Who ARE these people?
More to the point, where will they stop?
Everyone knows them. They are neighbors, friends, relatives... sometimes.
They are the crusaders, the judges. They are the pressure groups that create smoke-free buildings, an open air but smoke-free baseball park, smoke-free if otherwise smelly airplanes, and so forth ad nauseum.
They are the guardians of the Christian ethic (as interpreted by TV preachers, no doubt) even though Christianity is a minor religion in comparison with all the rest of the world's religions. It has only been within the last 30 years that grocery stores and department stores could open on the Christian Sabbath (as compared to the Jewish or Islamic Sabbath). Women are barely out of the chattel stage in some states. The Commonwealth of Virginia still has some chattel laws in effect. (A chattel is a man's possession, whether livestock, slaves, wife, or daughter. A man's chattel has certain protection from certain laws. ie a man's home is his castle and his chattels therein.)
These people presume to decide an individual's moral standards, sexual behavior, medical requirements. ie whether a woman may have an abortion regardless of her marital status, health. Yet who judges their behavior and morality when they "peacefully" block access to medical facilities and harrass physicians and their families? Whose right of free speech is being honored. Is that right more important to the rights of others? Why are they so busy protecting an unborn lifeform. A fetus doesn't vote or pay taxes? These same guardians of family values hesitate to prosecute a father who is raping his daughters or beating his children?
If these people continue to be successful, where will they stop? After there are laws prohibiting women from choosing their own mate? Will there be laws requiring non-cholesterol foods? Will gasoline be rationed like it was during WWII? Will employees be drafted into certain jobs? Will congressmen and bureaucrats become the new privileged class of our "classless" democracy, immune from accepted laws and morality? Will the very rich manipulators of other peoples' money (bankers, stockbrokers, management...) be able to steal and cheat without being subjected to the same criminal code as the local neighborhood dope dealer? Will those same sharks who contribute nothing to productivity or the real economy continue to be idolized instead of put to work?
Why do we put up with them?
E-Mail: The Editor
