Where To From Here? by Ron Paul

There is much in this piece I greatly respect and agree with. But it is beyond contemptible that Ron Paul takes a simplistic line utterly against abortion or any right of women over their own bodies should they get pregnant when they did not wish to. He uses the pathetic suggestion that "an abortionist" might abort one minute before birth. Almost no abortions were ever done in the final trimester except for the most extreme of reasons. Ron Paul knows this so this is purple rhetoric unworthy of him or anyone of his stature and deserved reputation.

Calling abortion the "most important issue of our age" shows a collosal contempt for what is really important. Abortion debates hinge greatly on the undecidable question of when a collection of cells, a fetus, is a human being with full human rights. By its formulation this question is undecidable. Long arguments on both sides have not resolved it. There is one thing for sure though, the women carrying the fetuses are certainly fully human and should have rights to control their own lives. They are not slaves to a fetus within them. I am no fan of abortion. I believe instead we should perfect our birth control and thus greatly eliminate any need for such. But most of the same voices that utterly condemn abortion are against sufficient sex education and easily available birth control. This is an abomination.

Ron Paul seems also to see the rights of 10% of the nation to marry to be against good "family values" and to be a moral issue. How can a man who has fought all of his life against tyrannical government turn around and support the right of any majority to limit the happiness and life of any minority? Surely he doesn't buy into the notion that homosexuality is by its very nature immoral depravity.

That said, I deeply agree with what he has to say concerning our economy. I deeply agree with his point that we cannot claim to be motivated by morality and be involved in unjust horrid wars like Iraq. I do not agree with his claim involving "for centuries the Christian definition of a just war.. has guided many nations in making this decision." First of all, the notion of when war is just has nothing to do with being Christian. Many Hindus, Moslems, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists and so on also have this notion. Nor was it invented per se by Christians. As a matter of fact not many centuries back Christians were rather infamous for very unjust wars and international actions as well as for bloody pogroms against their own. Lastly, only a very small handful of wars were remotely "just" by any such alluded to criteria in the last few centuries.

I deeply respect Ron Paul and deeply appreciate many of his points. But this divisive mud slinging against my own people (I am lesbian) and against women making very difficult decisions is reprehensible. While I agree with most of his other points I have to speak out against "the package".

He is very right that we must speak up before this adminstration believes it has a mandate to expand war into Iran and/or Syria. We will be lucky to survive the full fallout from Iraq. Expanding the madness would be econmic, political and yes, certainly moral suicide.