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The Nation's Pulse
What Does That Make Me?
I have a brother who revels in an old joke; so that when the gender of a family newborn is announced, he asks: "What does that make me, an aunt or an uncle?" As corny as that sounds -- if you only knew my brother -- it is, like all jokes, based in part on a kind of reverse reality.
The notion that a particular happenstance should determine your identity is, of course, silly and therefore funny. But how about the opposite? The idea so popular with pollsters and pundits -- especially in this presidential election -- that what you are should determine your political ideology and how you vote is equally inane, yet inexplicably and sadly a way of life in modern America.
Whereas our founders were able to put aside their conditions in life, whether innate or acquired, in order to form a more perfect union and ensure a just and prosperous way of life for their posterity, this no longer appears to be true. Identity politics and class warfare have further polarized an already divided nation, especially along the lines of gender, race, and religion. But does it have to be this way? I decided to conduct a poll of one likely voter: myself.
I am a woman, so what does that make me? On the one hand, I'm supposed to vote for John McCain because he had the courage to make Sarah Palin his running mate. She "looks like me," ergo I must vote with my own kind. Except that, as the liberal sisterhood tells me, no real woman could vote Republican since they refuse to support women's "reproductive rights." Sorry, but I'm not buying either pitch; my own kind is the human race, and abortion has as its aim the destruction of the most helpless of that race for the sake of convenience.
I am also a single woman, which should make me, in the eyes of popular culture, either an unhappy shrew or a lesbian, or both. In either case, this should most definitely make me a man-hater. But of course I am neither. I'm just a woman who has simply waited for the good man that God has finally sent me. Far from hating men, I adore truly manly men, particularly those who are man enough to want to fight to protect me and the country we love.
I am a New Englander and unfortunately I know what this is supposed to make me: a knee-jerk liberal. Living as I do in Connecticut, a state that is traditionally at the top of the list of states paying out the most per capita in federal taxes and receiving the least back from Washington, I know all too well that I am virtually surrounded by the left. Yet, I choose to follow in the footsteps of the great New England patriots who railed against unfair taxation and government officers who "harass our people, and eat out their substance."
I am a Catholic, and worse yet, a faithful one. So this makes me either one of the millions of Christians who, like the founders of our country, believe in our national motto, "In God We Trust," or a dangerous, religious fanatic. Until the last decade or so, Catholics were a reliable Democratic voting block, but since then, more and more have refused to follow that party down the path toward a culture of death. And unlike John Kerry, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, I am secure and joyful in the practice and knowledge of my faith.
I am a white person of European ancestry and, were I not a woman (or a liberal), that would make me a racist, domineering, greedy pig. So, to assuage the guilt I must surely feel about all this, I would have no choice but to vote for Barack Obama instead of John McCain who "looks like me." Of course, our black brothers and sisters are exempt from this redemptive process since racism in this country is a one-way street. Except that I am not ashamed of my heritage and therefore feel zero guilt, and I resent those who advise otherwise.
In summary, this likely voter loves liberty as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and hates Communism, Socialism, Nazism, Fascism, and any other form of government that values human beings only as tools of the State and would dispose of those whose lives have no value in its eyes. I believe in a greater good than that which enriches only my social stratum or my pocketbook. And that makes me an American.
Comments
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di french| 10.29.08 @ 7:56AM
I wish I had taken the time to write one of these for myself.
I, too, am a woman who doesn't see her gender as her identity, wants to see her government step up to protect the right to life of the pre-born child, appreciates manly [as opposed to metrosexual] men, is proud of both her Native-American as well as her Celtic heritage, loves liberty, hates facism, marxism, socialism, racism and any other "ism" that devalues human life.
As a non-denominational charismatic believer, I am what the left and the media appear to fear the most -- someone who actually believes the Bible and acknowledges not only a vague notion of God and "good" but calls upon a personal God with standards of righteousness and justice and believes that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
And is proud to be an American.
A.C.e| 10.29.08 @ 7:56AM
Absolutely. I wish I could see this article reprinted EVERYWHERE
David Cheney| 10.29.08 @ 9:29AM
keep writing more, you are awesome Lisa !
