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Archive for February 10, 2011
Bob Vander Plaats: Anti-Civil Rights Hate Mongering
Bob Vander Plaats: Anti-Civil Rights Hate Mongering
By D. VanThournoutCivil rights are something that we have to pay for with blood, sweat and tears. And fear based hate speech is something we not only have to listen to, but respond passionately and articulately to. We cannot let our government’s policies, constructed by the people to ensure the common good, to dispense hate and lies via constitutional amendment. If we did, it wouldn’t be the Iowa I know and love.
But that is just what Bob Vander Plaats wants. Hate and lies masquerading as legislation.
There is always a civil rights battle being waged. Slavery, Jim Crow, heterosexism, the war on drugs, all of these are rooted in intolerance. It is fear based politics.
Iowa is being inundated with money and hate leading up to the 2012 elections. As an organizer I understand how this works. The more time on the ground with your message, the more likely you will win the election. Over the course of the next couple of years Iowa will be flooded with insane amounts of (Koch brother) money spent lying about everything from gay rights to global warming and beyond. This isn’t just about unseating Obama (though that is part of their agenda), it’s also about health care, liberals in general, tolerance and most currently equality for the LGBT community (and of course anything else good that I left out).
It’s All About Equality
Lets think about that for a moment. What in this word is so hard for people that claim to be Christians to understand? Who do they think has any more right to be home to dinner with their family? Who is born into this world illegally, in gods eyes? Not that I’m a believer, I’m an atheist. But still, I’ve been steeped in religious culture and I know there is a great lie going on when people that profess to be followers of Jesus (love your enemy anyone?) spew hateful rhetoric about how gay people are less than human, are killing themselves and us, are perverts, are curable, or the best one, that gays are why god is going to destroy the world.
After considering this for many years, I’ve come to the conclusion that the only real fight is the fight for equality. It lies at the root of every important social issue. Hunger, poverty, education, jobs, women’s rights, the environment, gay rights, prohibition (you name it), I believe they’re all rooted in in-equality (or keeping us un-equal).
Bob and the others drumming up the hate for the 2012 elections have recently re-branded themselves as a “family” advocacy group called (of all things) The Family Leader…If you ask me, Bob protests too loudly. I don’t think he trusts himself to live in a society that is tolerant of each others differences. He’s certainly not ready for my dream world where we actually work in loving cooperation with each other to help each other realize our collective visions. Too bad, It’s a nice vision.
Instead, Vander Plaats starts his 99-county tour of Iowa in Leon and spoke to half a dozen people there about various and sundry flavors of hate to carry us through to 2012. Impeach the judges that “forced” equality upon Iowans he says in so many words.
We liberals and supporters of equality need to be active in this conversation starting right now. We need an organization that dogs every step The Family Leader takes on its campaign to make the LGBT community into second class citizens.
Where I got my information:
Jeremey Hooper of goodasyou.org has assembled a movie that explains these people very well.
Iowa group stooping to junk science and hate groups to smear lgbts
Vander Plaats seeks support for family advocacy group – Newton Daily News
Bob kicks off the hate campaign – Des Moines Register
(click here to read the entire article)
~David
VanThournout lives on the Mississippi river in Rock Island. He plays
guitar, writes poetry and music, designs websites, and organizes for a
more just and peaceful world. More than a decade ago David began
demanding meaningful employment rather than mindless work making
widgets. David now requires that he loves what he does and that it
actually makes the world a better place in a way that is sustainable. Follow David on Twitter at twitter.com/badweatherrr. E-mail David Van Thournout.
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