1) Regarding food - Isn't going to food pantries, churches, and relying on other individuals to purchase food just another way of "redistributing wealth"? I give what I can where I can. If I need to redistribute my wealth to help my fellow man through the tough times so people don't starve or freeze to death, than the rich should pay their fair share as well for the upkeep of this country. That includes helping those who are down and out - most of which are that way due to policy decisions and laws passed by Republican politicians.
2) Regarding medical care - Nobody should have to rely on the goodness of other people or the ability to qualify for a grant or loan to get medical care in this country. PERIOD! If you want a face lift or a boob job -- fine, wait for you loan from a friend or take out a 2nd mortgage on your house. If you need cancer surgery and you can't phone a friend for money or qualify for a grant - you are going to die. There are your death panels.
3) Regarding education - Education of our populace is a right and should be provided fully through public schools. We as a country benefit from an educated populace. Private schools will always be there due to the money they generate for and the greed of their founders. The choice voucher program is a glorified way to privatize education for profit, bleed dry our public schools, and control educational curriculum. Not acceptable.
4) Regarding being a Muslim, Jew, or Hispanic - Many of the people who have been facing harassment during the Trump & Co campaign are AMERICANS. They were born here or are legally citizens. They belong here. It makes no difference to the people harassing them such as the Neo-Nazi crowd, the KKK, the general public in the supermarket, etc. Apparently many feel that America is for white Americans only.
5) Regarding free speech - Free speech is great and is for all people! I wish that Trump & Co thought the same.
6) Regarding abortion - Women have the right to choose and right to control their own bodies. Some people want to take that right away and that is WRONG! Insurance doesn't pay for abortions unless medically necessary and government money doesn't pay for abortions, so that dog won't hunt. There are politicians who are putting forth bills that will allow drs. to deny treatment to a woman if they have previously had an abortion. That is wrong as well! Nobody is making anyone have an abortion. If someone doesn't want one, than don't have one. But nobody should be able to deny me the right to make a decision about my own body. Making abortions illegal again won't do away with them. It just means that women will start dying from them again in back alleys. AND, if they'd promote and allow real reproductive education and birth control, there would be even less of a reason for people to need/want abortions. It's part of the package, and they don't want us to have any of it - no education, no birth control, no abortions.
7) Regarding special needs children - Parents can try all they possibly can to find help or assistance for their children. Some states, laws, policies, make it near impossible. Republicans push private school vouchers for special needs kids, which sounds all well and good, but many disabled students who took advantage of the special ed vouchers forfeited their rights under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. That meant they no longer had the "right" to a free, appropriate public education, or the services that come along with it. It's possible that has changed with the 2014 update under Pres. Obama.
8) Regarding the right to protest - The right to protest and peacefully assemble is guaranteed. This applies to protest marches, demonstrations, press conferences, public and private meetings, counter-demonstrations, ‘sit-ins’, motionless protests etc. That includes the rights of the Democratic party and one Republican to have a sit-in on the House floor to demand gun control legislation. Much of the violence at Standing Rock was instituted by the police and private security hired by the oil companies, and the violence meted out was different if you were one of the indigenous people or a member of the white faith leaders that were also protesting.
9) Regarding the LGBT community - "If there is no clearly stated directive in the Bible to marginalize and ostracize gay people, then Christians continuing to do so is morally indefensible, and must cease."..."Without an explicit directive from God to exclude and condemn homosexuals, the Christian community’s treatment of gay persons is in clear violation of what Jesus and the New Testament writers pointedly identified as the most important commandment from God: to love one’s neighbor as one’s self." (Huffington Post, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.../the-best-case-for-the... )
Every person has a fundamental right to life which includes duties and responsibilities -- to one another, to our families, and to the larger society. This pertains to every person in our society REGARDLESS of income. (http://www.usccb.org/.../rights-and-responsibilities.cfm )
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