Here’s a Friday Follow-Up on my article Contraception Issue Reveals Darker Political Issues:
Obama, speaking about a revised comprimise in the policy, tries equivocating insurance coverage of birth control with a woman’s health and choice, implying that women are not in control unless they are given access to birth control they can afford:
“Whether you’re a teacher…or a nurse or a janitor, no woman’s health should depend on who she is of where she works or how much money she makes … Every woman should be in control of the decisions that affect her own health. Period.” {emphasis mine}
Rush Limbaugh, in his apology for comments directly harshly at Fluke, the young woman who spoke at Congress, also upholds a woman’s choice, but calls for personal responsibility that precludes the necessity for ohers to pay for a woman’s recreational and even individual health choices.
“I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit? In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.” {emphasis mine}
It’s both a health and social issue, of course, but Obama’s assertions rally calls of women’s rights, while Rush’s calls for the rights of everyone to not be the victim of those who think rights do not come with some responsibility.
Furthermore, the idea of not having affordable access just doesn’t add up. After reading Fluke’s speech, what shocked me most were her laments of the economic hardship ’caused’ to students she knows by ‘being forced to’ spend as much as $6000 per annum on birth control. Being a man ignorant of such things, it was my wife that informed me that some of the more Cadillac contraception choices do cost this much. I guess if you’re entitled, you deserve the best, even if the average person cannot afford it.
It makes my wonder at the continued hypocrisy when talking about equality in politics. Equality of access and opportunity have been replaced by a frivolity of entitlements to the ‘have nots’ of which many of the ‘haves’ cannot even afford. Talk about real disparity. And when coupled with these things being ‘rights’ based far more on non-infringed choices instead of demonstrable necessities, I’m not sure Rush was unduly harsh in his original comments after all.
{Addendum: Over the last week, Rush’s comments — or rather the general idea that he made comments deemed inappropriate without actually addressing his position — have been used as a rallying cry for Obama to appear more civilized (and therefore legitimate) in discourse.
I’ve seen this as a larger trend, where the [[Coffee Party]] banks its legitimacy on the perceived failings of civility in the [[Tea Party]]. But at least the Coffee Party types attempt rational discourse, where the politicians of the Left often do little more than trot out emotionally-charged platitudes that ignore or discount the fundamental, pragmatic and even ethical concerns proffered by the Right. If people like Obama and Limbaugh were scientists (or impartial philosophers) instead of politicians, they would probably solve half the world’s problems on the sale basis of acknowledging common goals and understanding each other’s positions rather than competing in public battle, an arena where no one can win without us all losing.}