The Financial Cost of Evil
Recently, the U.S. Congress narrowly avoided another government shutdown in a showdown over spending. Actually, they just postponed it; this is not the last time we will be seeing this show.
The details change each time, but at the heart the issues are the same – what is the proper role of government and what should money be spent on? Thirteen trillion dollars in debt complicates the issue, as does the massive amount of waste at all levels of government. I don’t need to give details here. A simple search will bring up numerous examples that have come to light just recently.
Certainly both sides need to be willing to compromise some, but there is one area in particular that makes it harder and harder for me to take Democrats seriously when they talk about fiscal responsibility, spending cuts or the deficit. First I should mention that I am not particularly partisan. We are all obligated to vote pro-life which, unfortunately, most of the time eliminates the Democratic candidate from the start. Certainly there are Democratic members of Congress I like and respect. And I have no deep love for the Republican party, if only because as Catholics we are not to “trust in princes, but in the Lord.” And we have been let down by them before. I’m not saying we shouldn’t join or be active in a political party, but too much loyalty or devotion to a party will cloud our judgment and rob our devotion to God. I’ve seen it happen.
Back to what I alluded to before, however, the reason for my general distrust of Democrats when it comes to spending. Everyone wants to talk tough and look serious about cutting into our national debt. Certainly it is of critical importance. But I wonder how committed some members of Congress are when they refuse to cut government funding of Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood is a for-profit organization that is the biggest abortion provider in the country. No taxpayer should be forced to subsidize abortions. And yet our government spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year funding that group, which has also been shown to consistently break the law by covering up child abuse and statutory rape.
Harry Reid said he would kill any spending bill that cut Planned Parenthood out of the financial pie. He was drawing a line in the sand and would not budge. Really? When we have so much debt, are considering raising taxes in a failing economy, and can’t come to much agreement on any place to cut, this is the stand an entire party is willing to take?
It’s not only Planned Parenthood. We also fund the United Nations Population Fund which, among other things, supports China’s wicked one-child policy that violates human rights in its very principle and has resulted in countless kidnappings, forced abortions and sterilizations, and other atrocities. The Chinese government has even found a way to profit by kidnapping “unauthorized” children and selling them to adoptive homes.
During the Bush presidency, hundreds of millions of dollars of support were stopped to this wolf in sheep’s clothing at the UN, but now the money is flowing freely again. As a citizen struggling to make ends meet and watching my country suffocate under unsustainable debt, I find it insulting that some members of Congress talk tough about spending while demanding more and more money, and yet refuse to make such obvious cuts that are demanded by morality, debt or no debt. A bill cutting funding to this group has just passed Committee in the House of Representatives. All of us need to support H.R. 2059 with calls and emails to our representatives and pay very close attention to how they vote.
We also need to hold the President’s administration accountable. Recently Vice President Joe Biden said he understood why China has its one-child policy. Now Mr. Biden is not a stranger to making idiotic statements, but this one goes beyond what can be tolerated even from him. It’s like Harry Truman telling Adolph Hitler that he understands why Germany feels the need to have concentration camps.
President Obama has also strong-armed states when they have tried to cut funding to Planned Parenthood. He threatened to cut all Medicaid funding to Indiana when that state cut the funding (http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/indiana-planned-parenthood-reopens-doors-after-judge-blocks-defunding-law/) and he recently awarded a no-bid contract to Planned Parenthood in New Hampshire when that state decided not to support it (see news sidebar).
This is an election year and no, I won’t pledge allegiance to the Republican party, but cutting funding to Planned Parenthood and the UN Population Fund is just a first step in the desperately needed reform of the Democratic party. Until that reform happens, it will be impossible to vote any other way.
