… at least without RANTING about it.
I know, I’ve been told this is a “literary blog,” and I tend to like that designation, and according to Jeff Ward, there’s little purpose in writing about politics. But Jeff also recently quoted an ex-teacher as saying that English majors are supposed to be smarter than other people, and, having graduated as an English major, I’m certainly in no position to disagree with that kind of remarkable insight.
It seems to me that someone smarter than the President of the United States and the Republican party, and I’m not sure you would have to graduate as an English major to qualify here, needs to get involved in politics when the government makes dumb decisions like the ones reported in this CNN article as pointed out by Kalilily.
The American government, though it is still unwilling to ratify the convention, has managed to impose its unenlightened and immoral standards on the world.
On one hand, the American government opposed the agreement because it banned imposing the death penalty or a life sentence on children under the age of eighteen, and God forbid that true Christians should have to give up their death penalty.
More importantly, though, the convention attempted to ensure that adolescents “have the right to sex education and reproductive and sexual health services.”
According to the article, “Conservatives in the United States contend that ‘reproductive health services’ include abortion. U.S. officials had pressed for a footnote to the document specifically excluding abortion. This was not done, but the final agreement dropped any reference to ‘services.’ “
Following in the noble tradition of the Kyoto treaty, America appears to be the lone holdout in not signing the treaty, as even Somalia, the other holdout, is expected to ratify the treaty this week.
In their infinite wisdom, the Conservatives seem to be saying that no child, fatherless or not, should be denied the chance for life, but if the little bastard screws up we’ll dispose of him as soon as possible. Such high regard for the “sanctity of life” should not go unnoticed or unrewarded.
What really “pisses me off” (that’s an intellectual term connoting great disdain) is that the Republicans know better than to try to impose this kind of stupidity on the American people. If they tried they would be voted out of office in a landslide. Why, then, should the rest of the world have this kind of stupidity imposed on them?
Why should American voters who would not allow this to happen in America allow Conservatives in the government to impose their will on the rest of the world?
The only intelligent thing for we English majors, and anyone else who would like to be regarded as a little “smarter than the rest,” to do is to vote these people out. It’s time to show The Conservatives that it’s hard to hide behind a shrub.