The Gaetz Nomination
It's the corruption in government the GOP loves and the Christian Right's hypocrisy about "moral values."
When the Christian Right uses the term “morality” they almost always mean something about sex. Who is having sex with whom, other people’s genitals, and so on, seem to be their overriding obsessions.
When I use the term “morality” I am talking about lies, cruelty and selfishness. The only moral issue relative to sexuality I have is when there is no mutual consent - when compulsion (violence, threats of violence or other intimidation) is used or false promises — lies — are used against someone to obtain their consent.
“My body, my choice” goes beyond the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Every person has the right to decide under what circumstances they will engage in sexual activity. It is none of my business whether a person consents based on a marriage ceremony, a Broadway show, a Venmo payment or the ability to recite Shakespeare’s sonnets from memory. Nor should it be the business of the law.
Personally, I have some issues with the “age of consent.” I understand the reasons for such laws: the desire to protect young people who are not mature enough to understand the consequences of their decisions. I had sexual intercourse for the first time at the age of 15 and I consented. Fortunately, it did not result in any harm, meaning unwanted pregnancy or an STD. Long before the event occurred I had decided on my criteria for a first experience: someone who I found attractive and who would not go around my high school bragging they had “popped my cherry.” So the person I chose was over 18 - no, not a creepy guy over 30 who wants to fuck teenagers - a handsome, creative young man who literally lived in another country. Under law, I guess I was a victim of statutory rape. In reality, I was not a victim of anything.
The victim was my friend of a similar age being sexually molested by her very pious Roman Catholic father.
The problem with Matt Gaetz’ sexual activities is the hypocrisy. Unwanted pregnancy is caused by one thing: a male ejaculating in someone’s vagina. Gaetz wants to able to ejaculate into any vagina that takes his fancy, but wants to deny that person the right to deal with a resulting pregnancy in a manner they see fit. That’s the problem with all the religious hypocrites. Worse, their clergy, as well as their laity, are a hotbed of rape and child molestation.
I am still angry about the forced resignation of New York governor Elliot Spitzer years ago. In all my decades as a voter, I have ususally been in the position of voting for what I considered the lesser of two evils. Elliot Spitzer was one of the few candidates I enthusiastically voted for. He had been the Attorney General of New York and he was known as the “People’s Lawyer.” He went hard after corporate corruption.
The domination of corporate/financial interests over our lives is what I consider to be the main problem in our country. It’s why our environment is destroyed. It’s why we often feel like slaves or peasants. It’s why we don’t have nice things like universal healthcare or a living wage. It is the reason we can work our asses off and yet not achieve the most meagre version of “the American Dream” while useless parasites on the body politic (aka hedge fund managers etc) flaunt their ill gotten gains by drinking martinis with a diamond at the bottom of the glass while wearing a $70k wristwatch. Elliot Spitzer was forced out of office in order to avoid prosecution because he hired a sex worker. “Illegal” sex was used as the reason to remove a governor who challenged power.
If that was a legitimate reason to remove Governor Spitzer, then it is certainly a legitimate reason to reject the nomination of Matt Gaetz to be the top law enforcement officer of the United States.
But the real reason to reject Gaetz, and every other person Trump has nominated, is that Gaetz is corrupt, malevolent and in public office for personal benefit, not public service. He is not nominated to adminster justice but to use the law to enable the crimes of Donald Trump and his allies to go unpunished and to persecute anyone standing against them.