Why I don’t like Bush, Part II

This is going to be slightly more contentious than Part I (Politics of War), since the subject is a bit more volatile.

First things first, I despise the Bush administration’s agenda pushing abstinence as the only sex education that should be taught in schools. Apparently these people were either never teenagers, or have no memory of being teenagers. Yes, abstinence is important and should be emphasized in sex education BUT let’s not pretend that it works 100% of the time, because doing so essentially damns those teens for whom abstinence education doesn’t work. What I find most frustrating about abstinence education is that it is actually contrary to the goal of reducing rates of abortion, which should be everyone’s primary goal. Get rid of unwanted pregnancies, you have removed the need for abortion. But those goals seem to be contrary to the idea of abstinence education, which doesn’t leave room for telling teens that if they don’t wait, it is imperative that they use contraception.

Abstinence education doesn’t give teens who are already having sex access to contraception, and that lack is what can lead to unwanted pregnancy, and that unwanted pregnancy can lead to abortion. It’s as if the right has forgotten their goal of stopping abortion in their quest for universal conservative ‘Christian’ morality with no sex before marriage. We should have the goal of a culture without abortion, but it will be far more effective to achieve this goal through the stopping unwanted pregnancies rather than requiring women who do not want to have a child, to carry that child to term.

Then there is the administration’s treatment of gays and lesbians. I cannot understand how a society that spilled gallons of ink on the 55 hour marriage of Britney Spears can say that the a gay or lesbian couple vowing a life time of commitment is degrading to sanctity of marriage. We are far more degraded by drive-through elvis chapels and quick divorces than we are by two people of the same gender swearing eternal devotion to one another. And that doesn’t begin to touch the conservative delusion that homosexuality is a choice. To paraphrase my friend Hammer, yeah, people become homosexual because they figure they can’t make enough people hate them through force of personality alone.

As far as I am concerned, asking someone why they chose to be gay is akin to asking them why they chose to be left-handed. I’m sure that you could use the modern equivalent of smacking the child with a ruler when they use their left hand, but that doesn’t mean the trait is not an inherent and natural trait–or that smacking them with a ruler is a good idea.

We also have the subject of Planned Parenthood and US support overseas. We won’t give ANY support to Planned Parenthood or other similar organizations, in the work they do overseas, even if that work would reduce unwanted pregnancies, reduce incidence of STD transmission, reduce transmission of AIDS, and ultimately reduce abortion rates. I believe this is a serious case of biting off our nose to spite our face. What we need to export to these countries is education and tolerance, not excuses.

Again, these are not necessarily arguments to persuade someone to my way of thinking–there are far better arguments out there, this is simply my detailing of the reasons I do not like President Bush, and why I fear his reelection.

Here are some links to peruse at your leisure. None of the fit particularly well into the essay, so I’m providing further information here.

AIDS rates are increasing in the US after a decade of decline
AIDS rates are increasing internationally
Rates of teenage pregnancy in the US are higher than other industrialized nations
A BBC Health feature on genetics
Copy of a NY Times article on the genetics of homosexuality