Caught in middle of political injustice

I’m under attack!

It’s personal. It’s political. It’s spiritual. It goes straight to my heart.

There is no middle ground!

And it’s not just me. America is under attack!

Since we were attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, Congress has become like suicide bombers, launching Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) on us. First they put guns to our heads by starting an unjustified war in Iraq without an international support system and now they’re shooting the bullet right through our heads by refusing to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages, something that goes against the very laws of God and nature.

In the name of personal liberties for a few, our most sacred institution of family is under attack.

I fear for our country. I fear for our future.

What I wouldn’t do right now for a middle-of-the-road politician who leaned just enough to the right to stop the killings of unborn babies who also have a right to life and to stop the vital threat to our future if same-sex marriages are legalized.

What I wouldn’t also do for a middle-of-the-road politician who also leaned just enough to the left to find a peaceful solution to the war in Iraq and who wouldn’t be so blinded by corporate dollars.

Are you like me? Do you feel alone in the middle? And yet the only thing I expect from our commander in chief is peace, the right to life for all and the preservation of the institutions of family and marriage.

After watching Michael Moore’s movie, “Fahrenheit 9/1l” in Lubbock last weekend, I feel rage. To put it more strongly in Spanish, “Tengo rabia!” The documentary had some parts that were obviously over-dramatized, but more than half of the movie was based on actual, uneditorialized footage that cannot be dismissed. There’s nothing — no WMDS — to justify war. Only more troubling, unanswered questions and scandals.

Now move to the far left and I feel even more rage. I thought they would get my vote, especially the way Republicans throw around the word “liberal” like it’s a bad word. I see nothing wrong with being liberal when it comes to challenging the notion of “business as usual,” for the better of the masses, but not when it has the potential to become a WMD on families. That is what I see happening and it makes me sick.

I cannot, with a good conscience, vote for Bush. But I cannot, with a good conscience, vote for John Kerry either, and I’ve always been a strong proponent of voting. You know, it’s the old notion, “Su voto es su voz!” “Your vote is your voice!”

I was outraged seeing in Moore’s movie that only one Congressman has a child serving in the Iraqi war and when Moore personally tried to get Congressmen to enlist their children to fight this war, which they themselves voted for, he was laughed off. That’s disturbing!

And yet there is no consolation on the other side either. I feel terribly let down by Kerry, a politician who had the potential to become the next JFK. A man who I thought would get my vote, but has instead helped unleashed WMDs. I also feel betrayed by Kerry as a Catholic. He wants to partake in my church’s sacraments while publicly supporting abortion and same-sex marriages, two issues in direct opposition with church teachings. How can a man like this be trusted to take an oath of office to serve our country?

As for Republicans, they typically oppose abortion to protect the unborn. What about protection for our children who will be subjected to the unnatural union of a man and man or a woman and woman? Oh yeah, we can teach them tolerance, but it will be a lost lesson down the road when this all backfires on us — and it will!

I’m afraid I may be labeled as an angry Hispanic woman, an angry single mother, an angry conservative Catholic, an angry, liberal college student or an angry, somewhat-of-a-liberal journalist with old fashion family values (try to pin a political affiliation on me).

But wait, I am all of those things. And even more than being afraid of how I’m labeled, I’m more afraid of what the future holds.

I’m a single mom, but I agree with Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in that “Marriage is the best way to protect children.” If I could do things all over again in my life, I would. I’m trying to instill in my 14-year-old daughter, Laura, the values of marriage, in hopes that her future children will grow up in a two-parent household. I’m talking husband and wife here.

I’m tempted to blame Bush and Kerry for these WMDs, but we’re to blame, too, for not making our voices loud enough. For allowing TV networks to portray the alternative lifestyle as being mainstream. Opponents of the same-sex marriage measure have vowed to continue the fight. I only pray that they will also fight for peace.

Helena Rodriguez is a columnist for Freedom Newspapers of New Mexico. She can be reached at

[email protected]

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