Dear Conservative Friend

(Excerpted from an ongoing dialogue.)

1) I think that we agree on many things, in principle. Nobody should be able to compel me to commit murder in the name of a 'greater good'. I dislike paying for other people's irresponsible behavior. What I have a problem with is that, likewise, nobody should be able to compel me to put MY life at risk for the sake of another. Nobody should be able to tell me what I HAVE TO allow or not allow to grow in MY body. (Scary blog post to follow in separate message.) I take issue with the fact that people in our government are trying to force others to adopt their own particular set of values with respect to their bodies.

2) I am very pro-individual freedom. I do not want to be compelled to buy crap health insurance at an exorbitant price, when I could (and probably SHOULD) be spending that money to buy better, healthier food, or otherwise improving my health PROACTIVELY. A massage once a month does wonders for my stress level (which, in turn, reduces my stress-related eating), but you can't find a health plan that covers that. Or Weight Watchers. Etc.

3) I disagree with the characterization in your link of these men as "good men defending conscience rights." Heck, I had to google 'conscience rights' just to understand this supposed justification for the outlandish, boorish, offensive statements that were presented in the War on Women video. It is never necessary to demean a class of people (ANY class of people) in order to make a valid point. None of the statements in the video even had to do with conscience rights.

4) The point of my article was that it's too easy to find a reason NOT to pay for a procedure that someone ELSE needs. I hate (absolutely HATE) the idea of kids being on psychiatric meds, and I think that scientific research backs up the point that these meds are over-prescribed and prescribed for uses/ages for which they were never designed. I think it does a lot of damage, and that we will 'reap what we sow', so to speak, as these overmedicated generations grows up. I think that the 'lifestyle convenience' argument could certainly be applied to many cases of parents seeking medication for their kids. At the same time, I cannot afford to be without health insurance, like the most of the rest of this country. That means that some of my premiums will pay for procedures and decisions with which I disagree. THAT is the price of being part of a collective - ANY collective. If we let people get everything that THEY want (or think they NEED), and opt out of giving other people what THEY think they need, then we have no power as a collective at all. The entire concept of health insurance needs to be redefined, but you don't see ANYBODY refusing it because their premium payments *currently* subsidize other people's abortions.

5) For collective health insurance to function wisely - i.e., minimize the cost and maximize the health of the participants - it SHOULD pay for those things which do the most to prevent future (preventable) expenses. It SHOULD pay for birth control so that there are no unwanted pregnancies. It SHOULD pay for Weight Watchers, so that the costs of diabetes and other weight related problems down the road are prevented. If your health insurance offers to pay for Weight Watchers, and your doctor recommends that you go, and you DON'T, then you SHOULD agree to assume a greater portion of the cost of your future health problems that relate to your weight. (Obviously people should be free to have the final word on what happens to their own bodies, but they should do so without putting the burden on the rest of us.) If insurance doesn't pay for the cost of PREVENTION, it can't refuse to pay the medical costs incurred from refusing to prevent.

6) I agree that this country has an entitlement problem. Nobody is ENTITLED to health insurance. However, the healthcare system is so out of whack that almost nobody can afford to cover their own costs, especially in the face of a crisis. Until the healthcare system is reformed, the ONLY way that the majority of us will get healthcare is to leverage our collective power. Fighting over what we do or don't want to pay for for someone ELSE is just a distraction from the much-needed call for real health care reform. Nobody ever says "I'LL opt out of coverage for [insert *likely* condition]", but everybody wants to talk about what somebody ELSE may or may not be getting.

I miss working with you too. We did have good conversation... Have a great weekend! :)

Spiritual, But Not Religious

Spiritual...

I like to think about the idea of God. I like to think critically, to doubt and to imagine.

I like the idea of a god/higher power that sees me, without the intervention of a hierarchy of priests and saints.

I find it more ennobling to believe myself to be a soul reincarnated here to learn, than a slight improvement on a monkey.

I find comfort in the idea that there might be something more after this life, but I don't want to live my life just to get to it.

I am more tolerant of other people and ideas than [insert religion here] would allow me to be.

I am not blind to the mutually-exclusive nature of many religions.

I wonder what it is that enables human beings to act in purely self-sacrificial ways.

I think many of us have experiences that defy a strict materialist explanation; for lack of a better paradigm, we tend to think of these things as 'spiritual'.


... but not religious.

I don't like hypocrisy. People are human, and they make mistakes, but somehow that never stops them from trying to tell others how to live.

I was raised to think for myself in every other area of my life. Why should the realm of spiritual things be any different?

I want to be charitable, but I want to know that I'm helping buy food for the needy, and not a new gym for a church, so I donate directly to the food bank.

I find it hard to be associated with an organization/belief system that has done so much damage in the name of doing good.

Don't even get me started on how women have been devalued in the name of religion.

I think the world would be a better place if people were less reliant on authority to tell them what to think.