The Church Lady State

Republicans are obsessed with not having government interfering in anything but our sex lives in the privacy of our bedrooms and the intimacy of women’s wombs

This kind of reminds me of the Cuban society of today where big government is watching every move, every word you say, everything you eat, you purchase, you fuck. In Cuba there are the “Comités de Defensa de la Revolución” – there is one or more in every neighborhood, in every city, province and even in their diplomatic offices abroad. 

The “Church Lady” that Dana Carvey made famous when he played this uptight, prudish but funny character in Saturday Night Live in full drag…is making a comeback…only it has metamorphosed into a moronic politician named Rick Santorum. Don’t get me wrong…the other candidates the Republican Party had been enamored with for short periods of time had been just as moronic and as radical as this one; including the leading contender who belongs to one of the craziest fabricated religions out there…the Mormons.

The Republicans have as a centerpiece of their argument the word “FREEDOM”; but it is a code word, a paradigm of sorts. When you ask Republicans what freedoms they don’t have now they would like to have; invariably they will say: “freedom from government interfering into our lives, freedom from regulations, freedom of speech and freedom of religion”. Then you ask them if they don’t have those now and they will go into a tirade on how the government is pushing socialism down our throats, fighting a war against religion and making it more difficult for anybody to operate a business.

This begs the question: Do you really want to eliminate everything the government does for us? How about roads and bridges? How about work safety and product integrity? How do you feel about airline safety? Or let’s go even further and ask them if they think that government can be entrusted with the safety of our nation…does that include fire and police protection? Do they make an exception with the military?

Conversely, almost in the same sentence they will tell you that the government should define marriage as that of a man and a woman, homosexuality should be criminalized, abortion and even birth control outlawed. Is this included in the government over-reach? Is this not also part of relinquishing your freedoms to the government? I mean, being gay is something the government can’t prevent you from being because you are born with it, and the reproductive organs of a woman are hers and not the property of the government. Yet, they don’t see it that way…because they firmly believe that it is the role of government to be complicit and to help them carry out their religious agenda. 

“They want the state to follow you into the bedroom, the bathroom and beyond. They think you’re too stupid to know what to do with your own body, too ignorant to understand what your doctors tell you and too lazy to be trusted in a job without being subject to random drug testing. Your body is the government’s business.

Let’s take a tour of the church lady state to date. Our nation may soon turn its lonely eyes to Idaho, where Gov. Butch Otter could have the final say on a bill that would order women to undergo a medically unnecessary and invasive procedure before deciding to end a pregnancy.
This is the latest version of the mandatory ultrasound law, recently enacted by Virginia and Texas. But the Idaho bill, which passed the State Senate on Monday in a one-party Republican state, goes much further, and would subject many women to invasive, trans-vaginal inspections.

Idaho politicians love to go on and on about how government shouldn’t force people to do things that violate their conscience or common sense. And for the last three years, we’ve heard Republican presidential candidates condemn the abomination of government coming between you and your doctor.” –TIMOTHY EGAN

 

The interference from government is not confined to gay and women’s reproductive issues. Many Governors are already instituting drug testing laws for recipients of welfare or for employment purposes.  In my own state of Florida Governor Rick Scott already signed into law a bill requiring anyone in need of state assistance to take a drug test. It is being contested but it has as its roots the vilification of welfare recipients by portraying them as drug users.
That very word “FREEDOM” was behind Rich Santorum when he so graciously conceded defeat in Illinois all the while applauding some asshole preacher when he said that if Americans don’t want to live in a Christian nation they should pack up and get the fuck out. That is an erroneous assumption on both their criteria that America is a Christian nation and it is also a very arrogant stand to say that government can make women endure humiliation and vaginal penetration with some forsaken medical instrument if they want to have an abortion, and here is the ultimate insult: even birth control is under attack by Republicans.
The Church Lady is a fictional character and a source of ridicule for the prudish ultra right religious fanatics but that is the type of person who would be very much in their comfort zone under the next Republican administration…if they succeed.