Something not to be subjected to.

This morning I received one of those automated phone surveys asking me several questions, all of them directly linked to the Republican candidate for Illinois governor, Bill Brady.

It’s my day off, and I don’t have anything better to do at the moment, so let me take a few minutes to answer it. Why not? And I’m glad I did.

The first few questions were around whether I supported the reasoning for high school students and their parents to choose what school to go to rather than be subjected to violence and danger in their neighborhood. With all of thew violence against Chicago Public students in the past few years, I feel that if parents can afford it or have a choice, why not? If the kids are serious about education and it’s the neighborhood issue, why not let them go somewhere else? I don’t encourage letting the violence infect other schools and neighborhoods, but if they want to learn, they should have that opportunity.

The next few questions started taking a slant towards differentiating between Democratic candidate Pat Quinn and Mr. Brady. Do I support the raising of taxes that Mr. Quinn has seemingly endorsed? No, especially in a city with the highest tax rate in the country. Between income, sales and property taxes, I feel like I give half of my money to the state of Illinois as it is. So no, I don’t want my taxes increased.

But the questions that followed, which continued along a similar vein, gave me cause for alarm. Do I support a bill being introduced by some Pastor guy allowing for kids to be given money so they can go to any school of their choosing, whether it be Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, etc.? Uh, no. First of all, religious individuals don’t need to be mixing in matters of state, that’s where things get weird because religious dogma begins to cloud the situation and the next thing you know, just because the Bible says it’s so means it’s a bad thing. Sure enough, next question comes, ‘In regards to abortion, do you consider yourself Pro- life?’. No, because I think people should get to decide what goes on with their own bodies, and if they think their God is pissed at them for doing something, that’s between them and their God.

So I look at Mr. Brady’s beliefs, and sure enough, he supports teaching creationism in Illinois’ schools. In fact, he wants to eliminate the state Board of Education, which is it’s own entity, in favor for a group that reports to the governor. And does what he wants. And now he’s controlling what gets taught in schools and what doesn’t, like yes for creationism but no to abortion and sex education. Uh, no, we want to keep it independent so a group of people can come to a consensus and not let one person dictate docterine.

Meanwhile, Mr. Brady supports Pro-life, and banning all abortion even in cases or rape and incest. So when a 12 year old girl is raped by her uncle and forced to have the baby, that’s okay. But to choose to terminate the pregnancy…that’s not??? Wow, a man telling all women what to do. That is so… neanderthal. You know, If a woman wants to have an abortion, I see that as being one’s inalienable right to themselves. Their body. I wouldn’t do it personally, but I would want to have a say it what goes on in my life. Because it’s my life. And I refuse to argue with people who say it’s murder or it’s a sin, because not you are trying to force your religious beliefs or morality on me. Once again, my choice, my life, my say. Mind your own fucking business. You don’t want to do it because to you it’s murder? Fine, don’t have an abortion. Let’s move on.

The next question is the one that serious pissed me off. ‘Do you support the civil unions between homosexuals, and do you support subjecting our troops in the military to homosexuals in their ranks, on their ships, in their bunks and showers?’ Subjecting? I am someone to be subjected to? Well okay, maybe sometimes, but wow, what a complete and utter prejudicial way to say something. And you know Mr. Brady approved this. Come on, the same man who believes abortion is a sin, and creationism should be taught in public schools, why wouldn’t he believe marriage is only between one man and one woman that man should be able to control? And gays, we are lower people that people are subjected to…hell in 2005, he didn’t think enough of gays that he voted against the ban on discrimination against gays and lesbians. The ban passed, no thanks to him. But as we can see, he doesn’t like being subjected to us, and doesn’t think anyone else should either.

I was never so happy to shout yes in the phone as when I did in response to that biased question.

Afterwards, I talked to my friend Alan on the phone, and we discussed why the Republican party (or for that matter, any political party) tries to front their political advances with a tool like Brady. All it ends up making them look like is extremist that really don’t move the party lines in a positive manner, but rather just asserts to the other side that fear mongering and hatred is the way they are attempting to influence people. Similarly, the movement that says Obama is moving us towards socialism, or that wish him dead have started with politicians who want to move extremist agendas because their failed concept of the American fabric has torn and been soiled and we are now all doomed to be struck down by God for our evil ways. It’s a back and forth battle; One side says something, the other goes to the extreme, then the other reacts in extreme, and so on. Unfortunately, I see most of the pandering and hate mongering from the political conservatives and Republican party. And it’s escalated so much, the hate and severity of it all is now rampant, a happy medium is no longer possible. It’s looked upon as weak or milquetoast. I’m not saying kumbaya and let’s all get along here, but how far away does it look to be a second civil war, where the extreme right and extreme left fracture the country as a whole and everyone hates everyone else?

But I am starting to look beyond my Illinois back yard to the national stage, and I really can’t equate being considered a being to be subjected to as the launch pad for wishing our President dead, now can I? Actually I can. It’s not such an unrealistic leap anymore. Of course, the opposition will deny, and what I will hear is that Brady does not speak for the party as a whole. I mean, he is the candidate that the party has endorsed, and he is the one that will represent if he makes it to office… why wouldn’t I assume he does? Isn’t he the person chosen by the party to represent them in this situation? But I hope that rational and realistic heads will prevail, Brady will not win the election, and this situation never materializes. After all, if he does, I’m not someone he would want to be subjected to. And when thinking like that takes hold and is in charge, I can only know that where it leads is to a very bad place that frankly I don’t want to be subjected to, and neither would you.