The Good, The Bad, The Politician

           Politics. It's everywhere. Newspapers, television, radio channels, we just can't get away from it, and, try as we might, we just can't avoid politically charged conversations. In Jessica Templeton's post, Obnoxious Proposals are Totally in this Season, she talks about the inevitable drama surrounding politics today and the greasy politicians who are behind it. There are some points made in Templeton's post in which I agree completely, but there are others where I find myself disagreeing with her views.

          She starts off by stating her own opinions about politicians, what they stand for, and the hot topics that seems to drive the population into absolute insanity. She states, “It's like politicians believe that any publicity is good publicity, but is that true? Yes, it's good for the voters to know your name, but I personally wouldn't want my name known for something that creates a major fuss among the public.” Now, I agree that not all publicity is good publicity, in fact, about 70% of it IS bad publicity, but her viewpoint on not wanting her name publicized for something that creates public drama seems irrelevant. As a politician, their background, views, and plans for the community are publicized for all to know and they get criticized for every bit of it. No matter what stance a politician takes on any issue there will always be part of the population who support the same views, and the other part will always be against it, and there doesn't seem anyway that a politician can keep his name a secret or avoid the drama the follows. A perfect example of this is shown in the exact same post as she stated, “... since I was so irritated, I did some digging. I uncovered the fact that this [abortion] bill has the support of certain candidates running for president and to me that's absolutely frightening.” From my point of view, this shows exactly how impossible it is for a politician to hide their own views from being publicized to the general public.
           In all, Jessica puts up a great argument, despite the slight contradiction, and I fully agree with her stance as she amazingly puts it, “Seriously, politicians, you guys, or gals, need to stop being so obnoxiously ridiculous or get out of office. There's already enough screwed up people in this world that we don't need them running this country.”

Issues on..

Contraception. It has been the topic of importance since the new year, and not everyone likes the idea of preventative medicine being provided through insurance companies if it is asked for, and not everyone likes the fact that people are thrilled that this opportunity has been presented to the public. Though if contraception is going to be provided as a preventative medicine, I honestly think it should be provided free of charge.

Now I urge you to think about this from a less able-bodied woman's point of view. I'm not saying all women who are for contraception being free are poor, but you'd be surprised how many people have trouble affording it, especially on those “low money months” we all have once in a while. I think that if this were to be provided for free from the insurance companies we would see a significant decrease in abortions, babies or children being given up for adoption, or - if you want to take a look at the extremes – unfortunate infant deaths. If we could take into consideration just how expensive it is to have a baby, whether it be planned or unexpected, we could quickly see how the unexpected mothers in particular panic and take to the most drastic of measures.

Preventative medicine is a serious thing to consider, and a wonderful opportunity for women who just don't have the funds available to them when they need it. Therefore, I firmly believe that contraception should be provided free of charge, and without the individual being judged.

A Compromise of Sorts..

The new hot topic on almost every headline I've come across is about Obama's new healthcare policy. The idea is to open up new routes for those who can't afford healthcare and making it available to them by having the Health Insurance companies directly provide it, rather than the employer. Among the many things healthcare is to provide, they will also be “required to offer contraception directly to the employees of religious-linked institutions if requested.” Because of this, Church-linked institutions will have to cover birth control costs in their health insurance plans, which enrages the leaders of the Church.

Now, it's my opinion that contraception is a human rights issue as well as a public health issue, and trying to prevent adult women from having access to it is a very risky action. This new policy gives a way for women to have access to healthcare and other benefits, and the Church doesn't have any room to complain. In my opinion, even if they had a valid complaint before, continuing to complain now will at least show that it's not about THEM providing birth control so much as the fact that they want to prevent women from having access to it at all.

This article is a very good read, as it shows exactly how unwilling the Church is to provide women with the exact healthcare they may need. The phrase, “I can't, it's against my religion..” no longer flies.