I applaud the decision of the Supreme Court on Hobby Lobby (“Jews divided on Hobby Lobby decision,” WJW, July 3). Women can still have access to whatever contraception/birth control/abortion tools are available. But they don’t have to be paid for by the taxpayer or by individual corporations or entities whose moral code object to that.
The less government interference in our lives, the better. Or do you really want a nanny state – all powerful a la totalitarian societies?
EDITH CORD
Columbia
2 points:
Contrary to Ms. Cord, contraception/birth control coverage is not “paid for by the taxpayer or by individual corporations or entities” – as though it constituted pure largesse or some sort of tzadaka on their behalf! It is part of the employee wage package- i.e., due compensation rendered a worker for work on the job. It belongs to the worker, not the employer!
Secondly- and this is more to the point- given that the WJW is a Jewish publication. Ms. Cord uses the term “nanny state”. This is a code term used by Orthodox-bashers. Authentic Orthodox Judaism is, after all, a ‘nanny’ religion: there are – count ’em!- 613 commandments, further amplified by hundreds more customs (minhagim) added down through the ages, not to mention various rabbinic decrees galore, all of which have the effect of law (din). The result is a granular life-style which governs one’s life from the time one arises in the morning (including which shoe to put on first) until going to sleep at night.
On right-wing talk radio,”Nanny State” is a standard trope of libertarianism and its spectacularly anti-regulatory ethos. As such, its ideological (and distinctly Christian) antecedent is the anti-nomianism- i.e., Pharisee-bashing, anti-Judaism- of the Apostle Paul. What goes around, comes around.