Religion vs birth control debate - we're screwing up the messaging
The birth control controversy underscores how we need to reframe the debate. The Republicans have speciously made this a controversy about religious freedom vs (immoral?) birth control. It is about religious freedom, but in a way that favors Obama and the progressive world view. It’s about the tension between individual religious liberty and institutional religious liberty.
Do institutions have a right to enforce their religious practices as a condition of employment? When framed that way, it becomes obvious that Obama’s new birth control rule is reasonable and Constitutional. Indeed, anything less treads on individual religious freedom, which would seem to be Unconstitutional.
The same messaging in a broader context drives home an easy to understand distinction between right and left. The message is that Republicans consistently prefer institutional liberty to individual liberty. That’s why the Supreme Court granted personhood to corporations. That’s why Republicans oppose regulation of bank fraud against consumers and all other reasonable business regulation. That’s why Republicans are abolishing peoples’ right to organize and pursue a more equal footing with employers. That’s why the country is in such a mess.
= new reply since forum marked as read