals realized by cutting your losses, swallowing your pride and switching sides, opting to invest you time, energy, efforts and influence into helping steer government in the direction of your choosing from *within* the only sane party left standing. Or be stubborn and vain and continue to beat your head against the wall into eternity, senselessly trying to transform a maggot into a magical, flying unicorn. If you choose to keep pursuing this latter endeavor, please proceed with explicit understanding that one way or another, you're going down with the ship. And you may end up taking the rest of us with you.
At any rate, it would be just swell if Congress could gtf back to work and FUND ZIKA CONTAINMENT EFFORTS ALREADY. You're wasting precious time.
At least if we all end up bowing down before Supreme Leader President Trump, perhaps he could tell our dangerously and inexcusable inept Congress, "YOU'RE ALL F*CKING FIRED!" In this instance, it might even prove useful that he both devoutly endorses unjust deportation and wholeheartedly condones (commands? encourages?) torture, even of American citizens. Then he could put their torches out and kick them off the island, preferably to somewhere swampy or tropical where Zika virus runs rampant...
No? That's not how politics works?
Well, a girl can dream.