It appears that the Susan G. Komen For the Cure (foundation) has had reason to change its collective mind about de-funding Planned Parenthood.
"We will continue to fund existing grants," the statement says, "including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities."
That says a lot about the power of the women's lobby to affect change.
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Former Vermont Governor, Howard Dean, is speaking out against the decision by the Susan G. Komen Foundation to cave in to right-wing pressure and pull funding for breast cancer screenings from Planned Parenthood.
The Governor, who has served on the Board of Planned Parenthood, has also distinguished himself as Democratic Party chair during the historic period that brought Barack Obama to the presidency.
Could this be evidence that the Democratic message machine is readying itself to reclaim the party's role as the unapologetic champion of social justice?
In his time, Howard Dean has been one of the best "messaging" men in the Democratic Party. If this signals a new resolve by the Democrats to go toe-to-toe with Republicans, redefining and reclaiming the moral high-ground, we could still witness a great resurgence of grassroots enthusiasm of the sort that brought record numbers of young people to the polls in 2008.
#Occupy Wall Street has demonstrated that there is a political will for social justice on the rise in this country that could yet be mobilized before the November election.
Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich is loudly proclaiming that President Obama is waging "a war on religion," because he won't allow Catholic institutions to discriminate against their non-Catholic employees who wish to exercise the universal right to obtain birth control through their employee health insurance policies.
Despite evidence that Americans' support for a woman's "Right to Choose" is growing, that message just doesn't carry the hyperbolic clout of wording like "Right to Life," which we have ceded to the other side with barely a whimper of protest.
Why haven't we appropriated that power word, "life," for our own purposes? Why don't we women demand for ourselves and our children the "Right to a Livable Life?" which covers the right of choice as well as a whole roster of social justice issues.
Liberal causes are constantly made victims of their own rationality. We are loathe to employ the gross over-statement of the right, believing we are better than this.
For too many years now, despite an astonishing record of individual acts of hypocrisy, Republicans have succeeded in branding themselves with a holier-than-thou image of moral superiority. This is purely a marketing strategy; which is, after all, the natural strength of Republicans, since they are as thick with Shinola salesmen as they are with Wall Street confidence men.
But social justice and tolerance represent the ultimate, unassailable high-ground.
It's time to aggressively re-brand the Republican party with waging an immoral war on women, children, minorities and the poor. |
