Conversations with God vs. Divine Right

Michelle Bachmann freely admits that she has conversations with God.  God tells her things.  Rick Perry seems to allude to the same thing.  George W. Bush also said he would speak to God and get messages in return.  Now, I do understand the desire for many people to hold a personal belief in something intangible.  Provided that their faith makes them better people (and that seems to be the case for the silent majority of the faithful) I have no issues with that.* 
However, I do draw the line at candidates professing this level of devotion.  This is mainly because history has shown us so many times how devotion to something that can’t be proven, can be used to manipulate people into perpetrating evil.  But in the case of presidential candidates there is a much more fundamental reason for my outrage.  And that goes back to a doctrine that was in place in Europe during the colonization of America- the doctrine of Divine Right. 
For those that didn’t pay attention in high school, Divine Right is the notion that monarchs of countries were chosen by God, by sheer nature of their birth, to rule.  They were told from a young age that they and they alone could talk directly to God since they were chosen by Him and therefore, the messages they would receive were divine.  They had the same authority over life and death as God. 
Most of the people who fled to the colonies did so to escape religious persecution.  And the antithesis of this idea truly is the foundation of the Constitution.
When people like Michelle Bachmann or Rick Perry tout their “conversations” with God, they are employing a manipulative marketing technique to get people to vote for them.  They’re not saying, “I talk to God the same way you do.”  They’re saying, “I talk to God and He responds back to me.”  In other words, God had chosen him/her to be His messenger and spokesperson. 
That’s fine if they are a minister or a reverend.  But as a political leader, it’s setting the stage for the next step of “you voted for me because God told you to, which means that God must have sent me. Therefore, I’m not stepping down just because I was voted out or my term is up.”  Or worse, “God gave me the authority to execute anyone who disagrees with me.” 
Now I’m not saying that Bachmann or Perry would take it this far, but if we as a people vote for them, then the marketing technique they are employing will have proven to work.  The next thing we know, everyone will start using it.  Sooner or later a despotic type of person will be able to fool the public with his/her religious rhetoric and get elected.  That’s what we need to be on guard for, and as the old adage says, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Personally, I like democracy and don't want to have to cure what we would have instead. Vote responsibly.

*When it comes to “conversations” with God, I am assuming that the person doing the “hearing” is actually feeling or thinking things and not really hearing a voice from outside their body. I think it's safe to say that anyone hearing voices is most likely mentally ill and probably wouldn't make the best presidential candidate. 

My Decision to Die

For most of my life I have been so ashamed of my breasts.  They developed at a young age and never stopped growing.  In school, I got teased about them.  At home I was tormented about them.  It wasn’t until I was well into my 30s (and with the love of my husband who told me I was crazy not to love them) that I really started accepting them, loving them and then even flaunting them. 

After turning 40 I became diligent about getting my mammograms every year.  But 3 years ago I erroneously understood that the protocol had changed and that instead of every year, I would only need to get them every 2 years.  Since I knew my insurance wouldn’t cover a mammogram that wasn’t necessary, I waited and forgot about going for my mammogram.  I wasn’t too worried since everything always came back clean. 

About 8 months ago or so, I noticed some cellulite on my left breast.  It wasn’t much but just a long streak that seemed to continue under my arm.  I just figured that at 48 years old, it was part of the changes my body would be undergoing. 

Quite by accident 3 weeks ago, I felt a lump in the “cellulite.”  Immediately I called my doctor (whose office was at lunch) and called the imaging center.  The imaging center got me in for a mammogram the next day.  And then I was called back for more imaging and an ultrasound.  Then I went back for a biopsy and last Tuesday it was confirmed that I have breast cancer.   I know nothing other than that at this point, which is why I’ve had plenty of time to worry and plan.  Also, this limbo time gives me the opportunity to write this blog from a very unique perspective. 

Of course the worst diagnosis that I could receive is that I have stage 4 cancer (stage 4 means that it has metastasized to different places in the body and spreads more rapidly than it can be stopped).  And of course, that is the first place my mind goes.  In the past 10 years I’ve had 2 people I was very close to diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  My husband’s best friend received his diagnosis a year before he died.  He did the whole thing of radiation, chemo, etc.  all the while in tremendous pain and died anyway.   My other friend had been a world class athlete in his youth, was tremendously active and healthy when he was diagnosed with stage 4 rectal cancer at the age of 49.  He fought it for 4 years—and I know he hung on as long as he could for his young family.  But he too, died after years of suffering.    

