Seize "The Culture of Life"...

Apologies in advance for other diaries this may echo.

I was listening to interview on Russert with a guy who wrote a book about the 1927 floods and the seismic shift in attitudes about the role of government when it hit me.

Now is the time for us to seize, and completely redefine, "the culture of life" and use it as the anchor of OUR vision for the future.  Reframe!

More below the fold...

We already know what THEY mean when they say "the culture of life": intrusion into reproductive decisions, capital punishment, pre-emptive war, theocracy at home.  And we need to mockingly point out the contradiction between what they say and what they mean.

Then WE need to point out what WE mean when we say the culture of life, which using our united resources, our commonwealth, to take care of the least of us and ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed, by:

• Proactive health care for mothers, children, the elderly and eventually everyone

• Childcare and early nutrition

• Education throughout one's lifetime

• Jobs that provide a living wage

• Working towards rehabilitation rather than incarceration of law-breakers

• Serving as a "beacon for freedom" by living our ideals at home and abroad

The death and resurrection of NOLA serve as a backdrop for this, for us to contrast how our approach, our culture of life, would have helped avoid the disaster in the first place and led to a  much quicker more effective response during and afterwards.

Reframe.