Ok folks, it is time for the second installment of:

THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN VALUES

We the people of the United States of America at this crucial time in History affirm the core consensus values which form the basis of America's greatness that all men and women from every race and creed and ethnicity are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We adhere to the rule of law embodied in the Constitution of the United States of America and the principles of liberty on which America was founded in order to maintain the blessings of liberty and justice for ourselves

and our posterity. And recognizing the personal responsibility is the basis of our self governing nation we declare our allegiance. http://www.strangreport.com/2008/07/declaration-of-american-values.html

All righty then. Let us just look at the first two commandments:

·  To secure the sanctity of human life by affirming the dignity of and right to life for the disabled, the ill, the aged, the poor, the disadvantaged, and for the unborn from the moment of conception. Every person is made in the image of God, and it is the responsibility and duty of all individuals and communities of faith to extend the hand of loving compassion to care for those in poverty and distress.

·  To secure our national interest in the institution of marriage and family by embracing the union of one man and one woman as the sole form of legitimate marriage and the proper basis of family.

Okie dokie then. Let me give you all my take on the first commandment.

You know I would sign on to this. I really would. If....

In other words I would trade the right to abortion for the ideals stated in this commandment. Of course I would do this with one big caveat.

It aint gonna happen. The people on CStreet would never go along with this.

There is a term of art here, actually, of course, it is nothing but terms of art. But as goals, they are sacred to me.

Now, the dignity of the sick dying woman vs. the dignity of the fetus. Well......Who exactly will make the determination? And this is just one of the problems with this commandment. This is how I see the commandment played out by a conservative.

CONSERVATIVE TAKE ON THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

1.               I must vote no on this bill increasing food stamps for the poor because although I affirm the dignity of the poor and the disabled and the ill and the disadvantaged (and God knows I love them all) we must stop a) deficit spending and b) removing these people's inspiration to help their neighbors by contributing as much as possible to society, and c) making it harder on contributing members of society whom I also express my belief are made in the image of my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

2.               I must vote no on this bill increasing the minimum wage because although I affirm the dignity of the poor and the disabled and the ill and the disadvantaged (and God knows I love them all) we must stop a) deficit spending and b) removing these people's inspiration to help their neighbors by contributing as much as possible to society, and c) making it harder on contributing members of society whom I also express my belief are made in the image of my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

3.               I must vote no on this bill providing health benefits to those who have less than the minimal coverage to survive because although I affirm the dignity of the poor and the disabled and the ill and the disadvantaged (and God knows I love them all) we must stop a) deficit spending and b) removing these people's inspiration to help their neighbors by contributing as much as possible to society, and c) making it harder on contributing members of society whom I also express my belief are made in the image of my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

4.               I must vote no on this bill to regulated the amount of interest charged by credit card companies because although I affirm the dignity of the poor and the disabled and the ill and the disadvantaged (and God knows I love them all) we must stop a) deficit spending and b) removing these people's inspiration to help their neighbors by contributing as much as possible to society, and c) making it harder on contributing members of society whom I also express my belief are made in the image of my Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

Well you get the idea. I mean I am so happy that these Christians feel bad for all the unfortunates but that is the way God bounces the ball from time to time.

I am reminded of an advice column in the old National Lampoon (I mean in the early '70s when the greatest satire ever written was set down in ink in that magazine) and it would go something like this:

Dear Annabbywhatever:

I am the mother of 7 children between the ages of 3 and 11. Our barn has just burned down, my husband left me for an encyclopedia salesman, the mortgage is due, the corn crop as been wiped out by a flood and I have recently been diagnosed with.........

Signed 'Amy'

Dear Amy:

How very unfortunate.

Signed "Annabbywhatever'

These Christians would no doubt pray for the unfortunate. Just not provide any decent legislation to help them.

And as I tried to point out, the expression of  respect for the unfortunate...well. And whose dignity is to be honored. The dignity of the fetus or the dignity of the mother must be, shall we say, prioritized.  McCain really expressed the concern of the Christian right when he put quotes around the phrase 'health of the mother' during one of the debates last year.

We are to assume that all doctors and all mothers are pretending that health is of any concern with regard to the abortion debate. 

·  To secure our national interest in the institution of marriage and family by embracing the union of one man and one woman as the sole form of legitimate marriage and the proper basis of family.

The Second Commandment....well. We are not going to uphold any dignity for old time Mormans or gays. I mean we are not going to do that under this commandment. No frickin way.

And I wonder how 'they' would apply the sentiments of this dicta to Vitter, Sanford, Ensign, Gingrich, or even St. Ronald Reagan. 

There can be only ONE purpose for this second commandment. And that has got to be to blast gay people. I mean polygamy is really not countenanced in the law at all. Although, there certainly would be nothing wrong I suppose with keeping four women in four different households while never applying for a marriage certificate.

There still are adultery and fornication statutes around but I doubt they are constitutional even with the fascists who control the judiciary today.

Anyway, since there are really few media outlets espousing polygamy or polyandry, I can only see one purpose for this commandment.

To shame gay people.

I mean, can you?

Eventually I shall touch on all these commandments. But my point here is that these right wing Christians do not have any answers to real life problems.

This is right.

That is wrong.

But it does not help us when we search for answers.

If we honor the dignity of all human beings, how does this set of principles honor the dignity of gay people?

And how does it honor the dignity of the mother--let alone the doctor.

And how do we exactly honor the dignity of the poor, the ill, the handicapped...........

I mean what are they doing in a party that has as its main focus preventing government from helping the individual from birth to death?

Again, my thanks to Jesse for introducing me to this fine set of commandments.