U.S. Lawmakers Hate Children

I didn’t want my first blog post to be so…heavy, but I needed to express my feelings and viewpoint on recent news. I have lived in South Carolina for a few years now, my family has roots here, I went to college in Conway (Go Chants), and I have made it my home. When I attended Coastal Carolina University (CCU), I minored in Political Science because I was genuinely interested in politics, our government, and how it works. I was always riled up about the most recent injustice and voiced my opinions about everything to whoever would listen.

After a few years, I realized that not everyone wanted to hear my opinions so I sort of shut down or in a better sense: became numb. I figured there was so much going on, and I didn’t want to add to what I perceived as ‘negativity’ because my opinion highlighted something they refused to acknowledge.

I only discussed politics when I felt it was absolutely necessary and I did myself a disservice because I love learning and discussing what’s going on, and how people will be affected. So that’s what this blog will accomplish for me. It will be a space for me to not only discuss what’s going on in my life and the world, but it will be a space for me to start speaking up again. Starting with the abortion ban that just passed here in South Carolina. To be clear, I believe everyone deserves the right to make decisions regarding their body without the government having a say and not being punished for it. That includes abortions.

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it felt like conservative states rushed to one-up the highest court in the U.S. by introducing strict abortion bans, with some banning them completely. They were met with backlash by less conservative citizens, but apparently not enough because most of them passed into law.

Speaking of laws, the other day I was at the table getting some work done and the local news was on in the background. They were talking about how our governor (McMassa) signed a bill to allow children to carry sunscreen in school so children can be ‘sunsafe’ because they weren’t able to previously. Now, I am all for sunscreen. I slather it on daily. I would love for children to be sunsafe, but let’s be honest here. A child is not going to remember to reapply their sunscreen throughout the day, but by all means pass a bill that allows them to carry it, I guess?

It felt like a cruel joke to talk about children being sunsafe in school when they aren’t even safe. Our lawmakers have the ability to pass legislation to ban firearms completely. I know it’s unlikely, but at least ban assault rifles, at least raise the age to purchase firearms, at least require a mental health evaluation, at least, at least, at least. We’ve been deduced to begging for crumbs for legislation to actually protect lives, but they’re concerned with the ‘rights’ of an unborn fetus.

To add insult to injury, I accidentally read something McMassa’ tweeted.

This is the same stance many conservatives take, but this need to “protect” innocent lives is absent when children are gunned down at school by assault rifles that should be banned or when millions of children go hungry because their school doesn’t provide free meals and they’re unable to eat because of “debt.” Instead of passing laws that will mostly harm low-income women, maybe we should pass laws that do more good than harm because I think our government has forgotten that people deserve to live good lives regardless of socioeconomic factors.

I could write a million-word article on laws and policies that should be passed to improve the quality of life in the United States, but the underlying issue would still be there: those who have the power to drastically change your quality of life do not care about your quality of life. So adjust accordingly.

If you’re as upset as I am about the state of our government’s priorities I encourage you to make a plan that would best fit into your everyday life. Whether that’s emailing your senators, donating to causes and organizations that align with your views, or protesting. Don’t internalize it and silence yourself like I did. Do something. Every action, no matter how small, matters.

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