I have a bad case of the "FuckIts"

I've been getting into more political arguments on FB than I have in my adult life this week. I'm so pissed. 

First of all, I don't understand how the Christian right can support Trump. Why on earth did Republicans become the go to party for Christians? The non religious Republicans I know, and I consider them to be the closest to the true definition, don't give a shit about abortion or gay marriage. They care about fiscal policies. And the politicians do, too, they just say whatever it takes to get the vote. Why do Christians vote for a party that traditionally does nothing for the poor, uneducated, and hungry? 

Because that's the other thing I don't understand. Prostitution, abortion, gay relationships, recreational drug use - none of this is new or unique to our society. It's been going on since the beginning of time, and it will continue to go on, regardless of regulation. Look how well Prohibition went. Gun rights activists like to say there's no point to controlling guns, because criminals get them anyway. Well, the same logic actually applies here. There's no point to outlawing prostitution, abortion, gay relationships, and recreational drugs because people will continue to do it anyway. It is a far better thing, in my opinion, to regulate and make it safe. 

By legalizing sex work you put the power back in the hands of the sex worker and not their handlers. You can track and tax it. You can provide health care, screenings, contraceptives.  By legalizing abortion (and providing schools with condoms and actual sex education - including consent, pleasure, and contraception without morality clauses) you keep women safe and healthy. I do not support abortion as contraception, however, our system is failing miserably at providing an alternative to not getting pregnant. This idea that people will not have sex is patently absurd. And the argument that people need to control themselves is elitist and offensive and victim-shaming. 

Gay rights have seen progress in leaps in the past few years, and I am so relieved. I work very hard to teach my children that love is love and someone else's relationship doesn't require your tolerance, it just is. In David Wong's excellent article "7 Reasons So Many Guys Don't Understand Consent" he discussed some of his own religious upbringing and did a fantastic job of putting words my beliefs and experience with religion. 

"Either the act was pure in the eyes of God or it wasn't, and the only pure sex act was married intercourse (and note that many of the married women in the Bible had been bought like livestock). Thus, there was no reason to talk about anything else. If they taught a lesson about how forcing a woman to kiss you is wrong, that'd have been implying that consensual kissing was okay (and premarital kissing = eternal hellfire).

"This is why so many of you are confused by the Christian criticism of gay marriage, the "They'll be marrying children and animals next" bit. They genuinely don't understand the difference -- that a homosexual partner can consent, but animals and children cannot -- because to them, all of those acts are equally impure."

I think people living outside the MidWest may not have experienced this, but this was very much the thinking at the college I attended. 

And, moving on to recreational drugs, the War on Drugs was a disaster and accomplished nothing but violence and jailed addicts who should've been treated for their medical condition. It makes so much more sense to legalize, track, tax, and treat. 

If we didn't feel like we had to be everyone's morality police and could mind our own business that would be amazing. I'm so tired of Christians covered in Jesus fish cars and diamond studded cross jewelry bitching about how oppressed they are. You're not. Your mega churches are massaging your ego, and you sit in your comfy house with your Bible in it's case with your embroidered name and you judge the shit out of people you make no attempt at understanding. 

I got in this (misguided, I know) argument about abortion on FB, but I am so pissed about this election I am just going full scorched earth right now. I give zero fucks. This woman voted for Trump because "Hillary likes killing babies.'

WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK.

I guarantee you, nobody, NOBODY, outside of crazy people likes killing babies. And I double fucking guarantee you that the poor woman in that situation isn't thrilled about it either. One woman trotted out a study (although I can't find it anywhere) that said only 2% of abortions were due to rape/incest/ or health complications. And she didn't think that 2% deserved to have their rights protected. And she thought these people all need to control themselves and take responsibility for their actions. But she never mentioned that 50% of abortions are from failed contraceptives. What else could they have done?

There's absolutely no acknowledgement that some women have to have sex or get the shit kicked out of them, or that their partner will leave and not pay rent. When you are broke and female and already have children, the stakes are very, very high. When you are happily married, and pregnant, and your baby dies inside you, putting your life at risk, the stakes are very, very high. It's not our fucking business. If you aren't willing to go help raise that kid after you donate your old stroller to Goodwill, you don't get to have an opinion. Because these aren't cosmopolitan career women who don't want to give up their Happy Hours for daycare pick up. They're poor, and Christians want them to have the babies, but not the Welfare or services required to feed and cloth them. Because then you're a Welfare Queen and a drain on the system.

And the arguments are just so vague and hyper personal and illogical. "My mom wanted to abort me, and my dad talked her out of it." Yeah, that fucking sucks. Also, maybe you should really examine the fact that you were ever told that story. WHO TELLS THEIR KID THAT? That's a really sad story. I'm glad you're here. I wonder, if your mom hadn't been pressured, if she would've left the abusive relationship and settled down and had other equally lovely humans when she was old enough to handle it better (like not emotionally damage them with that shit). It's all conjecture. And it doesn't make any sense, except that it's personal, so we can focus on that and how hurt their feelings are, instead of having an actual discussion about facts, safety, the failure of abstinence only education, ways to prevent abortions besides no sex, etc. Everyone wants to call these women baby killers, and none of these lovely Christians want to give them other options because all premarital sex is bad. I just can't with this shit anymore.  

And for the record, just because James Dobson signed off (for reasons I can't imagine have much to do with integrity) on Trump's Christianity doesn't make it real, and doesn't make him Pro Life. As cavalier as he always been with his lifestyle and trademark excess, I don't believe he ever gave a shit about what he put in someone's uterus unless it was going to cost him money. 

My point is, there is no kindness in Republican politics. No mercy. No concern with basic human necessities, only in policing, shaming, and punishing. And that's not anything I ever learned about Jesus.