The right to vote for all citizens is a basic tenet of democracy, but we still don't have an Equal Rights Amendment. Women still don't earn as much as men do in similar jobs. And women no longer have the right to determine their own health care. We need to keep using the vote to ensure equality in our country. And we need to do it NOW!
Around the globe the times were different. Women were chattel. Even in the new America. In Britain. In the U.S. women were not allowed credit cards in their own name until 1974. Inchworms of progress now being threatened.
When I saw the writing on the wall with the certain ending of my marriage, I knew I needed a couple of credit cards. I didn’t have any money and the ex was telling me he wanted to see me living under a bridge. So I applied to three different companies and they all said I had to use my husband’s social security info too to be eligible for a credit card. Even though he was not going to have the card too.
When I wanted to get a separate account for my cell phone because he was using information from my phone clearly looking at my phone records, the phone company said I had to get permission from the ex to separate my cell phone account from his.
So we think we’ve got it all squared away but we don’t in the eyes of many companies!
I had a credit card in my own name at the Mormon owned department store in Salt Lake until 1971 when I got married and mentioned that I needed to changed my name to my married name. The card was immediately confiscated and I was told I no longer existed even though I was still working the same job and paid my bills. I never shopped there after that.
As soon as I graduated from college in 1975 and had a job, I got my first credit cards (gas stations first, then department stores; credit union loan in 1982 for a car; major bank card came later after I established a credit history of always paying my bills in full). All women should do the same if they can. I know some Gen Xers who got burned with student loans, though.
In all honesty, I had possibly $30,000 in credit card debt when I met my husband. I was concentrating on a writing career and only tutoring children in LA so living was expensive. I had just taken a bar tending course which I was terrible at and was going to retake it when I met my husband. Somehow, I make the perfect vodka martini (for him). Ice cold. He later told me that when we met, he couldn't decide if he wanted to date me or hire me so he did both. 😅😅 He paid my credit card debt against my arguing because he didn't want it to grow any larger. We use the banks and the cc companies by paying everything at the end of the month. Few can. They live totally indebted. I am constantly getting emails from bank and cc telling me to take out loans. Disgusting. I hurt for the younger people just beginning.
“And now women are the crucial demographic going into the 2024 elections. “ And won’t it be sweet and so very appropriate to see it be women who drive that bloated orange misogynist into the ground that November, like a rusty nail, Talia?
And GenZ...plus Simon Rosenberg...and turnup, the drive to register 17yo who’ll vote in ‘24...there are good things happening in the background. Let’s stay proactive.
💯 When I learned how long it took for women to earn the right to vote as a child I was (and still am!) furious at the injustice of it. I couldn’t wait to be able to vote and have voted in every election as soon as turned 18 (though I admit I missed a few midterm elections in college 😉)
One could say: 'Women's rights were not our highest priority" is part of the DNA of our history. Turns out it seems that it is not yet "history," but very much alive in our cartel party politics.
Talia, see my comment above - I'll paste it here > Much needed done or at least started Janet, such as the human right to affordable medical care for all US citizens. When you consider the vast timeline from thought / urgency to actual completion of rights such as tonight's essay, you easily see how slowly we get past fear, ignorance, acceptance. Propaganda then and now is largely responsible; multiply that reality times the sheer crushing number of media outlets this day along with the probable number of propagandist outlets and you begin to see that it's harder now than ever.
You don't mention, D4N, the reactionaries' discreet but immensely powerful fifth- columnist ally, the force of inertia.
You don't mention either that peculiarly American specialty, a "work ethic" probably rooted in chattel slavery and abuse of indentures, living to work instead of working to live. A specialty skillfully used since Reagan and his Reaganomics to gradually erode the economic and social freedoms of America's middle class, its working people, while oligarchs quietly siphoned off the country's wealth and concentrated all power in fewer and fewer hands...
Treating human beings as you wouldn't treat a machine has an important added advantage for exploiters: however able and well educated the exploited employee may be, the treadmill makes it far harder to exercise critical thinking.
Mindless in the workplace ties in perfectly with smartphone-screen-manipulated mindless in the shopping mall, transforming sentient human beings into easily herded cattle.
To see this new hyper-dependence as the ultimate abdication, the ultimate self-mutilation.
