Skip to main content

Bart Stupak

I read with interest Bart Stupak's decision not to run again for his seat. No matter which way this man turns, someone hates him. To the right, he is the man responsible for the passage of an abomination of a health care bill. To the left, he is the man who held up and nearly destroyed the health care bill. To abortion opponents, he lacked the real strength of his convictions, instead hiding behind a fig leaf of an executive order, which of course can be undone by the next executive.

I do understand that the process of 'making legislation' is not a pretty one. However, the apparent self betrayal of this man trumps all the political advantages or problems he created for himself and others.

A few days ago I talked about sin as being based in fear. So is self-loathing. If Bart Stupak could not live with himself in voting for the health care bill, then he should have voted against it. If he was truly satisfied with the Senate provisions (and they were quite strong), then he never should have made a fuss in the first place.

Jesus made no pronouncements about abortion. We do not know if he was married, if he had children, and precious little else about his personal life except that he had siblings. Whatever Jesus' feelings about abortion would have been, I am quite sure he would not have modified them to please either a Jewish or a Roman government. Your values are what they are, and when you compromise them, you compromise yourself.

This is the original meaning of belief- something around which your life is centered. Apparently Stupak felt strongly enough about abortion to fuss about it, but not so strongly that he was willing to take any heat about it. In the end, we must be forced to make choices under duress. We all have to. And that is when we learn what our values really are. Stupak was not willing, in the end, to stand up for what he believed in, and this, more than any heat from left or right, is what destrtoyed him as a politician, and more importantly, as a man.

Ted

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is Forgiveness

 In doing years of medical teaching, I have told students that teaching and learning are not directly related. I can teach and teach, but you may never learn. Conversely, you may learn continuously without me teaching you a thing. 'I teach' and 'you learn' are two separate, active processes that may overlap or coincide. The same is true of forgiveness. I am an unforgiving man. I am the very opposite of God, who is slow to anger and of great kindness. I am quick to anger and very slow to forgive. I'm kind and insightful with people generally, but when mistreated or insulted I am not kind at all, nor do I forget, or forgive.  The Bible tells us to do something else. We are told to forgive. In Matthew 18:21, Peter asks Jesus how often he should forgive his brother's sin. The Jewish standard was three times. Like the young man in the story of the Samaritan, who asks who his brother is in order to know to whom he should be loving, Peter appears to be asking for guida...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Broken Tooth

 I broke a tooth today. I've done that before; I inherited my mother's horrible teeth, and if not for crowns I would have the smile of any drug-addicted homeless man in the street. But the tooth broke, rather than the crown coming off. I've had that happen a couple of times, and it's nothing. After all, the tooth is just fake, held on by cements similar to the ones I use for my models. This time, however, I have to have the root extracted so I can get the modern version of a bridge. And this new dental experience has reduced to me to jelly, this not helped by the condescending, sexist comments of the dental assistant. I have a long, longe memory, my first recollections coming from age 2. I have well-developed, detailed memories from age 3 onward. I vividly recall being at the dentiswt as a child, when it was fashionable to fill baby teeth. I can recall being left there by my mother as a 14 year old, on the day I was paid for working as 'the 5th ace' at Camp Maga...
1 comment
Read more

Politically Correct Dishonor

The Biblical prophets warned aloud that devastation would come to those who were unclean. Those that profaned God and the house of God, those who were drunken, fornicators, idolators, those that cheated, that gave unclean offerings. Israel was warned of the consequences of their behavior. And God did not punish Israel. Rather, by walking away from God, Israel simply suffered the consequences of its behavior and choices. I chose, I chose , to live, to receive a transplant. I struggled to have the surgery that prolonged my life, I accepted the gift of a kidney from a whole person that I might live. I was convinced by family and friends that I had some role in the world, something I might contribute. And I believed that. My idea of contribution was to teach, to give to others what I had learned to do. But I have lived to see injustice. To see self-interest and greed triumph over not merely right but reason as well. I see incompetence passed off as expertise, the mundane as the s...
2 comments
Read more