The role of the state

This shocked many. Texas governer Rick Perry recently ordered HPV vaccinations for girls entering the sixth grade.

And man, has it hit the fan. And with good reason, I believe. Yet, the response leaves me frustrated. Let me explain.

First, even though I am a liberal and you conservatives have been taught by Rush and Sean Hannity that I want the government to determine your entire life, I am not a fan of government interference into personal affairs. I want the government to protect workers and consumers in a reasonable manner.

This action by Perry, I understand, strikes many conservatives as a breach of the conservative code. And I agree. The state forcing young girls to take shots smacks of authoritarianism. And one conservative in the link makes a great point, that we need to study this a little more before moving on it.

(The other conservative objection borders on the ludicrous. No, scratch that. It is ludicrious. They argue that this will encourage sexual promiscuity, as if that is a reason to not protect girls from CANCER!. For some, as I noted in the post: Streak's Blog: God's country prefers what?, they don't really care that poor sexual education leads to stds and perhaps cancer--they just don't want them having sex. Sigh.)

But back to the debate. I can understand the opposition to Perry, for sure, but guess I would like some clarification on when Conservatives actually act. Let's consider just a few examples of an invasive state and the conservative christian response.

Hmm. Torture, anyone? The Vice President pushes for the right to torture, the President supports him and uses signing statements to say he can whenever he sees fit. The state, in essence, asserts its right to not only end a life, but to inflict as much pain as possible--all of this without due process or even the assurance that the tortured are dangerous at all.

Conservative Christian response? Shrug. After all, it is just Muslim terrorists. Same response to NSA wiretapping, or the President's shredding the constitutiont to say he can declare American citizens as "enemy combatants." Conservative Christians think that it won't happen to them, so who cares?

Capital punishment, or what some conservatives have labeled the ultimate government intrusion. DNA evidence shows that we have nearly executed over 180 innocent people, and those are only in those cases where there is DNA to test.

Christian response? Eh. Keep the executions coming. Again, it doesn't happen to them.

Abortion and birth control. State tells a rape victim that it must bring that child to term. Also tells her that the pharmacist or nurse at the hospital doesn't have to give her the "morning after pill" if their religious beliefs are against it.

Christian conservative response. More state intervention in women's reproductive rights. In fact, people like Rod Parsely are pushing for criminalizing adultery, and we know they would like to lock up people practicing gay sex. State can intervene in those very intimate details and the Christian community will cheer.

And back to young kids and sex. Religious right activists and our lame President foist "Abstinence only" programs on school districts. Certainly an imposition, but no conservative complaints. Worse, and in sharp distinction with the HPV vaccine, Abstinence Only endangers kids, because the numbers that actually follow their pledge are roughly the same as the rest of the kid population--meaning that most of them fall of the pledge wagon and have sex. But when they do, they don't have the sex ed to protect themselves, and so are MORE exposed to STDS, unwanted pregnancies, etc.

Conservative Christian response? Impose away, and we will even ignore that the program doesn't work.

So you can see my confusion. I would love to get behind some principle of opposing state intervention into personal decisions, but can't see consistency here. It is very hard for me to see a principle other than "I only care if it effects me," which, seems the opposite of the Christian response.

Damn. Should have gotten up and written that last night when it kept me awake.