Michael Roush| 10.29.08 @ 9:53AM
Lisa, As a good Catholic girl, you know you are not supposed to bear false witness. Yet, you insist on perpetuating one of the "big lies" of the RTL movement. To wit, "abortion has as its aim the destruction of the most helpless of that race for the sake of convenience." Its always simply a matter of convenience, isn't it? By implication, you suggest that anyone who votes for Obama is a socialist, a communist, a nazi or a fascist. I have my doubts about whether you, or most people on the right who so freely use these words, can intelligently delineate the characteristics and difference among these four ideology, but they are great words for slanderers. Away to church, girl. Confess. Repent.
kamel cetin| 10.29.08 @ 9:56AM
Obama Rules, you're a muslim, you can't understand why we disagree with your fantastic religion of peace and tolerance that makes you project on us Christians all the contradictions you have gladly accepted in your way of thinking. Another thing: we're Republicans, we don't rape our daughters. In the countries you love so much, they kill the daughters who are raped, because they brought dishonor upon their families. I guess this is what you would call 2nd class abortion in PC talk. Palin rules, you sick liberal!
Taraman| 10.29.08 @ 9:57AM
It would appear that"obama rules" has an advantage over "Christians".Apparently he/she/it can be "wicked,mean spirited and hateful as possible" for the entire week!
kamel cetin| 10.29.08 @ 10:00AM
Michael, weren't you supposed to buy coke for your husband? You liberals are stinking up this place! Get a ride, buster!
Robert Nowall| 10.29.08 @ 10:33AM
Mr. Obama Rules---that name must have raised a few eyebrows when his birth certificate was filled out---neglects the numerous offenses committed by Democrats, who then remained in power.
Y'know, I don't think this "new format" posting thing is working out. Seems to get a high proportion of people with axes to grind. And anonymous people, at that. Can't we all just read the Times and Newsweek and get all the anti-Republicanism from them?
Ghastlyone| 10.29.08 @ 11:34AM
'Obama Rules'
I'm actually in favor of liberals and their "right" to choose. Congress should make it law. Let them have as many aborted fetuses as possible...because remember....every aborted fetus from them, is just one less worthless liberal to grow up and pollute our country even more.
Thomas| 10.29.08 @ 11:59AM
Wow, I am impressed, and a little unnerved. Obama rules actually has a list of nearly 50 Republicans who are either child molesters or child pornographers ready at hand. Astonishing. It would probably take me the better part of a day to be able to research that many sexual deviants and he has it at hand. Disturbing. I also find it amazing that the only Democrat in politics who has had any kind of sex scandal is Bill Clinton. I guess that makes me a Democrat. Who knew.
Ghastlyone| 10.29.08 @ 12:14PM
"Obama Rules':
Come one man, you know you want to type it....just do it, please, "BUSH LIED, KIDS DIED!" BUSH LIED, KIDS DIED!!" just like that, see?
So you say we killed 100k Iraqi children. Who says? and where can I get this factual information? Let me guess...from Michael Moore...no wait...from Bill Maur. I'll go on either CNN or MSNBC and get the info from them, they seem to be the most trustworthy news sources out there *rolls eyes*
Kamel Cetin| 10.29.08 @ 1:27PM
Obi R. How much time did you spend making up this loony list of rapists? :+) Did you get it from Ayers? If you were raped by a mob of liberal senators, you would claim it was consensual sex!Why didn't your mom decide to do the right thing (according to your values) and flush you foetus?
Go back to Salon, loser, your husbands miss you.
Kamel Cetin| 10.29.08 @ 1:31PM
The Guardian, a conservative paper? This piece of junk of a limey poofter rag is everything but conservative! You're just a dumb troll with to much time to waste.
Ghastlyone| 10.29.08 @ 1:42PM
'Obama "Foaming at the Mouth" Rules':
Bogus War?
You mean the same war Joe Biden voted for in the senate also? [and most liberals for that matter]. The same Joe Biden that was picked as VP by your almighty Obama for his "foreign policy expertise"??
So your saying the "village idiot" was easily able to dupe all those liberals in the senate for a bogus war huh? lmao!
Nicole| 10.29.08 @ 1:54PM
Beautifully written piece.
What type of individual seems to hope something so hideous to your daughter as is written above.
It only shows the lack of intellectual thought that that is what passes for debate in the life of a liberal.
