Sunday, October 5, 2008

People Get to Vote When I Say So

In Andrew Bluebond's Port Side editorial, "What We Forget in Election Years," he complains that the Electoral College means that we don't get to debate issues that occur in states that will most certainly go one way.

He mentions the case of a 2o-year old Texas woman who was sentenced to 10 years probation and is upset that "one of the terms of her probation was that she was not to bear or conceive children." (One wonders how she can do the first without doing the second, but I digress.)

Mr. Bluebond argues that this is somehow a constitutional question but doesn't give the reader any of the background. Still, he uses the case to score a point: he writes that "we choose not to discuss what government can and cannot tell women to do with their bodies."

That Mr. Bluebond ignores -- or at least does provide -- the background is telling. Had he looked into it, he would of noticed that Judge Charlie Baird banned Ms. Felicia Salazar from having children because she was taking such poor care of her own child, a 19-month-old daughter, "who suffered broken bones and other injuries when she was beaten by her father," according to The Wall Street Journal's law blog.

Mr. Bluebond would have it that a woman can birth another child if she wants as the state will just take care of this future child as it does the current one. Both Ms. Salazar and the baby's father have relinquished parental rights.

I applaud Mr. Bluebond for recognizing that a judge shouldn't be the one deciding issues of when or how people have children.

Perhaps, upon further reflection, he'll recognize the irony of his abortion on demand positions that have been decided by unelected judges rather than the people, sans Electoral College, that he so loves. Then again, perhaps not.

1 comments:

CitizenX said...

"That Mr. Bluebond ignores -- or at least does provide -- the background is telling."

Que?

"Both Ms. Salazar and the baby's father have relinquished parental rights."

Elaborate?

"Perhaps, upon further reflection, he'll recognize the irony of his abortion on demand positions that have been decided by unelected judges rather than the people, sans Electoral College, that he so loves. Then again, perhaps not."

You're abusing the definition of the word irony like Felicia's husband abused their child!

No? Nothing.

Dang.