A Letter To The GOP

Dear GOP,
     I am constantly hearing your "Defense of Marriage" reasoning being that same-sex relationships are, according to the Bible, an abomination. Here's a new talking point for you...

     Please explain to me why you are against one "abomination" and fully support another? 

     Please read Ezekiel 18. All of it. According to this chapter, it's an abomination to charge interest on a loan. Making profit from helping someone in need. Who, in today's society, makes profit from helping someone in need? The banks. You put the banking industry on such a high pedestal that you can't reach to regulate. (Not that you would even attempt/want to.) Bankers are revered, but homosexuals are destroying the country by trying to redefine marriage? 

     How does this make sense?

     Please, try to justify this.
          -Me

False Advertising

The recent SCOTUS decision that found lying about receiving military service to be constitutionally protected under the First Amendment's Free Speech clause got me thinking...

When should lying to the public actually be illegal? 

If you are applying for a job, running for office included, aren't you selling something? You're selling yourself, as a product, an investment for whomever is hiring you. 

Now, the last time I checked, it is illegal to lie about a product that you are selling. It's called false advertising. If I'm looking to buy a product, I want to know what it does. The advertising will tell me all the reasons I should have it. The best example I can come up with is the Sketcher's Shape-Ups. If I'm going to spend over $80 for a pair of shoes, they better do exactly what they claim to. But, not surprisingly, they don't. As a result, Sketcher's has had to refund and/or recall all of them. 

Why? Because they lied about their product, and that is illegal.

Now, why can't we apply the same rules to people? I'm not saying that lying should be illegal. If it were, then anything that is a fabrication (books, television, movies, etc.) would be illegal. We already see that lying during a judicial proceeding is illegal. We even have a name for it, perjury. 

Anyone applying for a job, especially running for office, should not be able to lie. You should be hired based on what you can bring to the table, not for outlandish claims that make you seem better than competitors. You should not be able to claim that you possess a trait or skill that you don't. You also shouldn't be able to claim your competition has a trait or skill that may harm their chances when they don't. 

Companies that push false claims to sell a product get in trouble. Politicians should too.

Separation of Church and State Debate: State Mandated Birth Control in Catholic Institutions

There has been a lot of conversation in the political and religious worlds about birth control recently.

Let me start by saying this...

This is not an issue of religious freedoms, this is an issue of women's reproductive rights.

As an American, I will always fight for a fellow American's constitutional right to believe whatever they want, and to worship however they choose. But, those rights end when they take away or infringe on the rights of others not sharing the same faith.

The Supreme Court of the United States has already ruled on a case similar to this.

Bob Jones University v. United States

This case was regarding race discrimination based on religious reasons. Bob Jones University had to follow all anti-discrimination laws in place because they served the general public. As I said, religious rights end when they infringe on the rights of others.

If you are a religious institution that is not an actual church, and you employ or serve people of the general public, you must follow all laws and regulations regarding businesses. You follow the same labor laws that every other business does. Child labor laws, anti-discrimination hiring laws, workplace safety laws, and health insurance laws.

This is exactly why companies and businesses should not be responsible for health insurance for their employees. This is exactly why I support a single payer plan. When you remove any sort of employer bias from health care, everyone benefits. If you work for an employer that doesn't share your values and faith, you don't have to worry about that effecting your health care. If you lose your job, you don't have to worry about losing your health care. To paraphrase Lawrence O'Donnell, "Isn't losing your job bad enough?"

This is a winning issue for Democrats, Liberals and the Left. I really hope they stick to their guns on it.