Who am I? What is right and what’s wrong? What’s marriage? What is a baby and when does life begin? At what point is a tax, theft? When is a bailout a corporate welfare check?
These questions lie at the root of much of the debate and disagreement in our society. If honest reading of news accounts, literature and general mass communications is reviewed, the obvious corruption of our lexicon has occurred over the last 40 to 50 years in redefining terms for the purpose of a political agenda, the need to reframe a societal failure or simply justifying a popular movement versus a principled stand.
An obvious example involves the change from referencing the occupant of a woman’s womb during the gestational period as a fetus and not a baby, which removes the notion of life and an eternal soul and creates an image of a lifeless appendage. In another example, marriage between a man and woman, homosexuality and all sexual preferences predate any of the sacred texts used today in defending certain arguments. Yet, it has only been the monogamous covenant between a man and a woman that has been embraced as a societal benefit for thousands of years.
In the collective economy and society, access to any number of services and wealth has certainly been an idea that has been defrauded. Today, many argue that the access to health insurance, birth control, education, jobs, housing, Internet, cellphones and any number of things is denied to an individual or group if they’re not free or subsidized by the government – you and I, the taxpayers. The laments offered in the public and political discourse, for instance, are frequently that “A is being denied birth control” or “B is being denied an education.”
In the Tennessee bathroom debate, which is remarkably insane, Tennessee elected officials had a narrowly written bill before them to provide children in public schools and universities (again, funded by your tax dollars) the assurance of privacy while using the bathroom, taking showers and dressing in locker rooms.
But parents were ignored and treated with disdain as the very organized and wealthy LGBT – lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender – lobby successfully pitched a collective tantrum and leveled threats based on its inaccurate expansion of the bill’s reach to appear to impact private businesses and venues. This argument is only possible by sexual identity and gender definitions being hijacked by feelings, emotions and psychological opinion, not reputable science.
In 2016, political agendas and those who refuse to accept certain laws of nature have rejected the chromosomal reality of one’s biological existence that the presence of two X chromosomes has been established to be the homogametic sex, or female, and the presence of an X and Y chromosome to be the heterogametic sex, or male. Even the American College of Pediatrics (ACP) issued a preliminary statement on March 21, prior to its summer meeting, with several direct points that are being rejected in favor of a political agenda.
Specifically, the first part of the physicians’ statement reads:
“The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts – not ideology – determine reality.”
The ACP declares the conditioning of children to accept and pursue the impersonation of an opposite sex to be child abuse.
The high price of individuals with lost identities, abandoned responsibilities and entitlements instead of accountabilities has cost our society dearly. Are we now a bankrupt society?
Robin Smith, a former chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party, is owner of Rivers Edge Alliance.