No Jokes This Time

I haven't posted anything recently about the Republican primary race, because frankly, I was feeling pretty satisfied that things were going well.  The GOP candidates were aggressively attacking each other; they were spending a lot of their own and their supporters' money; the race was promising to drag on indefinitely.  What wasn't to like?  But lately, the more the candidates begin to reveal their true colors, the more frightened I'm getting.  The other day, in a speech to some of his supporters, Sanctum Santorum dismissed global warming as some sort of unholy liberal trick.  I guess he hasn't just been through the same Northeast "winter" I've been through.  Sanctum sees no reason to protect the environment, and none of these boys see a need to protect women's freedom.  Mitt Romney, the one whom we have to presume will be left standing, has just announced that as President, he would eliminate Planned Parenthood.  Would he really?  Or is he just saying that to play to his audience?  And here's the big question: which of those two options is scarier?  It's not just Planned Parenthood, of course; his goal of wiping it out is just a symbol of where he plans to take the country.  There are so many places in this world where to be a woman is, by definition, to be unsafe in a host of different ways.  Do the women I see cheering for Sanctum understand that throughout history, up until fifty or so years ago, it was impossible for a woman to be sexually active, safe, and free of the risk of pregnancy, all at the same time?  Do they understand that in many parts of the world, that combination remains impossible, and that we are so much more fortunate than so many women who happened to have been born in, say, Afghanistan?  or Iran?  or Sudan?  And do they really think that, by preaching abstinence-only to their daughters, they have thereby eliminated any chance of unwanted pregnancies occurring within their own families?  If they truly allow themselves the luxury of accepting that foolish proposition, then they are not just deluded, but irresponsible.  I am not laughing at the two potentially viable GOP candidates any more.  I am afraid of them.  All women should be.