Fight Back, Defend Liberty
By REP. LYNN WOOLSEY | 11/9/09 11:09 PM EST
I expect political hardball on any legislation as important as the health care bill.
I just didn’t expect it from the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Who elected them to Congress?
The role the bishops played in the pushing the Stupak amendment, which unfairly restricts access for low-income women to insurance coverage for abortions, was more than mere advocacy.
They seemed to dictate the finer points of the amendment, and managed to bully members of Congress to vote for added restrictions on a perfectly legal surgical procedure.
And this political effort was subsidized by taxpayers, since the Council enjoys tax-exempt status.
When I visit churches in my district, we are very careful to keep everything “non-political” to protect their tax-exempt status.
The IRS is less restrictive about church involvement in efforts to influence legislation than it is about involvement in campaigns and elections.
Given the political behavior of USCCB in this case, maybe it shouldn’t be.
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) is co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
I am not a catholic, nor do I play one on TV.
I am a Jew, an Orthodox Jew, that knows the ugly history of the Catholic church and the Jewish people.
So I find it odd to stand up and defend the Catholic Church from an attempt at to silence the church, part of me wants to say remember the pain you have caused in history of my people and what goes around comes around.
But I can't do that for today is today and yesterday is gone. I will never forget what you did to us, but today in America I must fight for you.
For to fight with the Catholic church against tyrannical rule coming from career politicians in Washington D.C. is to defend liberty and freedom for all Americans.
For all Americans that believe in the Constitution as our forefathers intended it to be, not as this generation of political hacks wants it too be.
The time has come to stand up and say no more government intimidation, you work for us, we are not your slaves.
Today we must look past labels of Catholic, Jew, Evangelical, for I fear if today we don't stand united against the powers that be. The words of Benjamin Franklin may ring true, if not our generation then for our children.
"We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."-In the Continental Congress just before signing
the Declaration of Independence, 1776.
