{"id":4377,"date":"2012-03-03T11:23:26","date_gmt":"2012-03-03T16:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=4377"},"modified":"2012-03-04T09:29:45","modified_gmt":"2012-03-04T14:29:45","slug":"its-not-about-sandra-fluke-or-rush-limbaugh-or-contraception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/03\/its-not-about-sandra-fluke-or-rush-limbaugh-or-contraception\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Not About Sandra Fluke, or Rush Limbaugh, or Contraception"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m going to keep this short… The current debate about contraception is not about Sandra Fluke, or Rush Limbaugh, or contraception for that matter, it’s about liberty.<\/p>\n

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Rush Limbaugh, he’s been a tireless advocate for conservatism, but he’s wrong here. Mr. Limbaugh made Sandra Fluke the story and distracted everyone from the real issue and from what should have been the winning argument for conservatives.\u00a0 This debate is not about contraception, it is about liberty — and one of the fundamental founding principles of America: religious freedom.<\/p>\n

The First Amendment to the Constitution couldn’t be more clear on this:<\/p>\n

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The simple truth, neither Congress nor the President of the United States can order religious institution to provide something that violates their religious convictions. The President’s compromise — forcing insurance companies to provide free contraceptives to employees of religious institutions is itself just an end run around the Constitution.<\/p>\n

Look folks, I know this is a clich\u00e9, but there are no free lunches, or free contraceptives. Somewhere, somehow, someone is going to be paying the bill, it’s either going to come out of our tax dollars, or we’re all going to end paying for those free contraceptives in form of higher insurance premiums.<\/p>\n

Bottom line; Americans instinctively love liberty and respect religious freedom, they don’t however react well to calling women sluts. If we’re going to refute Ms. Fluke’s argument and point out the flaws in her testimony let’s do it without calling her names.<\/p>\n

Update<\/strong> (Saturday, March 3, 2012 5:30 p.m.):<\/span> Rush Limbaugh posted a statement<\/a> on his web site this afternoon apologizing to Ms. Fluke:<\/p>\n

For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.<\/p>\n

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit?In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.<\/p>\n

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good, Rush did the right thing here, and it’s important to note that while he apologized for his poor choice of words, he did not concede the greater point. Which is that the left wants to deny Americans their God-given, Constitutionally protected right to religious freedom.<\/p>\n

Related<\/strong><\/p>\n