Politics, Money and Sex

I am having the hardest the time accepting all the shucking, jiving, bobbing and weaving going on in this country. All the different issues seem to have several different factions, some working at cross-purposes to the other, others floundering in a sea of "experts."

So it seems to be with adoption reform, which is, in my mind, an oxymoron. Adoption needs to be scrapped and something more child-centered put in its place. But, to get anywhere, it seems that you have to get past the Big Three conundrums. (1) Is it politically palatable? (2) What's in  it for me$ ? (3) Is it salacious enough to use?

We no longer have Statesmen...we have politicians. And we all know where sex and money enter in to the equation with them. People don't think they really represent the voters, but I think they do watch the trends and go with what they think will keep them in office.

I have also noticed that, among the far right, we have Capitalistic Extremists. "Money makes the world go around," says the song. Although we have socialist programs already in effect in the US, the CE's will scream, "Socialism!!!" if they see any programs suggested that might help the poor, those needing healthcare, senior citizens and those nasty, old unmarried moms. One nutbar is even suggesting sending senior citizens to the front to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now THAT would help knock down that SSI deficit in a big way.

There is also the continued prurient interest of the puritanical in who sleeps with who and when and where and how. The religious right can't be bothered feeding the poor, visiting the imprisoned and tending to the sick. They are too busy sticking their noses in the nation's bedrooms. Along with the government, they would absolutely LOVE to control our sexuality. I could see them lining up to stone unmarried, pregnant women, UNLESS, of course, these sinners were acting as surrogates for the more worthy.

They are really having to put a spin on all this crap since it is no longer politically correct to place the onus of shame and blame on the single mother as it was during our era. Slick and well-worded is the direction they take. But we who have been there and done that just see that the Serpent is back in the garden and it's carrying a Bible. Christianity, American-Style, is the most unloving, intolerant institution I know and it gets its power from money and lobbying politicians so that they can regulate our sex lives. See what a snarled cord we have in place in our society?

I have a big issue with the "Crisis Pregnancy Centers" that have sprung up all over the country. This is just another version of what we went through, minus the incarceration. To be saved, you have to carry your pregnancy to term, then surrender your child. And don't think for a minute that the good people who staff these mommy-traps really care about that mother. If they did, they would be helping her keep her baby. But then, that might mean she has to accept some public assistance, at least for a little while, and we all know that Good Christians don't believe in taking care of the poorer among us because of the occasional person who takes advantage of the welfare system.

Now, isn't it funny how a post that started off about Politics, Money and Sex, found its way to the topic of Religion? No, not really. Just about every major and minor Christian sect, denomination or cult has played at social engineering and been involved in adoption.

Adoption is a big-bucks business (money), dependent upon that "abstinence only" (sex) thing and sanctioned by the government (politics). It's all fueled by the growing number of people who delay childbearing until it's too late to conceive and/or with other infertility issues and who are somehow convinced that they have a right to, are entitled to, and deserve a child more than the woman who bears that child, Adoption has all the big players in place. That "more deserving" thing comes from the religious ideas that permeate our poor nation. Notice I said Religious...not Spiritual.

My sisters and I from the BSE/EMS are fighting something that we know is huge. Sometimes, it feels like we are dragging bags of boulders up a steep hill. The going is rough and slow and frustrating, at times. But, at least we know the enemy. It comes clothed in greenbacks, filled with political corruption, wearing xray glasses to see into bedrooms and it carries a Bible.

And it is everywhere.