29 August 2012

I want to talk to you about love

Dear Mrs. Romney,

I’m so glad that you love your husband. But that you love him doesn’t really have anything to do with anything, now does it? I mean, I already have a husband, thanks, and I don’t need to go be falling in love with any other guys.

Your speech last night, with your attempt to seem just like every other woman in the US, was pandering. You’re just like me? You’re just like that mom wondering what’ll happen to her child support? You’re just like that uninsured woman who needs treatment for her ovarian cancer? You’re just like that struggling supermarket checker? You’re just like that mother who wants to have another child but can’t afford it, or can’t find daycare, or can’t swing the thousands of dollars needed for infertility treatments? You’re just like that working mom who has to help her kid with homework on her “second shift”? I don’t think so.

You’re welcome to your opinion, but to say to me that “no one will care more” than your husband? Words, dear, they’re just words.

Your husband has pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act if elected – that’s not a very caring statement.

You telling us that “this man will not fail” and “you can trust Mitt” – more words. What fools do you take us for? Everyone fails. Everybody stumbles, everybody makes mistakes. No one, not anyone, not even Mr. Obama, is infallible. And how can we trust a man who won’t show us his tax returns?

Where are the caring policies that are going to help people who need food, shelter, education? How will we care for the sick, and care for the children whose parents are at work? How will we care for our aging – our aging people and our aging infrastructure? How will we care for our planet, if your husband is elected and vitiates environmental protection laws?

Your husband’s policies and the Republican plank vis-à-vis abortion are really the be all and the end all. Republicans want to eliminate all abortions. But where’s the follow-through? Where’s the prenatal care? Where’s the daycare? Where’s the education for those kids? Where’s the support for adequate nutrition and clean air? A quote from a nun, Sister Joan Chittister, has been popping up in my Facebook feed all day. It turns out that she said this on Bill Moyers' show back in 2004:

For instance, let's look at the abortion question. I'm opposed to abortion.

But I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking. If all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed and why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.

I’m open-minded. I listen. And even though I call myself a lefty-commie-pinko, I have views that aren’t completely in lockstep. There’ve been plenty of times at work when I rail about state or federal policies that annoy me, that cause busywork for us, and that the right jumps all over as “job-killing”. I’m not at all enamored of the few unions I’ve had to deal with; they seem to be all about lining the pockets of their administrators and not doing much good for their members.

I want better public transportation. I want there to be congestion pricing so it costs an arm & a leg to drive a car into Manhattan. I want Medicare for all – a single payer system is what we need. I like the electronic medical records that my doctor’s office has used since long before the Affordable Care Act required it - it makes coordination of care a whole lot better. I think guns in the hands of the general public are a disaster. I wish we spent a lot less money on the military.

Here’s the thing. It’s a democracy. We need to work together. We need to be smart about now, and smart about the future. We need to care for all of the people, not just the unborn people and the armed forces.

And just because you tell me that Mitt loves America doesn’t mean that he’s the right man to be President. Because, really. It's not about love.

Love,

Magpie

25 comments:

freshhell said...

Very nice. Yes.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love this!

IlinaP said...

Wait, I didn't mean to be anonymous. It's me, Ilina.

MARY G said...

Amen.
I just put up a post about the speech. It seems to me so silly to put the poor woman up there at all. And, for me, she messed up. A lot.

On the other hand, Canada has a horribly expensive and clutzy medicare system and partial birth abortion - an abomination, for me.

Kizz said...

Sing it!

Anjali said...

I love this.

Liz Miller said...

Yes. YES.

Swistle said...

LIKE.

It's not even pro-birth, since no one cares what happens during the birth or how much it costs or who pays for it or how the hospitals are run/staffed. It's just anti-abortion.

Carol Steel said...

Well said and well-researched info shared. Good for you. Hope this gets lots of readers. You've nailed it.

dawn said...

Well said. Did you hear today that their yacht is in Tampa, flying the flag of the Cayman Islands?

Anonymous said...

We all have "wants". Who is going to pay for all your desires? Our country is already $16,000,000,000,000 in debt and climbing fast. Our military (I served my country in the Air Force, what did you serve?) is what keeps us free. What do you think would happen if we reduced our militia? You think that will help us be safe against all those who hate the US? And for you to say we should not have guns in the hands of the general public, that is totally unconstitutional and ignorant. Let me ask you this, do you think that by making guns illegal that the law breaking criminals who use them for evil will "stop" using them? Um, that answer is NO, they are "law breaking criminals" so why would gun laws stop them? I agree with you that America doesn't care how much Mit or his wife "love" each other and that should play no basis in their decision on who should lead this country. But you need to wake up and realize that the real world is not nice or easy and our government shouldn't be so quick to give handouts/bailouts. There is just no room in the budget for that... You want better, then make youself better. Our forfathers didn't build this country on handouts, we fought for our freedoms (with guns) and we built this country with hard work. And it's that same hard work that every American should do to help improve themselves as well as our nation. And don't give me a sob story about someone who is sick or needs help. What about the thousands of others who are spunging off the system sinking this great nation one hand out at a time?

eshock said...

Thanks to Magpie for musing... I was taken aback at the longest applause line... "Mitt doesn't like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point," --Ann Romney (apparently not heeding her husband's wishes by making a political talking point)

Anonymous said...

You don't trust a man who won't show you his tax returns, but you trust one who hides his birth certificate?

Joybells said...

If only I had a red, white, and blue Magpie sign that I could wave around while chanting, "Mag-pie! Mag-pie! Mag-pie!"

Very well said, my friend.

Dora said...

Brava!

Anon, you just don't get it.

alejna said...

I love this, Magpie. Very well said.

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

This is the post I've been writing in my head.

Janet said...

Brilliantly written!!!

Stephanie Smirnov said...

Why are the dissenting views always from "Anonymous?" That Anonymous sure is busy, turns up everywhere and always in such a contrary mood!

deborah quinn said...

I'm wondering why anonymous thinks Obama hasn't produced his birth certificate, when I've got a handy-dandy coffee mug with the damn certificate printed right on it. That's just for starters. We should all be singing Tina Turner to the Romneys, frankly: what DOES love have to do with it? I've been "loved" by some real motherfuckers in my day, thanks; I'd rather be governed by someone with a brain, some compassion, and a deep sense of responsibility. Love? Eh, that's for my bedroom, my kids, my family. And the occasional picture of Tim Riggins.

mayberry said...

Co-signed!

julochka said...

so well-put. and calmly too. which is highly unusual these days. thank you.

Anonymous said...

Ok gals. It is not about the birth certificate. It is about the millions of dollars he has spent shielding things like his record at Columbia because he likely applied as a citizen of another country, and while I believe he was born here, you can't have it both ways. He didn't even divulge his medical records in a way that other Presidents have done for decades. He is far from transparent and did not have the White House Press Corps for weeks until Chris Wallace pointed it out and then a day later. He has given almost all fluff interviews.

If it isn't about love, than why elect a one term senator who was running for office for half of that term with little to know experience

Gina said...

What you said. Also - I'm glad I'm not the only one who calls herself a lefty-commie-pinko (My younger friends don't get the Archie Bunker reference).

leanne said...

LOVE this post. I don't get the lack of caring on the GOP side. At all. Especially from people who say they are Christians.