Put on Your Shoes: We Can Win This One

Patriot Post ^ | March 19, 2012 | Chuck Colson

[rhema]

The media and the Administration don't want you to know it, but most Americans oppose the HHS mandate.

The most important talking point used by those who support the HHS contraception mandate is that the Catholic Bishops and their allies are "out-of-touch" and represent a minority view.

You have no doubt heard things like "98 percent of Catholic women use contraception" and "most Americans, especially women, support the HHS mandate."

Well, it's not true. The first assertion is based on a study by the Guttmacher Institute, which as an affiliate of Planned Parenthood, is hardly an objective observer. Even the Washington Post compared the media to Pinocchio for using these statistics.

In fact, the most that can be concluded is that many sexually-active Catholic women have, at some point in their lives, used contraception. That says nothing about whether they and other Americans support the HHS mandate.

Speaking of which, the claim that most Americans, especially women, support the HHS mandate is equally bogus. I know that will surprise you, given what the administration and the media are constantly telling us. But repeating a falsehood doesn't make it true.

For example, a recent New York Times story told readers that, according to its latest poll "women were split as to whether health insurance plans should cover the costs of birth control and whether employers with religious objections should be able to opt out."

As Mickey Kaus at the Daily Caller put it, "if the Times says women were 'split,' you know that must mean they were actually narrowly against the [Times'] preferred position." And that's precisely so. By a 46-44 margin, women favored a religious exemption for all employers. The gap widened to 53-38 in the case of religiously-affiliated employers.

Men, who do vote after all, were even more supportive of opt-out provisions. Overall, Americans, by a 57-to-36 margin favor allowing religiously-affiliated employers to opt out. Remember that statistic.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed similar results: by 49-to-34 percent, Americans oppose requiring "religious institutions" to provide contraception and abortion-inducing drugs.

Now like I say, this may surprise you. It certainly comes as a surprise to the media. While, as Kaus says, the president "appears to be losing the public debate" on the HHS mandate, the media, which overwhelmingly supports the mandate, can't see it. When the president's approval ratings drop, they cite gas prices instead.

Well they may not be able to see it, but I can, and you should too. This is a battle that is both crucial and winnable. The important thing is to keep the focus on where it belongs: religious freedom. The early polls where a reaction to the media's initial announcement that this was all about contraception, but the Catholic Bishops and everybody else has been working hard to educate them.

And you need to continue to educate people that this is about religious liberty. This battle won't be won in the pews -- it will be won over the backyard fence and during kids' baseball games. It's getting warm outside, so break out the grill, throw on some burgers and hot dogs, invite your neighbors over, and start talking. And then phone and email your legislators and the Administration.

As Mark Twain once said, "a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

Okay folks, put on your shoes, we are winning.

[loveliberty2]

In this matter, the so-called "progressives" have revealed their tendency to make political decisions by "classing" citizens in "groups."

This time, they may have mistakenly counted on what they believe to be a lack of intellectual depth in the "class" they identify as "women." Such a mistake unmasks the ignorance of a ruling "class" we can now call "progressive" pseudo-intellectuals.

By forcing this fight, they count on the younger generations they have propagandized in the schools and social media, on the screen, and in various other ways.

No doubt they are unaware of the millions of homes across America where private or home schooling has undercut their planning, and where intellectual curiosity and depth have allowed new generations to explore America's founding ideas, its Constitutional protections, and the real meaning of rights, in a much larger and more freeing context than the Obama/Reid/Pelosi interpretation allows.

With a little nudging from thought leaders, "progressives" may find that women also see themselves, and will express themselves, as guardians of liberty for future generations--real liberty, not the "license" government-mandated "goodies" encourage or grant.

Women are capable of distinguishing between the ideas of liberty and those of selfish, power-motivated vote seekers, who seize on a drug store product's cost as a 'hook' to get their votes, so that government can erode the protections and prohibitions of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Not so fast!

Women are smarter than that, and GOP candidates need to exploit such blatant and insulting assaults on the intellectual ability and understanding of women!