Faith and Freedom?

             Whose faith and what Freedom?

   This meme was posted in a comment to a friend's page (they didn't post it) and after reading it I realized that I had gained insight into the mindset of those who buy into the Trump thingy. 

      After thinking about it a while and getting more and more frustrated, I decided to address all these issues. Note that this is apparently the brainchild of something or someone called the "Faith and Freedom" coalition. What leaps off the page is that "freedom" is waaay out of place in the minds of this group. They are explicit in the fact that they do not favor freedom to do, be, or think anything other than their dogma. So, in order:

        Abortion on demand: So much has been said regarding this issue by both sides that it's more than clear what the real issue is. Evangelicals (and Catholics) are opposed to abortion. Noted. Oddly enough they are , as a rule, steadfastly pro death penalty.  The position today of the largest Evangelical sect in the USA and how (and why) it changed speaks volumes.

         When Roe v Wade was first decided, most of the Southern evangelicals who today make up the backbone of the anti-abortion movement believed that abortion was a deeply personal issue in which government shouldn’t play a role. Some were hesitant to take a position on abortion because they saw it as a “Catholic issue,” and worried about the influence of Catholic teachings on American religious observance. Shortly after the decision was handed down, The Baptist Press, a wire service run by the Southern Baptist Convention — the biggest Evangelical organization in the US — ran an op-ed praising the ruling!  “Religious liberty, human equality and justice are advanced by the Supreme Court abortion  decision,” was the most salient quote." Of course this was because at the time, the SBC was busy fighting school segregation battles (yeah, still).

So this is a personal liberty issue, opposed by those who  are screaming about their personal liberty (to discriminate) is threatened. Final word on this issue. Marla Maples was quite clear that her daughter was born solely  because she refused to have the abortion that Donald Trump wanted her to. Remember, if his mouth is open he's lying. We'll lump defunding Planned parenthood in here since it's essentially the same issue, albeit even more mean spirited, in that it has an overwhelming effect on the poor, about whom neither Trump or Pence care one bit.

        Repeal Obamacare: In a sense we should, but not to go back to tens of millions being uninsured and taking no responsibility for  their own welfare. Obamacare is what it is because of obstructionist tactics of the Tea party during the fight to pass it. It should have been better, but Big Pharma's lobbying efforts saw to it  that it was a bad compromise at best. All that said, I have lost count of the former students and younger friends who are,  for the first time, insured and getting regular medical treatment. All are employed, but none could afford health care until the ACA. Remember, the multi-billion dollar drug industry has a huge interest in maintaining the status quo and it doesn't match yours. One word: "Epi-pen"  Again, many of the most rabid Evangelicals are lower middle class people with limited access to health insurance. A vote for Trump is definitely counter to their best interest, but, of course whatever the reverend says, huh?

        Federal Tax Increase: Of course as this is meant  to be interpreted, it is simply a lie. Trust me, those who would be expected to pay more income tax  aren't the religious poor.  Of course any tax Trump paid would be more, wouldn't it. It hurts my head to endeavor to understand how those who struggle to get by and are, as I am, honest taxpaying citizens can be less than outraged at Trump's "I'm too smart to pay taxes."  But them why would we expect an oligarch to feel otherwise?

        Same sex marriage:  Has a non-issue ever been more argued with less real reason? Evangelicals hate Islam, in part because of Shari'ia, or Islamic law, which also governs civil matters in Islamic states.. And yet.....here we have the Evangelical version, in which persons unknown to most of them, whose lives generally are lived just  like everyone else's who have decided that their version of religious law as they believe it, should be followed by us all. Even for the Pilgrims, a religious society if there  ever was one, marriage was a civil rite, designed to settle issues of inheritance and property. Of course, the same morons who cherry pick from the OT to justify their homophobic hatred, also steadfastly ignore all the other verbage in the same chapter, because it really isn't about the right to happiness of all people, it's about "my way or the highway."

        Common Core: Not even gonna go there much , except to say that in a country as large as ours, a kid ought to be able to move to another state and be on roughly the same page academically. As  20 year teacher I have seen the results when that isn't the case, and students suffer. Of course again, the Evangelicals want to scrub the texts of all those unpleasant historical realities. It must be noted that both North Korea and the former Soviet Union did exactly the same thing. Is that who we should emulate?

        School vouchers: Sure, let's publicly fund religious schools, OK? No one remembers the Bible riots in Philadelphia over somewhat the same issue. 30 years ago if I had run on a platform of allowing Catholic schools to receive public money, I'd have been burned at the stake by these same Evangelicals who now want to send their kids to Charters, many Church afiliated  (of which more than half fail or are  involved in financial crimes). Of course no one is more rabid and foaming at the mouth on this issue than a converted Catholic Evangelical, like Mike Pence. Of course to even hint that Trump cares is ludicrous, since he and his brood went to military or prep schools like he did.

          Amnesty for illegal aliens: I guess this one depends on where you live. The one factor here which is often mentioned and always false, is "They're taking our jobs!" No they're not. No, isn't happening. This goes along with "they get Social Security!"  No they can't. This topic may well be the most understood one in the list, because it's based on a lie(s). Living in Central Florida I taught in a school with 28 separate  languages spoken by students. No one cared about their kids getting a good education like these immigrants, be they Haitian, Vietnamese, Muslim, whatever.  What do Trump and Pence really know about this? Not a G***amn thing.

        Iran Nuclear Deal: This reminds me of the uproar over the HPV vaccine. People for whom the mention of private parts causes palpitations rushed to claim that they were certain that protecting girls from this dangerous virus would lead to increased promiscuity. These are the same ones who claimed that access to birth control would lead to: (long list; increased teen pregnancy, higher rate of STDs, etc.) Of course the opposite as been the case in every instance. Do we learn from this? No, of course not. The pundits are ready to pounce and prognosticate, assuming that because this President thought it a good idea, it will be a bad idea. There is zero actual indication, just  partisan nay-saying.

        First Amendment  Defense Act: Say whaaat? Since when has the first Amendment required a defense? Since when has the Federal Government  ever prosecuted any one for simple speech?  This comes from those who would love to be allowed to incite riot (a crime) and use hate speech  to inspire violence against anyone they don't like. Have you ever noticed that those who bitch about "politically correct" speech are those who mourn the fact that the "good old boy race and gender words are out of favor? It slips by these morons that actions we have seen taken against hate speech users have not been federal at all (the only scope of the Bill of rights), but have been the actions of private companies which refuse to allow their sponsored duck call making,  race baiting, inbreds to hurt their profit line. It is a measure of just how ignorant many of the Far right are that they know almost nothing of the reality in such cases.

         Of course this also omits the obvious fact that there has been a First Amendment protection group for 94 years. It's the American Civil Liberties Union. Of course, the Evangelicals care nothing for the civil liberties of anyone who doesn't agree with them. 

        They are in good company, since it is obvious from Trump's own words that he has almost no understanding of the mechanics of Government either. He has, at various times,

made statements that indicate that he thinks the President can pass or repeal a law ("repeal Obamacare"), delete a Constitutional Amendment (as in Mrs. Clinton would "repeal the 2nd Amendment") or in the case of Louie Gohmert, an ardent supporter's, misstatement, appoint a Supreme Court justice even with a House and Senate majority from the other party.

        When considering the "Freedom" part of the meme, it is obvious that the "Faith and Freedom" group , in five of the ten items  is definitely not in favor of any person's freedom except their freedom to impose their will on persons who don't share their beliefs.