I have decided that should that be my diagnosis, I will go a different route.  I will refuse to fight.  My doctors will be instructed to just keep me comfortable and let me die.   Now, I don’t blame my friends for trying to fight and it’s not the suffering that really bothers me the most.  What bothers me the most is leaving my family with all the bills after my few years of my survival are over.  They will be devastated when I die, whether or not it’s sooner or later.  Yes, would it be better for my young son to have a few extra years with me?  Most certainly, the answer is yes.  However, those years with me will be nice for him, but they won’t enhance his overall life experience as much as college tuition will. 

Even though I have insurance, this is the dilemma I am faced with today in America.  This is the modern day Sophie’s Choice we must make in this situation.  And yet people like my own mother, are still hell bent on denying a public option.  When I told her about my decision, she went hysterical, crying “please don’t tell me that.  It’s so hard for a mother to hear that about her child.” 

And yet, just a few weeks ago I sent her link to me singing a version of Cee-lo Green’s “F U” that I had rewritten about healthcare.  Her response was to tell me that I sang it beautifully, but she didn’t agree with what I said on it.  If we had a public option right now, I wouldn’t know what choice I’d make if it came to that.   It would be a decision that I would come to with my doctor and my family about the best course of action.  If a public option had existed, I would have had the mammogram after a year, regardless of what I thought the protocol was and probably not have been in this situation in the first place.  If we had a public option, I never would have had to fathom making the decision  between my life and my family’s future.

Now, at this point my demise is speculation and I fully hope that my prognosis will be less than stage 4 and I will live to be an old lady.   But when you are in the situation of limbo, these are the thoughts that must be entertained.

To Wisconsin and Beyond

Last November, the Tea Party claimed all sorts of victory when they took "back America."  Cries that the American people had spoken filled the air, and people like Michelle Bachmann and Eric Cantor, smugly pontificated about how the American system was broken and they were going to fix it.  But they never said exactly HOW.

Shortly after taking office in Wisconsin, the elected representatives of the Tea Party began implementing a plan that no one signed on for.  They systematically began an assault on one of the cornerstones of our American society: our worker's rights.  Rights that many of our grandparents fought for.  Rights that ensure that we in America have a standard of living which has been the envy of everyone else in the world.  Rights that many countries we used to look down our noses upon, have copied and implemented for their people.

Today, less than a year after the Tea Party "(Took) Back America," as our entire economy seems to be imploding, Wisconsin will be holding an election that may very well be our only hope for solvency.  They have the ability to erase much of the wrongs which happened last November and if they do, it will only be a matter of time before the rest of the country follows suit. 

I personally think that all the recalls will go through and that the entire state of Wisconsin will go blue.  However, I am also sheltered by my liberal friends and my emotional need at this time to keep hope alive by listening to people who, like me, think that the Tea Party didn't "Take Back America" as much as they "Kidnapped America, Beat it to a Pulp, Held it for Ransom and Will Probably Kill it Anyway."  Okay, so maybe it isn't the catchiest campaign slogan but it seems to be true. 

I am truly optimistic that tomorrow's election in Wisconsin will be the shot heard round the world.  Tomorrow's election will be the beginning of America fighting back.  Tomorrow's election will prove to the rest of the world that we the people are paying attention.  We the people do know exactly which  people are responsible for the economic mess we are in.

What I'm not so sure about is how long this message will last.  While I do believe it's true that the Tea Party is responsible for the actual policies and stall techniques that have brought us to this point, even more responsible are the people who don't vote.  The people who, up until now, haven't been paying attention.  People who spend nearly all their downtime watching sports or reality television because politics is "boring." 

To them I say this:  you know what's even more boring than politics?  Unemployment.  But you know what's not boring?  Poverty.  Get off your fat ass, turn off the television, wake up and look around!!! You have no one to blame but yourself if you didn't vote.  Today is your opportunity to make a difference.  Tea lies.  Tea is incompetent.  Tea doesn't really care about you half as much as it cares about the boss that fired you so there are all the facts you need.  Tea isn't about making your life better as much as it is about making sure they win at all costs. 

If you live in Wisconsin, you need to get out and vote today.  You need to recall all the jerks that were elected last November and you need to put the right people into place.  The right people who are true and patriotic Americans that love this country more than they love their party.  The rest of America is depending on you to fire back with a vengeance.  The rest of America is counting on you to reclaim our country.  The rest of America wants you to Flush the Tea.