Westerners view with horror the traditional Islamic punishment for theft, cutting off the thief's right hand.
[Yet, when the company set up by King Leopold II of the Belgians exploited his vast Congo acquisition for profit, the locals risked having BOTH hands lopped off when they failed to meet daily production targets... And this was done not only to adults but to small children...]
I don't expect readers to follow me easily from this point onwards, but beg patience.
Industrialization, followed by the swift development of robotics, have disempowered hands by the billion... save for the lightning shifting of thumbs on smartphone screens. Yet now we're moving from "Look No Hands" to "Look No Mind"...
We factor in the profits gained by technological progress, even when that progress has ceased to make prosthetic gains and become a self-feeding, self-serving process, completely autonomous, divorced from the human body and mind.
We never count the cost of our cult of so-called "progress".
When I first came to Japan in the early 1970s, I was struck by how, when making a sale, sales people would never count out the change. They'd use mental arithmetic to calculate the amount, then simply hand it to the buyer. Occasionally -- and I recall seeing even more of these in Hongkong -- they'd use an abacus.
Now... I'm aware of no real time gain, but human brainpower has been shoved from the nest by the cuckoo pocket calculator.
In Japan too, at the end of the last century, I visited a sawmill where beams were accurately cut to size without recourse to mechanical measuring devices and cabinet makers worked with the greatest precision, likewise without measuring instruments...
We seem to be bent on far more than neglecting our innate capacities, so immense, so unknown, so unexplored, castrating our minds instead.
I hope something of these thoughts finds the occasional reader with the nous to take them up for what they are or are not worth. And hope they'll at least jolt minds...
French phenomenologist Michel Henry spoke of what he called BARBARISM.
I made a comment once (in regard to some asinine MAGAt meme that a former sergeant of mine had posted) that the only people allowed to vote in the next election should be those who were granted their right to vote via amendment to the constitution. First global reply (meaning from those who thought the meme was "right on") was "Huh?" I then articulated more specifically that both black men and 50+ years later all women were given the right to vote by way of the 14th and 19th Amendments. You should have heard the squeal.
My heart goes out to those brave women who persevered over the decades. One of the most shameful acts was to arrest women suffragettes picketing the White House. They were sent to the Lorton Prison in Virginia. In November 1917, Lorton became notorious for imprisoning the “Silent Sentinel” suffragettes like Dora Lewis and Lucy Burns, who had protested for the right to vote. At the Occoquan Workhouse, they were abused and chained to cells. Their food was rotten and had worms in it. When they protested their treatment by going on hunger strikes, they were force-fed. Their work toward voting rights for women, and being outspoken about poor treatment at the Occoquan Workhouse, helped secure the 19th amendment to the Constitution in 1919. Side Note – I live 5 minutes away from the prison which was built in 1910. Remnants of the prison still exist. It is now called the WORKHOUSE with classes, museum, etc.
I remember being shocked when I first learned about the atrocities that happened at the Occoquan Workhouse, while I was living 30 miles from this place. Some of my artist friends had studios in the WORKHOUSE, but I always had trouble going there, as the energy of suffering is palpable. I'm hoping all the creativity is helping to transform the atmosphere. It's hard to comprehend what occurred under those roofs, the evils perpetrated on women who were marching for the right to vote!
In America! That's amazing. In Australia, even in spite of some bad governments, a great deal of progress has been made on this, to shame the fat white males and lift women to full equality.
I agree, the Democrats could have done more but fears of inflaming the situation stopped that from happening. Playing it safe is often a good strategy but not always. Do you remember Nancy Pelosi opposing the first impeachment, early on? She does not feel that way now.
We must realize that our country is in grave danger and it requires strong action to save it. Did we wait too long? And what do we do when one party is no longer functional? The justice system has been far too lenient with TFG, IMO. There is so much uncertainty ahead.
We need more women legislators. There should be close o a 50/50 range of female to male representation. It is true there are some women for whom I would never vote, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sarah Palin, come to mind. But then there are a number of men for whom I would never vote Matt Gaetz, Kevin McCarthy. Mitch McConnell among the many. It is too bad the framers of the Constitution had not listed good civic behavior, and good character as some of the qualities for candidacy, along with age. They would probably never in their lifetimes the possibility of persons of criminal behavior like Trump would ever be considered worthy of running for office. These are the jobs the DNC and RNC should be doing; finding candidates of quality behavior and dedication to the Common Good instead of personal enrichment and power. Instead the current associations see their only job as collecting money.
