Immigration

As a Kansan-American, I find it completely immoral that the “right” is up in arms about the pending amnesty for immigrants. In our country, everyone has a right to reap the benefits of being here. It doesn’t matter if you’re from Africa, Mexico, Germany, or Kansas.

It’s ironic that people whose ancestors immigrated here would be so elitist and have so little compassion for hard-working people who are trying to make a better life for their families. Try to imagine living in Mexico, barely feeding your family, no electricity or clean water. You’d be running across the border, too.

This country was founded as a safe haven for people who were the “huddled masses” of other countries, “yearning to breathe free.” We mustn’t turn our backs on these people for our own selfish gain. They deserve just as much freedom as the rest of us.

Let’s hope that the amnesty makes it through congress and that these poor, hard-working people can reap the benefits of living the American dream.

A Woman’s Right to Choose

Roe v Wade was a landmark decision for the women’s movement. It was the final win necessary for women to achieve the same status as men in the United States. Before Roe, women were either a slave to their circumstance, or were forced to go underground and have an illegal abortion.

Illegal abortion was always known to exist, and was extremely dangerous. Unlicensed doctors would perform abortions using unsterilized and rudimentary tools such as coat hangers. Many a women died from the procedures, a far cry from the sterile and safe environment afforded to women today… a direct result of the Roe decision. Today, an abortion is no different than an appendectomy…except that an appendectomy is a more invasive procedure.

Before Roe, a woman who was pregant out of wedlock was subject to shame and ridicule, while at the same time the father was often applauded for bedding her. Rarely was a man held accountable for his portion of the responsibility and care for the child. It was up to the woman to bear the burden alone.

Of course, even a great plan… and a great victory for a free country, is subject to protest. Religious zealots came out of the woodwork, claiming that a fetus was a “baby” and holding grotesque pictures up while shouting at women entering clinics. They attempted to undermine the woman’s right to choose by changing the subject to morality, when it was never a question of morality. It was always a question of freedom and choice.

In some cases, religious zealots would actually bomb an abortion clinic or shoot an abortion doctor in defense of their cause. Ironic that someone who preaches “sanctity of life” would express themself by killing someone. However, this is typical zealotry.

Many major court decisions through the years largely silenced the protests by creating new laws suppressing their activities. However, with advances in science, religious zealots are once again gaining steam in their protests. As fetuses can live earlier and earlier in a NICU, the anti-choice members of society now argue that the “viability” stance of the pro-choice movement is in question. However, this is just another attempt to divert attention away from the true issue… women’s rights.

Roe was one of the most important decisions ever made by the Supreme Court, and we as Americans have a duty to make sure it’s never overturned. The last thing we want is to go back to having back-room abortions and having women be slaves to their circumstances.

Who in American thinks the Iraq war is a good thing? Is there one person left (aside from George W. Bush) who is still gung-ho about this insane expedition?

Let’s go back in time, and think about our history as “the police of the world.” Korea. Not our finest hour. We lost 36,576 men in Korea. And why? Because we lacked resolve and we lacked an understanding of who we were fighting. The Koreans were fighting for their home land, and they had no intention of leaving or giving up. It was beat us or die trying. We didn’t share their commitment, because it wasn’t our land.

Then it was on to Vietnam. 58,226 Americans lost their lives in Vietnam. For what? Again, we lacked the resolve to finish the job, and our soldiers paid the price. We also suffered the hatred of many other countries who objected to our interference there.

Why do we lack resolve to win our wars? Is it because we refuse to call them wars? Or is it because we are fighting an enemy where we don’t understand WHY they are an enemy? I believe it’s the latter.

Why is Iraq our enemy? Is it oil? Is it about bringing democracy to another country? In the beginning, it was because they had “weapons of mass destruction” yet we have found no evidence of such weapons, and the story of why we’re there has changed completely. Think about the many stories we’ve heard over the past 4 years. We’re going in because Iraq harbors terrorists. We’re going in because Iraq has WMDs. We’re going in because we want to liberate the Iraqi people. We’re going in to get a democratic foothold in the Middle East.

Are we kidding? The Middle East doesn’t want to be democratic. They are a Muslim country who teaches submission… not freedom. Democracy will never take hold in a Muslim country, and it’s foolish for us to sacrifice American soldiers to that end.

Iraq didn’t give us 9-11. Our own interfering foreign policy brough 9-11 upon us, and we deserved what we got. Our role in the world should be to bring medicine, food, education, and infrastructure to poor countries, not blow them up. Our foreign aid consists of bombs, not bread. Until we realize that we cannot further freedom by putting countries in a chokehold, we will continue to suffer terrorist attacks, and will continue watching our American soldiers die for a lost cause.