WAYT: Talk that talk, leave Ann out of it

I hate this debate about Ann Romney.  Any time women become the focus of discussion like this, it turns into feminist BS that, to me, is so outrageous and insulting that I can’t stand it.  We’re not moving forward when we have to fight over stuff like this. 

Hilary Rosen, a Democratic pundit, wants the world to know that Ann Romney has never worked a day in her life.  What is she thinking, bringing up this petty nonsense?

Uh, who cares?  Anybody?  Thanks for letting us know, Hilary.  Now shut up and go away. 

Ann Romney doesn’t have to work to earn my respect.  She gets my respect for signing up to be a politician’s wife.  Can you imagine what it must be like, day after day, following around someone like Mitt Romney?  She always has to be pressed and dressed, smiling and friendly.  She may have fancy dinners and she may have a stylist and make-up artist and personal assistants, but she’s still a person who has to deal with media scrutiny like this and much worse.  That’s work, hard work, whether she’s earning a paycheck or not.   

I WISH I had never worked a day in my life.  I wish I had never worked at JC Penney for years and years.  I wish that my main concerns in life would have been experimenting with my hair after school or reading more books just for fun.  I really can’t imagine doing any of that, and I honestly prefer to hold a job.  But I truly doubt that Ann’s life was so simple.  No one’s could be.    

I’m sure that Hilary Rosen started this discussion about Ann because Hilary wants to make Ann a factor in our voting decision come election day.  Hilary wants us to think that Ann is just another piece in the puzzle that makes up Mitt Romney: so filthy rich, so grossly out of touch, so privileged that there’s no way he could govern the United States in this day and age.  Hilary, let me assure you that Ann could never affect me in that way.  Ann’s stay-at-home status isn’t going to keep me from voting for her husband.  (He’s not getting my vote regardless.  Though he is a worthy candidate, I’ll give the Republicans credit there.)  Anyway, I was saying, no potential first lady has ever had an effect on who I cast my vote for on election day, nor will she ever.  Let’s be serious. 

(Funny that if I were voting for a woman for president, I feel like I would be really interested in who her husband is… when the shoe’s on the other foot…)

What really annoys me is these pundits who characterize Ann Romney’s work - raising her children - as a luxury when opposed to working any other way.  I doubt that Ann Romney sat down and said, “I’m never going to get a job.”  I bet it didn’t go down like that.  Furthermore, I doubt that, at the end of another luxurious day at home, when all her FIVE munchkins were in bed, Ann thought to herself, “I feel great!  I’m not the least bit tired, my knees feel great after playing on the floor all day and my back isn’t shot from carrying the kids around, I’m totally not hungry after feeding the children three-quarters of everything I intended to eat today, and I bet everyone at the grocery store thought I was a great mom when all the children were hanging onto my shirt whining endlessly over nothing of consequence.”  For real. 

And what effect does her not working have on her opinion of the economy?  I work every day and I’m sure I have barely a grasp on the economy.  Maybe Ann has so much money that she didn’t have to plan a budget to pay her bills.  Maybe she has so much money that she doesn’t pay her bills because maybe someone does ALL of that for her.  That would be luxury. 

I bet that Ann is a very smart woman.  I bet that she counts her blessings on her fingers and her toes and her kids’ fingers and toes.  We should all be so lucky.  I don’t envy her and I don’t begrudge her.  I would like to congratulate her for living a life that shines so brightly that she’s now the focus of all this big talk.  Unimportant people, people like me, will never make a splash like this.  Good for you, Ann. 

WAYT: Shhh

What is it about this women’s contraception debate that is making everyone so angry?  I cannot for the life of me understand why the public is so up in arms over this.  Maybe it’s because everyone wants to be loud.  I’d like to talk about it quietly.  Here’s how I see it.    

Religious organizations have the right to their beliefs; indeed, they exist because of their beliefs.  The employees of those organizations have a right to their beliefs, unless the religious group requires otherwise.  If it is part of the religious group’s benefits package to give insurance to their employees, that is the contract.  The group owes it to the employee to provide the insurance because they said they would.  If the religious organization has a philosophical objection to the components of the insurance plan, then they should not offer the insurance. 

If the employee cannot abide by the beliefs of the religious group in order to accept the insurance coverage, then the employee either should not work for the group or the employee should find other insurance. 

What do you think?  Do you think that makes sense?

I fully understand that now it’s not that simple.  If the group doesn’t want to provide the objectionable insurance, it will soon have to pay a penalty.  Is that discriminatory against their beliefs – to be monetarily penalized for having a religious objection to the insurance plan?  Maybe.  I know enough constitutional law to see a conflict there. 

Also for the employees, it’s not that simple.  Everyone will soon be required to have insurance.  Employees might have to pay more out in the open market than they would pay to receive the benefit from the group that employs them.  That’s not right either. 

Are the beliefs greater than providing healthcare, and should you have to choose? 

I understand that some people are patently against contraception for women.  I personally can never agree with that.  You can feel that way, but that’s where we differ and I’m going to take the fork in the road.  See you later. 

In all instances, ALL instances, I believe that every single person has the right to their own choices and beliefs.  It does not have to be as complicated as the news media and the Senators and Congress people want you to believe!  Our leaders need to chill out and talk about it behind closed doors.  Stop yelling at one another from on high.  Draw a simple flow chart and find a way through the mess, then report back to us later. 

I can tell you that in my personal life, health insurance has saved me.  If I had been forced to bear the costs of my health issues out-of-pocket, I would be in bankruptcy or I’d be in jail for attempting to rob a bank.  The various health policies that I’ve held have allowed me to make choices and maintain my health while striking a fair balance between what I do and don’t pay for. 

I am sensitive to the groups who don’t want to provide certain services because of their beliefs.  I’m Catholic, after all.  My choice of church is one hundred percent something I came to on my own later in life, and that was my right.  But my mother-in-law once told me that I don’t have to believe everything they tell me because it’s what’s in my heart that matters most.  So I don’t abide by or agree with every single thing the church tells me.  Maybe that makes me eighty nine percent Catholic and puts me outside of the norm.  Maybe that’s why I feel the way I do about this contraception issue.  Maybe the church would rather not have me claim them!

But I’m certain that in this debate, being flexible is the only thing that will work.  You can’t please all of the people all of the time.  Others will take the fork in the road with me, while others will stay their course.  The common denominator is that we all have to agree that our choices to diverge are fair because we are who we are and we can’t change our essential make-ups. 

In the spirit of considering both sides, then, please consider this: many people are opposed to abortion.  Probably more people are against it than are for it.  But who is crying out against the opposite?  I’m thinking of that woman everyone called “Octomom.”  She sought medical assistance to produce all of her babies and ended up with fourteen.  Is there not something to be said for falling in the middle, and letting that be okay?