Traditional Values

Tom Harper over to "Who Hijacked Our Country" wrote a post about Obama and his Presidential condemnation of world wide gay discrimination.  Pop over to see what it's all about.  I have another bone to pick regarding something I read in his post.

The catch phrases used by one side to beat down the other side get very old after awhile.  I would think the firebrands would hire someone to freshen up the rhetoric.  Of course the political suitors have no regard for the intelligence of their audience.  The audience apparently does not mind.  So why should I whine about it?  I guess it is because every time I hear certain words in certain combinations over and over again I get a little irritated which can, if I am exposed too many times within a short enough period of time, make me go slightly bonkers and rip off a rant here instead of stomping out back to my neighbor's house with my chainsaw to cut down that damn 40 foot cross he erected to let everyone know he is a God fearing man.



Just how is it we have allowed a certain segment of the population to define what our "traditional values" are?  Because we just do not care.  It is easier to hitch a ride on a bandwagon than to think for ourselves.  Traditional Values are not some specific list cast in stone we should all bend our will to.   Traditional Values change with ethnicity, religious background, regional background, the list is endless.  Yet, there are those who would have us believe that the values they cherish should be ours because God likes them.

Here is the list from the Traditional Values Coalition 

• Promoting religious liberty and a free society;
• Uncovering wasteful spending in Washington;
• Championing Judeo-Christian values in the public square;
• Protecting traditional marriage and family as the cornerstone of society;
• Securing the Constitution against the growing threat of Islam and Shariah law;
• Defending human life from its earliest moments to natural death; and
• Ensuring the economic security of future generations of Americans as a moral issue.

 Their first goal is a righteous goal.  But then several values that follow do not fit.  They want to promote religious liberty, yet it appears that only pertains to Jews and Christians.  They claim to want to live in a free society, yet would limit who can marry who.  In my opinion, the "Traditional Values" crowd are a bunch of self serving hypocrites whose only "tradition" has been for years to attempt to impose their set of values on my life through legislation. 

Tradition has its place.  I respect the value of tradition as it applies to how we form our moral codes.  But to insist that one groups traditional value system be used govern the actions of a population as diverse as ours, it will only create division and anger.   The co-opting of the term is but another way a certain political population is seeking to control us.  And frankly I think much of what is on their list of values is counterproductive to our health as a nation struggling to keep up with the rest of the World.  Focusing on them only takes time and effort away from tasks that are so much more important.

But this crowd and the GOP who adopted their platform have spent the last year wasting precious time and resources introducing:

• 44 bills on abortion
• 99 bills on religion
• 71 bills on family relationships
• 36 bills on marriage
• 67 bills on firearms/gun control
• 522 bills on Taxation - most which were to reduce taxes
• 445 on Government investigations

In the meantime, we have a population struggling harder each day to keep afloat, find work, and make a reasonable effort to find a comfortable life.  Not much in the above list comes close to really addressing the immediate problems our country is facing.  There's your traditional values at work.  What a joke.

Later........................................................................
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Thanks to Tom Harper and YELLOWDOG GRANNY for firing me up