Democrat
A surprising shift has occurred in the American political scene. The 2012 election looked like it was going to be focused on the economy and not much else.
This prediction was grounded in high unemployment and the lackluster performance of the U.S. economy in general. However, social issues have become a hot topic as of late.
The contraception mandate that was part of the Affordable Care Act caused quite a stir. Catholics protested the policy that would have forced Catholic institutions such as hospitals to provide access to contraception.
The problem was that contraceptives should not be used in Catholic tradition. The controversy was whether or not the contraception mandate was a government infringement on religious liberties.
These claims are outlandish. If you look into the facts, you will see that the mandate is not all that new. Nick Bauman reports, “But the central mandate — that most employers have to cover preventative care for women — has been law for over a decade.
This point has been completely lost in the current controversy, as Republican presidential candidates and social conservatives claim that Obama has launched a war on religious liberty and the Catholic Church.”
This shows that the recent uproar was simply a political game. Republicans have been out to undo the Affordable Care Act since its inception, and this was just another effort to discredit it. If the mandate was really a threat to religious liberty, it would have been brought up before now.
The uproar caused the Obama administration to alter the policy slightly. Now the institutions themselves do not have to provide for contraceptives, but the insurance companies must offer contraceptives to the employees who want them.
I would like to commend the leadership for how the handled the controversy. The Obama administration was able to diffuse the situation and move on, showing good leadership. The administration and the Church were able to compromise.
The issue has stuck with the Republican presidential race longer. Social issues have become more of a political focus because of the indecision among many in the Republican base. Candidates are simply appealing to social issues in an attempt to obtain votes for the nomination.
As poll numbers taken from an Associated Press report about the recent Arizona debate show, “Meanwhile, there are signs that President Barack Obama may be benefiting from the increased GOP focus on social issues, at least a bit.
A new Associated Press-GfK Poll found Obama with an eight-point lead over Mitt Romney, nine points over Santorum and 10 points over Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. The survey showed the president dominating among independents, a group central to his 2008 victory.”
Bringing social issues into this presidential race may prove costly for Republicans come November. Every rightward lurch to attract primary voters can alienate moderates.
The Republicans’ harping about social issues may bring about more passionate responses, but it is not going to bring about electoral victories.
Michael is a freshman majoring in human rights and political science with minors in Arabic and religious studies.
Republican
I don’t think anyone expected this to be a debate we would have in the 21st century. I don’t think Rick Santorum expected this to be a debate we would have, and most of all, I don’t think Barack Obama expected that we would be debating contraception.
I honestly don’t think Barack Obama understands what he did wrong with this contraception mandate. The compromise that he offered proves he doesn’t understand what is wrong with his actions.
For those of you who are not familiar with this particular issue, its an unfortunate consequence of an already misguided healthcare law, but that’s another issue for another day. One provision of Obama’s healthcare law requires employers who provide insurance to ensure coverage for birth control.
This includes every employer, whether a small business, a charity, a large corporation, or anything in between. The controversy is that this mandate extends to Christian and other religious groups such as charities and hospitals, and for Catholics in particular, this is a big problem.
The Catholic church sees the use of contraception as a sin, and as such, it goes against their conscience to provide it.
The Catholic bishops in America were naturally outraged that the federal government is forcing them to go against their conscience, and social conservatives across the country joined them in opposition to what is clearly an attack on religious freedom.
Catholics are an important voting bloc that compromises about 25 percent of the electorate, and so naturally the Democrats realized they needed to do something.
I said earlier that I don’t think President Obama understood what the real problem is. This was made clear by what his first proposed compromise was.
His first plan was to simply give the Christian charities an extra year before the mandate took effect. This solved nothing. All it did was give the church an extra year before they were forced to violate their policies. The time frame wasn’t the issue here, and the fact that Obama thinks it was proves that he knows nothing of the true issue here.
The second compromise planned still doesn’t do anything, it just forces insurance companies to cover contraception instead of businesses and non-profits.
Now, all insurance companies will have to cover contraception, so Christian charities would still indirectly have to pay for it. Religious businesses don’t want to and shouldn’t have to pay for contraception, either directly or indirectly.
The First Amendment gives a protection against government infringing upon “prohibiting the free exercise” of religion. Being forced to go against the teachings of the church is precisely what the founders didn’t want to happen and tried to protect against with the First Amendment.
And by the way, no, conservatives aren’t trying to ban contraception, and it is ludicrous to claim we are. Imagine if there were a law that forced mosques to sell bacon, and when the outrage occurs over the violation of religious freedom, being asked “why are you trying to ban bacon?” Further, it doesn’t matter if 98 percent of Catholic women use contraception, because it still goes against the teachings of the church to force a Catholic hospital or charity to provide it. Just because a Catholic sins doesn’t mean that the government has the right to force the church to enable the sinning.
Don’t let the media distract you with questions about banning contraception or classifying this issue alongside abortion as a so-called “Social Issue.” This is a religious liberty issue, and the government should never force a church to do anything it finds deplorable.
Tucker is a sophomore majoring in political science.