Julie Ann Wilson| 10.29.08 @ 2:18PM
Lisa,
I couldn't have said this better myself unless I wrote it. Kudos to you for going against the persona of what a woman should be. I agree with you on every point as I am also a white, Catholic, single woman. You are my hero!
Jim| 10.29.08 @ 4:47PM
Go AWAY "obama rules". You are truly a COMPLETE FOOL and a MORON!!!!!!!!! What the hell do you know about Country, Family and a belief in God?
OCPatriot| 10.29.08 @ 5:01PM
The choice is very simple. You can be pro-life, and impose that on everybody else through the government of your state or country and through the Supreme Court, which flies in the face of believing that the government shouldn't tell people what to do with their personal lives. Or you can be pro-life and attempt to influence others without coercing them, keeping the government out of it. Many pro-lifers that I knew want to impose on everyone without exception their viewpoint and have no objection to the government backing them up with force and jail terms. Lost in all this is the woman's right to choose what she wants to do; it is subordinated to a church-inspired viewpoint. Unfortunately, the view that the government must enforce a ban on abortions can lead to more and more government control over our lives, I believe. As for the killing of innocents, many pro-life people have a blind spot when it comes to waging wars (to my mind GI's are just as innocent, and so are many Iraqis) and killing civilians as a byproduct. They also, as Sarah Palin has shown, have a blind spot in many cases when it comes to killing those doctors who legitimately perform abortions. I regret that those who believe in pro-life theories sometimes don't see the bigger picture and vote for people like George Bush who are smarmy and end up killing hundreds of thousands of innocents under a mantle of being against abortions.
Chuck| 10.29.08 @ 5:30PM
Obama Rules thinks the Guardian is CONSERVATIVE. The Guardian is decidedly "left of center" (Wikipedia) even to serve as the mouthpiece for George Galloway, the Labor MP who took bribes from Saddam and was kicked out of the Labor Party. The Telegraph is generally conservative. OR sits so far to the left of the political spectrum that even the Guardian looks rightist to him. I guess this is just a small mark against OR's mighty breadth of vision.
Thomas| 10.29.08 @ 6:19PM
Ah, the abortion question. Obama Rules, OCPatriot and most of the people in this country are in agreement that it should be against the law to kill another human being [I am not talking about capital punishment here as that is a different question altogether]. So it seems that our only true disagreement at what point a set of living cells become a "human being". Interestingly enough a majority of States recognize a fetus in the first three months of life as being "a human being" under state murder statutes. There currently several people serving time for "murdering" a fetus under twelve weeks of age. Yet, a woman in those states can generally abort a fetus up until the age of 24 weeks. Interesting legal paradox, eh?
Jeff Anderson| 10.29.08 @ 8:42PM
I really enjoy reading the articles put forth by Lisa Fabrizio. A well-grounded lady.
On the other hand, RET, do you really want to lend a soapbox to people such as 'Obama Rules' here? If your aim is fairness to all political persuasions, that's fine, but I cannot see why we have to suffer the fringe element, (what's next, Olbermann as asst. ed.?).It's akin to be reading a hard copy of TAS only to have a liberal allow the latte to slip in his dainty hands; spilling it on the aforementioned erudite, and famed, journal of knowledge.
Ms. Know| 10.30.08 @ 12:57AM
The liberal illuminati are going to be controlling what we all here do in a minute. Government will not just control healthcare, but everything.
Wicked Dickie| 10.30.08 @ 5:57AM
Well, at least Roush and his lunatic chums haven't resorted to the old "non viable tissue mass" to justify embracing baby murder. Great stuff as usual, Lisa. Forgot to send you a panegyric on your 1939 movie piece. Keep up the good work.
Fawnridge| 10.30.08 @ 9:07AM
Don't bother responding to "Obama Rules", folks. If this person's inability to reason rationally isn't a clue for you, then how about that list of convicted Republican sex offenders? Only someone who either lives off their parents or the government has the time necessary to compile a list like that - the rest of us are too busy working to support our families. Likewise, this person characterizes a pregnancy soley as a woman's rights issue, as if neither the father who created that life nor the child deserve any consideration under the Constitution - a myoptic viewpoint at best. What really betrays this person's shallowness of thought, though, is their name-calling which, as we all know, is an adolescent behavior typically left behind by age 10 or so. That they still engage in it shows, at best, an emotionally arrested development that is incapable of responding objectively to reason.