What a way to start my day! I was up past 4:00 a.m., so I didn't roll out of bed until just before noon today. I brewed a cup of coffee, sat down in front of my computer to check the stats for my website, and turned on the television to MSNBC just in time to catch the tail-end of Paul Ryan's speech at the Values Voter Summit.
Ladies and gentlemen, you would be hard pressed to find another group in America that does more to serve the health of women and their babies than the Catholic Church and Catholic Charities. And now, suddenly, we have Obamacare bureaucrats presuming to dictate how they will do it.
The Catholic Church? Would that be the same religious organization whose
bishops sent a letter to Paul Ryan, criticizing his budget for failing
to meet certain “moral criteria” by disproportionately cutting programs that “serve poor and vulnerable people”?
As Governor Romney has said, this mandate is not a threat and insult to one religious group – it is a threat and insult to every religious group. He and I are honored to stand with you – people of faith and concerned citizens – in defense of religious liberty.
And I can assure you, when Mitt Romney is elected, we will get to work – on day one – to repeal that mandate and all of Obamacare.
Doesn't Paul Ryan mean the religious liberty of only religions that agree with Paul Ryan's religious beliefs? Evidently,
religions that hold a different point of view don't count in Ryan's black and white world. Perhaps he thinks the only
legitimate religion is his religion.
Finally, when he tries to make big government sound reasonable and inclusive, President Obama likes to say, “We’re all in this together.” And here, too, he has another handy straw man.
Anyone who questions the wisdom of his policies must be lacking in compassion. Who else would question him but those mean people who think that everybody has to go it alone and fend for themselves?
“We’re all in this together” – it has a nice ring. For everyone who loves this country, it is not only true but obvious. Yet how hollow it sounds coming from a politician who has never once lifted a hand to defend the most helpless and innocent of all human beings, the child waiting to be born.
Seriously? Ryan is describing President Obama as “a politician” who doesn't care about the human condition. Is he talking about the same man that worked as a
community organizer to help people? Or as Michelle Obama so eloquently put it in her speech before the Democratic Convention, the man who believes that “success isn't about how much money you make; it's about the difference you make in people's lives.”
In Paul Ryan's world, it's important to bring every potential life into the world, but once they are in the world it is perfectly acceptable for politicians like himself to cut programs that “serve poor and vulnerable people” because it is more important to make sure a child is born, not that the child is born into conditions where he/she will be loved, fed, clothed and cared for.
Giving up any further pretense of moderation on this issue, and in complete disregard of millions of pro-life Democrats, President Obama has chosen to pander to the most extreme elements of his party.
Ryan must be referring to the Gallup poll that shows that when asked whether they self-identify as “Pro-Life” or “Pro-Choice” a majority of Americans call themselves “Pro-Life” because in Paul Ryan's black and white world, you're either one or the other. There is no in between. Heck, if given a choice between admitting that I'm “Pro-Life” as opposed to whatever the opposite of that is, I too would say that I support life.
![Photobucket](http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/hungrycoyote/ProA1.jpg)
However, in the real world, there are caveats. Nothing is black and white, and when you dig a little deeper into the numbers by asking people their views about if abortion should be illegal, it turns out only 20% of people believe it should be illegal 100% of the time; 25% believe it should be legal 100% of the time; and 52% see the grey area and believe that there are circumstances where abortion should be legal.
![Photobucket](http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/hungrycoyote/ProA2.jpg)
Clearly when you look at the overall picture, a distinct 20% minority opinion believes that abortion should be 100% illegal. But, Paul Ryan's discussion isn't specifically about abortion. He's talking about the rights of religious organizations to not have to pay for contraception, and once again you get into those pesky grey areas because laws are supposed to be representative of the people's wishes in self-governance. If every time a group used religious objections to avoid having to comply with a law, we might as well not have any laws at all. But, we do have laws, and none other than Justice Scalia answered the question long before the current contraception debate entered the legal system and started to be litigated.
When you get past all of the President’s straw men, what we believe is plain to state: These vital questions should be decided, not by the caprice of unelected judges, but by the conscience of the people and their elected representatives. And in this good-hearted country, we believe in showing compassion for mother and child alike.
Unelected judges? In the first place, there are elected judges in this country. Not all judges are appointed by elected officials. Putting that point aside, Ryan claims that elected representatives stand for the will of the people who elected them. Really? In this partisan society we currently live in, where many elections come down to a close 50.1% to 49.9% vote, and voter turnout is often anemic, that's what Ryan is going with? He was elected, so whatever he thinks is what the people want?
In the 2010 waive where Republicans ran on a platform of “jobs, jobs, jobs” and once in office started ramming through their legislation for “abortion restrictions, voter suppression, abortion restrictions, voter suppression.” That's how people like Paul Ryan interpret their mandate?
We don’t write anyone off in America, especially those without a voice. Every child has a place and purpose in this world. Everyone counts, and in a just society the law should stand on the side of life.
Everyone counts? Really, Paul Ryan? In a country where “free speech” is a right, you don't write anyone off in America? Then why does Paul Ryan find it necessary to constantly silence the speech of those who disagree with him? Why does Ryan refuse to provide his constituents a forum to speak to him? Why does he
charge entry fees just to ask a question? And when Ryan doesn't like the question, why are his
constituents handcuffed and removed by uniformed police?
Why were women who shouted out questions to Paul Ryan at the Iowa State Fair removed by police? Paul Ryan reacted to that incident by saying, “It's funny because Iowans and Wisconsinites we like to be respectful of one another and peaceful with one another and listen to each other. These ladies must not be from Iowa or Wisconsin.” Seriously?
Back on Labor Day last year in 2011, before he was nominated as the Republican vice presidential candidate, what was Representative's Ryan reaction to his constituents who approached him before the Labor Day Parade? He refused to answer their questions and treated them with contempt and disdain. Isn’t Paul Ryan saying that only those who don’t have a voice, or only those who agree with his world view, count? If everyone counted, Paul Ryan would listen to those who have tried on numerous occasions to engage him in conversation.
In Paul Ryan's black and white world, when he speaks people are supposed to listen. When others try to speak or ask questions, they are dragged off by police or ignored. This is Paul Ryan's idea of how we “don’t write anyone off in America, especially those without a voice.” This is Paul Ryan's idea of being “respectful of one another and peaceful with one another and listen to each other.” When was the last time that Paul Ryan respectfully listened to anyone who did not agree with his black and white world view?
At this point, I could not listen to Ryan's speech any longer, and walked out of the room. Later I saw reports on the news that once again people had been removed from the event where he was speaking. I heard more than enough of what Paul Ryan had to say. However, if you have the stomach for it, Fox News has posted video and the transcript of the entire speech.
In a just world, Paul Ryan who only speaks for those who agree with him, would not be elected to public office. In a just world, he will not be elected to represent the citizens of this country as its vice president. And, in a just world, where Paul Ryan snubs those constituents who do not agree with his black and white world view, he also will not be reelected to his seat in the House of Representatives, because this year Paul Ryan has a viable opponent seeking to represent all of the people in Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District. That opponent is Rob Zerban!