Did You Say Moral Values? Another Blast From the Past

[Steve Plonk]

LIFE IN THE HORSE LANE: Did You Say “Moral Values”? Another Blast from the Past.

By Steve Plonk



Kind folks and gentle people, remember “St. Jack-on-Crack” standing, carrying a cross, in front of the Chattanooga city election commission building during the November, 2004, early voting? The long haired “certifiable” freak was holding a huge cross with a sign on it which approximately read: “Democrats are of the devil.” A sack cloth republican vigilante? Did you say “moral values”? Is that what this past farce of a 2004 national election was about? My goodness.

In the November 9, 2004 issue of the “Times-Free Press” I got my answer. The front page article opined that Frist, the republican majority leader, was urged to keep Arlen Specter ,R, of Pennsylvania, from being named to the chairmanship of the judiciary committee in congress. Why? Because Arlen Specter is “pro-choice” on abortion. This revelation comes from a republican party which is supposedly “pro-life” for an embryo and fetus in the womb. However, characteristically, that same “holier than thou” republican party will not help that same baby after it leaves the womb. We need social programs and health coverage to help to guarantee life outside the womb. Fortunately, there are moderate folks, like Arlen Specter, in the party who seem to support social programs. Now does that mean that Senator Specter is “of the devil”? Go figure. Specter also supports the use of “snowflake embryos” for stem cells—See “This Week” on ABC, May 29, 2005. Specter’s a worthy opponent of any neo-conservative...

The democrats, of course, are “demoncrats” because they don’t “even pretend” that life begins at conception and are “pro-choice”. The embryo doesn’t even take on human characteristics until it is a fetus—after approximately twelve weeks. You may see
eventually that even from an ethical standpoint, “St. Jack” is the “pot calling the kettle black”...A shill for the establishment republican party.

Every week, we read about collateral casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. Are those lives something to pray or worry about? What about impoverished and malnourished children here in this country who are not covered by health care and social programs? Should that bother us?
Then comes the rub: the suicidal plane bombers who took out part of the Pentagon and the World Trade Towers, etc, didn’t care about collateral damage… We know the real enemy we deal with. Pray that we capture or kill Osama Bin-Laden and his henchmen.

Arafat died late on November 10, 2004. Should the French have stopped worrying about Arafat and just let him die in Ramallah? Come on, “St. Jack, et al” why didn’t they just pull the plug? Because, the French were a “moral” people like most of us...

Many of us were pleased when, just a short time before the above, US Attorney General Ashcroft resigned. Why were we pleased? Because Ashcroft was a “divider”, like “St. Jack”, not a uniter.
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Next, there’s the squawk about the stickers on textbooks in Georgia saying evolution is “a theory, not a fact”. (In suburban, Cobb County, I believe…) Were those folks who placed the stickers “promoting religion in the public schools”? Kind folks, the ACLU took the case…

What’s happening about the perennial voting irregularities in many “battleground” states including Ohio and Florida during November’s national election? Is it “moral” NOT to take those cases? Check out the vote.

There are regular people who oppose abortion and accept free choice on both sides of “the aisle” in congress. Many personally don’t like abortion as “birth control”, but support a woman’s “right to choose”…The procedure is between a lady, her doctor and God. The courts should not interfere. This activist court thing is a double-edged sword and cuts deep. Conservatives are just as activist and just as sinful. I could point out the foibles of Newt, et al. Those who don’t learn from the past are condemned to repeat it. Re-humanize yourself, oh ye of little faith.

There are “war democrats”, like myself, who are rapidly losing talking points on Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) were found. Those weapons that were present, were swiped by insurgents and terrorists. Many tons of plastic explosives magically disappeared under the “watchful” eyes of this current administration. Was it “moral” to guard the ammo dumps in Iraq and the nuclear facilities there? Certainly. Let’s continue the good fight.

So, where does that leave us, kind folks and gentle people? That leaves most of us dealing with reality. “Moral Values” change with priorities and the times. The mood of the country has taken a hard right turn, just like the Southern Baptist Church did more than twenty-five years ago. Oops! But we need patience to ride this mood out until 2006 &/or possibly 2008.

To drill, or not to drill oil in the Arctic--is that another question? Destroying animals habitats and displacing Inuits is just collateral damage, or is it? Should they cut trees to make toothpicks? Is that moral? Should the upper slopes be turned into “chip mill heaven?” Say NO.

Is it moral to deny food stamps to hard-working grant recipient students? Which side is this columnist on? The side of unity, not polarization… Let’s be serious: “we are all bozos on this bus” like the late Ken Kesey used to say. Let our voice be heard in the back of that bus. Send signals to the front. Compromise, compromise, compromise…

I’m putting my “demoncrat” shoulder to the wheels of change. Let’s work toward the next window of opportunity—election 2006 and 2008. Which “world view” will prevail? Only time and public opinion will tell us. Finally, is it a “moral value” to give tax breaks to the rich? Why are so many voters and politicians afraid to raise taxes and pay as we go? Go for it. Tax us, Dubya.
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The “Twilight Zone War on Terrorism” must be paid for. Veterans must be compensated.
Should our children and grandchildren have to pay while we just go into debt and not have a good tax base or sell war bonds to pay for the war(s)? Is that a moral value? Think about it.

Should we continue to fund the exploration of outer space? I say YES. Let’s not lose the opportunity to explore and settle new worlds. Raise taxes!? Hell, yeah! Also, sell war bonds, green bonds, and school bonds, even health care bonds. Invest in the future!

Some flat earth folks, like “St. Jack” don’t even believe that we ever landed on the moon. These folks seem to have one foot into the medieval era. There are other sackcloth folks just like him in the Middle East. So, to each his/her own. But, “get out of the new road, if you can’t lend a hand,” to quote, Bob Dylan, the bard… I’m ready for “Spaceship 1”.

The worm turns over and we are back to square one. Judge not, “St. Jack”et al, lest you be judged. One must not try to politicize God. God is neither a republican nor a democrat. God is “all one” and all knowing…Beyond our petty rivalries, fears, and politics… “Faith, without works is dead…”goes a another quote from the Good Book. So let’s get together, hunker down, and work these things out reasonably. We need to rediscover the word: Compromise. This mood of the country will pass. Peace to you, “St. Jack”. Sweet land of liberty of thee we sing.


--Written about a week after the election, 2004, when Dubya beat Kerry and got re-elected. Was this “prophetic” or no? Inquiring minds want to know. **Author's Note