As I opened my newspaper on Wednesday, I literally could not believe what I was reading.
Indiana Republican Sen. Patricia Miller proposed a bill that would prohibit unmarried and/or homosexual couples from using assisted reproduction to conceive. According to The Associated Press, the proposed bill defined assisted reproduction as "causing pregnancy by means other than sexual intercourse, including intrauterine insemination, donation of an egg, donation of an embryo, in vitro fertilization and transfer of an embryo and ... sperm injection."
Despite the fact this bill is outrageously unconstitutional and discriminatory, Miller wanted to push the envelope a little bit further by requiring all married couples wishing to conceive to go through a selection process to determine whether or not they would be acceptable parents. In order to pass this "assessment," couples would even have to participate in faith groups.
Goodbye First Amendment!
Thankfully, the bill was quickly dropped as a result of the outrage it generated, but its very proposal should bring a chill to your spine. Though I would say that Miller is probably on the extreme fringes of the Republican Party, I see this bill as just the latest attempt to turn the conservative philosophy of "limited government" into "all-powerful government."
Republicans of an earlier era believed in not only limited government, but also fiscal responsibility and personal privacy. Many of these issues were the cornerstone of the Contract with America and the "Republican Revolution" of 1994.
Now, just 11 years later, with a Republican-controlled government, the record budget surplus has turned into a record deficit. Instead of cleaning up government, Republicans filled vital government positions with unqualified political cronies like former FEMA chief Mike Brown. Of course, my favorite example of corruption has to be House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is currently under indictment on charges of conspiracy and money laundering, as well as was rebuked by the House Ethics Commission three times. But alas, that juicy material has to be saved for a different column.
As far as privacy goes, Congress and the president passed the Patriot Act, which allows for greater surveillance of everyday citizens +â-¡- including uncontested searches of library, medical and financial records.
The most outrageous abuses in power, however, come at the behest of the religious right. The Republican Party has become the Party of Dobson, blurred the lines of church and state, repeatedly attempted to persecute homosexuals and brought censorship to new heights. Actions such as these have led some to label the Republican Party as the "American Taliban" because of its religious fanaticism and with-us-or-against-us attitude.
I'm sure Miller assumed the bill regulating baby making would not pass, but the point is she tried.
Just by proposing the bill, she pandered to the radical fringe of society in an attempt to move her party - and her country - further to the extreme right.
Thankfully, in this case at least, true American values like the separation of church and state, tolerance and privacy appear to have won out. The part that worries me the most, however, is whether those values can win out in the future.
Write to Steve at
nawarainthedn@hotmail.com
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