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Aug. 14, 2008
Free? a Confession... of sorts
Eighteen months ago I did something illegal! It was something that has been done by millions of women over thousands of years. No one was hurt and great good was achieved. However had I been caught there would have most likely been jail time involved... not for me, but for my unfortunate midwife!
Ari was the third of my four children who was born at home. Two of those three have been with the assistance of a midwife. Because Illinois is a micromanaging nanny state my midwife had to drive three hours to attend me! In Illinois it is illegal for a midwife to deliver a baby unless she is also a certified nurse. Therefore there are basically no lay midwives in IL. Because I choose to have my babies at home I must hire an out of state midwife who risks legal action to attend me. (This is freedom?) However the theft of my right to have my babies at home safely and legally is not really the issue I want to bring up in this blog. I want to talk about the subtle coercion that has our society by the throat.
At some point when I was pregnant with Ari I called a local radio program to discuss midwifery and home birth with the show's host. After my call a man called in who said the state was right to forbid midwives from practicing in IL because HIS WIFE would have died if she hadn't been in a hospital. (We'll leave aside the fact that he was arguing from the particular to the general - a logical fallacy AND the fact that I wasn't asking for every pregnant woman to be forced to use a midwife.) What I want to talk about is his assumption that is was RIGHT to use force to ensure that only his view would be an option.
The problem isn't whether a midwife or a doctor should be used to assist a woman in labor, the question is am I ALLOWED to disagree over which should be used? Is my disagreement to be with words only? Or may I make my own choice in the matter? If I am not to be allowed to choose something as intimate and personal as where and with whom I deliver my babies in what sense may I be considered free?
Why can't we leave others to their choices? What makes us feel that we are worthy to choose for others when they are perfectly capable of making their own decisions? Has it ever occurred to us that other people might know more about what they need/want than we do?
Please read this article by Stephen Molyneux to find out more about the subtle coercion that he calls The Gun in the Room |
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Sep. 9, 2008 - Questions
Can you email me or use this blog to educate me on a question that perplexes me about liberatarianism? I agree with the fact that we really are not as free as we claim, led to believe, or would like to think that we are. I agree that everyone is going to make their own choices, however in the matters of moral issues, in the Bible, God used Kings and government to direct (or were supposed to direct) the moral issues of life. When the Kings/government did not follow God's law or rules, they were cursed and when they did follow, they were blessed. Does liberatarianism say that there should be absolutely no government control at all, even in moral issues that God is adamant about in His word?