By ALEX GIMARC
Rep. Mary Peltola has been running an ad on airwaves of Anchorage telling voters the actual things that matter to her. The first half of the ad is a voice that extols her virtues, mainly as a mother, grandmother, and fishing boat captain at age 14. She is also held up as a bipartisan member of the Legislative Bush caucus, responsible for resource development.
All that is well and good. But it when Peltola starts talking that we find what she is really interested in, and this is where it gets a bit weird.
For example, she describes herself as a “committed advocate for personal privacy rights.” She then calls out the federal government, noting that the feds “have no business taking away our freedom,” finishing with the call that “we should have the right to make choices.”
What is this all about?
This is all about abortion, all day, all night, and at any stage during pregnancy, the current Democrat party position on abortion, though Peltola is not sufficiently honest to use the actual words.
Like her rather odd position on the Second Amendment (that it only protects hunting), her position on both privacy and abortion have no constitutional basis. Worse, none of the three words show up in the actual constitution or its amendments.
Let’s fish her statements from her campaign ad.
Personal privacy rights are a thinly veiled call for abortion. Indeed, it was the foundation of the judicial house of cards the Warren Court erected in 1973’s Roe v Wade opinion. But the Democrats’ love for personal privacy rights are a mirage. One the one hand, it is the foundation of abortion rights. On the other hand, personal privacy rights were most recently discarded by Democrats for those who refuse the Covid vax or boosters.
A lot of Americans were fired for refusing the vax. Those in the military still are. Nobody gets fired for having an abortion. So much for personal privacy rights to make medical decisions.
Peltola also notes that the federal government has no business taking away our freedom. Yet the only reason governments exist, especially those with Democrats in charge, is to take away our freedoms. It is what they do best, and they glory in it, endlessly limiting freedom all for our own good. And Peltola is a proud member of the party front and center in the freedom-taking process. If you are fan of liberty, it is really difficult to be a Democrat.
In the abortion discussion, seven elderly white men in black robes created a constitutional right out of thin air, invalidating laws of 50 states. Peltola has been quiet about that creation.
With Dobbs, another Supreme Court majority decided their predecessors screwed up, overturned Roe and threw the entire mess back to the many states to decide. They specifically sent it back for the elected representatives in the legislatures and governors to decide. They did not send it back to the states for state courts to decide.
Peltola makes an obvious mistake, but does tell us what informs her thinking. She apparently believes rights come from governments rather than from God, not unlike what the Soviet Union believed. The Soviet constitution had hundreds of specifically detailed rights, none of which meant any more than the paper they were printed on.
The problem is that if rights come from governments on a whim, they can just as easily be removed.
The final thing she calls for is that we should have the right to make choices. I wholeheartedly agree. But which political party is the party that removes the ability of Americans to make choices?
Which party imposed the Covid lockdowns? Which party imposed the vax mandates? Which party shut down the schools? Which party opposes school choice? Which party turned higher education into a simple indoctrination factory for the political left? Which party imposes gun control? Which party is busily emptying prisons, putting criminals on the streets? Which party opened the southern border, inviting millions to enter the US? Which party is pushing the trans panic? Which party sees racial animosity at every turn, making it up where none exists? There is more, but you get the idea.
Hint: At the 90th percentile, it is Democrats busily eliminating choice, freedom, and liberty every chance they get.
As usual, to a Democrat, the only choice, the only freedom they are interested in is the choice to abort.
Peltola is a smart lady, slyly trying to slip through the campaign to another term in Washington DC. She has demonstrated a typical Democrat view of the U.S. Constitution, liberty, choice, and our rights. We are about to find how many Alaskans agree with her. They shouldn’t.
Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
