SCHIP and "Family Values"

At first glance any reasonable person would think the two are synomynous.. After all caring for and protecting children is the very basis of "Family values," isn't it?

No. We find out. All conservatives and fundamentalist Christians really mean by family values is that gays and abortions are not allowed. Everything else is not considered. Multiple marriages? OK. Wife beating? That woman deserved it. Sick Kids? Sorry, you should make more money; your failure to do so means death or severe pain to your children.

The party of "family values" has decided that making our very own children healthy and safe is not a True family value. Because a True family value is making money and paying for it yourself. Consider how the conservatives/republicans think on this:

Writing into the federal budget (which is the sum of our taxes) protecting children from sickness, disease and tragedy via paying for their medical expenses is bad: Republicans don't think we should be forced via taxes to pay for the health of children. Whereas they profess that charity; the free giving of money to churches is the only proper method for helping children. So what they are saying is that only those who are wealthy enough to give of themselves should be the ones who "donate" to charity to help all those poor unfortunate children. According to President Bush, lowering taxes puts money into the pockets of families who need it. But whose taxes are lowered? BINGO! the taxes of those who have the most money. So are they now turning around and donating more money to charity to help others? Sorry, the answer is no. But there are those who do: Ted Turner, Bill Gates, George Soros, etc. The funny thing being they are all liberal Democrats. Conservative Republicans who benefitted from tax cuts are not doing anything to protect our very own children. It is solely the field of the liberal Democrats. Have you heard about Ann Coulter donating a percentage of the proceeds of her new book to providing health care to the poor children? Neither have I.

So what we have is that everyone paying taxes to help make children healthier is bad, but allowing wealthy liberals to pay for children's health is acceptable (as long as it is voluntary). That way conservatives can spend their wealth demonizing liberals for making children healthy.

Family values are an anachronism to conservatives and fundamentalist Christians. They have nothing to do with protecting or strenghtening actual families. They only have to do with eliminating abortions and ostracising gays. Divorces, single parents, all that is irrelevant. If you are a single parent then you deserve to have to work twice as hard and find a third job to pay for health insurance. There is no value at all in conservative family values except for destroying gays and abortion. All else is expected to be provided either by the family itself of through the charity of wealthy liberals.

Wealthy conservatives are expected to provide "charity" to perpetrating the standard line: Only those who don't need or require any help, be it medical or food are deserving of charity: and that charity is making them more Christian. It is up to the liberals to be the ones to give them medical help and food.

Family values are a funny thing; making families stronger and healthier is not a "value" but demonizing gays and eliminating abortion is a value. Go figure.