Once again, it is the political season, a time when prejudice, racism, intolerance, misogyny and homophobia are being wrapped in the Bible and the flag and passed off as Christianity and patriotism; a time when too many politicians would deny others the freedoms that they so readily enjoy for themselves, such as the right to marry and the right to vote.

Misogynistic politicians have determined that there should be no birth control, no morning-after pill, no abortion, no welfare and no insurance. Not a word, however, about the men who impregnate women and walk away from their responsibilities.

While Rush Limbaugh and Mike Huckabee concern themselves with women’s libidos, they make no mention of men. But, were women to borrow a phrase from Nancy Reagan and “just say no,” I suspect that “Hiking the Appalachian Trail,” popularized by Mark Sanford when he was governor of South Carolina, would become a regular pastime.

Todd Akin, as a Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Missouri, once spoke about “legitimate rape” and Richard Mourdock, once a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Indiana, stated that pregnancies from rape are “something God intended.”

Using Mourdock’s logic, it would seem that erectile dysfunction would also be “something God intended.” So why have we not heard a word spoken against vasectomies and Viagra?

Barbara Payne, Norway