Paul Ryan said something in the Vice-Presidential debate that captured my attention, and activated my worry mechanisms.
Ryan is the leader of the crazy Tea Party element of the Republican Party. He stated his beliefs on conception and abortion are his Catholic beliefs. He has introduced several Bills to outlaw all abortions, no exceptions. He & his ilk created the Republican Party Platform. It too would outlaw and criminalize all abortions, no exceptions. This is the stated Tea-Republican intent, if elected.
My concern is not so much this abortion issue, which is a separate topic. My concern is turning over our government and laws to one particular set of religious beliefs, to one Church. Have we learned nothing from centuries of Sunni v Shia, Christian v Muslim, and Hindu v Sikh, Catholic v Protestant etc.?
Ryan and his followers have claimed magical fluids prevent impregnation, tubal pregnancies never happen, current medical advances can always save both mother and child (obviously never heard of anencephaly). As a dear member of my family said: “Ignorance can be corrected; stupid is forever”. So I’ve tried to tune out the growing number of these misogynistic trolls crawling out of their caves. One bestselling author opined: ‘They’d be better off worrying less about being descended from apes, and worry more about being passed by them’.
In seriousness, the Tea-Republican plan to make the tenets of a particular Church the law of the land, criminalizing acts in non-compliance with that Church’s rules – now that is a very, very troublesome prospect, not to mention unconstitutional, at least until they change the Constitution too, as promised.
I urge my fellow Montanans to put aside old feelings of Party loyalty and really consider this horrendous specter. The Republican House Majority Leader, a Jew, and Romney, a Mormon, should be especially appalled – and yet they are silent. The Tea-Republicans, with Romney in tow, have vowed to change our society. I take them at their word; and it scares me.
Claire L Kelly
Stevensville