The Blueprint for GOP 'Charity'

In a comment on yesterday's post, friend of the bastard OBS linked to a Washington Post article concerning Tuam, which I referenced in my post. The article is a tough read, it concerns the life of a young, unmarried pregnant woman who gave birth at “The Home for Mothers and Babies” run by the Sisters of Bon Secours. Her infant son was separated from her and she was confined to “The Magdalene Asylum”, until she escaped and fled to England to avoid further punishment.

Her son was confined to the Home for Mothers and Babies, where the healthiest children were often sold to adoptive parents, mainly from the U.S. His mother attempted to contact him numerous times, but he had been convinced that she was a 'woman of ill-repute'. He was finally able to reconcile with her after becoming an adult, learning that his mother hadn't been the evil individual throughout this whole ordeal.

I firmly believe in a government-run social safety net. Conservatives often talk about how private charities, usually churches, should be the organizations which provide succor to the poor, the sick, the unfortunate. FUCK THAT SHIT... I don't believe that these organizations act in, if you'll pardon the expression, good faith- they confine their aid to 'worthy' individuals (as defined according to their dogma), they attach strings to their aid (typically aggressive proselytizing), and they perpetuate a patriarchal dominance structure which is hostile to women and indifferent at best towards children. The GOP wants to bring a theocratic government to the United States, exactly the sort of government which created such misery in Ireland and which creates misery in places like Uganda, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan. We need less religion in the public sphere, and we cannot trust religious organizations to care for vulnerable individuals, especially not women and children.

Rather than fuming about this story and bursting a blood vessel, here's The Innocent and the Honest Ones, an appropriate song by bastard fave In Tua Nua, fronted by the incomparable Leslie Dowdall:





I've posted the song before, but it's an important one, one of the most poignant agnostic hymns ever written. If your religion involves mass graves, then you really need to reconsider your faith. I reconsidered mine, and I sure as hell don't want theocracy to be implemented in these here United States.