The Fight Underway
All beauty comes from beautiful blood and a beautiful brain.
If greatness are in conjunction in a man or a woman
It is enough…
The fact will prevail through the universe…
But the gaggery of gilt of a million years
Will not prevail.
Who troubles himself about his ornaments or fluency is lost.
This is what you shall do:
Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches,
Give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others,
Hate tyrants,
Argue not concerning god,
Have patience and indulgence toward the people…
Re-examine all that you have been told at school or church, or in any book,
Dismiss what insults your own soul…
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.
–Excerpt, Leaves of Grass, Introduction by Walt Whitman
I know that it’s quite late, but better late than never!? After all of these 73 years I am finally reading Leaves Of Grass by Whitman. Whitman is a poet so as you would expect, every word he writes counts. Every phrase is an arrow loosed to a target. This morning I determined to share and comment upon Whitman’s introduction to his collection of poems.
This afternoon I was present at a Pro-Roe v Wade, Pro-Choice rally here in Geneva. As a male my right to have final decision over my body has never come into public debate. That half of our population (women) anticipate that government is about to deprive them of final say over reproductive health, is mind boggling, terrifying. We are on the cusp of a toute force assault on the female body. What bent reason is employed to argue for such action? And wave the Constitution as a fig leaf to cover a shameful attempt to repress women!? The prohibition of reproductive freedom is simply what Christian fundamentalists, what white male judges and legislators beholden to their support want. What’s next? Perhaps a turn back of the clock to the good ole days of slavery? “old times there [Dixieland] are not forgotten…”
So, what is to be done?
Whitman details what is necessary for the fight that is ahead.
3 thoughts on “The Fight Underway”
I too was at the rally, though Jerry and I missed spotting each other. George and I just returned (ironically, from D.C.) Thursday so I didn’t have time to make a protest sign, but other people carried ones reading “Mind your own uterus,” “My body, my choice,” “Roe, Roe, Roe your Vote,” etc.
Jerry, I believe you mis-spoke in calling it a pro-abortion rally. I’ve yet to meet anyone enthusiastic abortion itself; rather, we support the RIGHT for a woman to choose to have one if she feels that’s her best option.
Indeed you have a solid point, my inaccurate characterization of the rally. I have made the change in the language. Thank you.
As an historical scholar of the Founding Era and thereafter, I would add that the delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia heard many floor discussions expressing their vision beyond their lives of “a just government,” as mentioned in the Declaration of Independence nine years earlier, being a government which treats each person equally regardless of each person’s decisions and/or actions. And the final document they created with 4,440 words never used the word “party” or “parties” as in a political entity as though the public at large or the elected officials and appointed government representatives would always be thought of as individuals and treated and acted as such.
So many legal precedents (constitutional amendments, legislative laws, executive orders and judicial decisions) have grouped, separated, prioritizes and categorized individuals according to their separate decisions and/or actions that untangling all the various constituencies in favor and not in favor of each political or social issue has become nearly impossible for this majority or mob rule governing body to solve.
That is why I have drafted my own version of the only constitutional amendment that should ever have been needed:
THE INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT:
Section 1. Individual equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States government or any other subordinate government entity.
Section 2. To satisfy this amendment, each approved law, piece of legislation, executive action, judicial decision, statute, regulation, ordinance or other legal enforcement and action must treat each individual equally, without exception.
Section 3. All previous laws, actions and decisions must be judged for their equal treatment of each individual or be rescinded before a precedent affects the future of judicial integrity.
Section 4. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
This would be a way to untangle the various political, social, religious and other factions who have been artificially created by a government and, in the case of abortion or any other personal issue, would leave each decision or action to the person involved without any government interference whatsoever.