MAGAts think chump did nothing wrong, the power of propaganda, and his big mouth. At least 40 years of blather about libtards and feminazis set the stage for W and chump. Plenty of women lapped it up, Phyllis Schlafly head of the pack.
Damn, they should have hitched up and been the horror story of the ages. He and Nancy did bad enough, and I have always thought that she ruled him, by whatever means…
Oh boy, they’re A LOT of folks, especially in politics, I’d like to know the answer to that question about! Pretzel logic??? Maybe how to play the game Twister as a mental exercise? Wish the writer’s strike would be successfully negotiated, ‘cuz we sure do need the late night show hosts to poke holes in & fun at these mental monkey-minds (meaning no offense to monkeys).
"It is too bad the framers of the Constitution had not listed good civic behavior, and good character as some of the qualities for candidacy, along with age." ✅
The absence of an Equal Rights Amendment is symbolic of the struggle we shouldn't be in. It's 2023! And the reality is that we STILL don't get it. Sexism is embedded in the halls of Congress. Nothing has changed. Even our Democrats are silent on this.
It takes two adults working to raise two kids. Federal Funding for day care is about to expire and nobody in Washington DC cares. And soon, one of the adults will be forced to quit working. I wonder which parent that will be...
Please read Catherine Rampell's WaPo column pasted here to beat the paywall:
"In June, when Tracy Fredrick was forced to close her child-care center’s doors for good, 100 kids suddenly lost their care arrangements.
They’re just the start. Nationwide, 3 million more kids are expected to lose their child-care slots in the coming months, after a significant federal funding program ends in September. The country is facing a cascading crisis not only for the children losing care, and their families, and the small businesses that watch and educate children, but also every other sector of the economy that needs the care industry to exist so parents can work.
“People were crying on the phone wanting me to take their kids, saying, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to have to quit my job,’” said Fredrick. She ran Today’s Child Learning Academy, in Waterford, Wis., for eight years, usually with a long waitlist.
There was never exactly an abundance of available child care in this country, given the yawning gap between what most parents can afford and the pay levels required to attract and retain care workers. Then the pandemic further destabilized an already tenuous business model. Providers around the country shut down — or could stay open only intermittently because of frequent covid outbreaks. Employment in the sector plummeted by more than one-third in early 2020.
As the economy reopened, many of those laid-off or furloughed child-care employees decided to leave the sector for good. The pay had never been sufficient, especially relative to the exhausting work of wrangling and educating small children. Now, different opportunities became even more attractive, as other industries facing labor shortages rapidly raised wages. Fredrick said her company’s starting wage was $13 per hour, the average for all child-care workers across Wisconsin; that’s less than new employees make at Walmart or Home Depot.
Think child care is hard to find now? Wait a couple of months.
Another Wisconsin child-care provider I interviewed, Corrine Hendrickson, said her 16-year-old son outearns her, at least on an hourly basis, at his part-time job in the back of a restaurant.
Thankfully, a series of pandemic-era government interventions has helped keep some of these fragile care operations afloat, at least for a while. Among the most significant came via the American Rescue Plan, which awarded states $24 billion in “child-care stabilization grants.” States distributed this money in different ways, with allowable uses including raising staff pay, reducing tuition, and defraying rent and maintenance costs.
The care sector is still struggling, no doubt. The number of employees working for child-care providers remains below pre-pandemic levels. This funding nonetheless helped stave off complete collapse.
Collapse is back on the table, though, as the funding is slated to expire Sept. 30. After that happens, more than 70,000 child-care programs are expected to close entirely, according to estimates from the Century Foundation. Researchers there project that in some parts of the country (Arkansas, Montana, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and D.C.), the number of licensed programs could be cut by half or more.
We’ve already seen a preview of the carnage to come, as states have begun winding down their subsidy programs.
With relatively little notice, Wisconsin slashed its monthly payments to providers in half in May. That helped drive Fredrick’s decision to close the following month. She had been receiving about $15,000 per month from the state’s Child Care Counts program, which she primarily allocated for raises and bonuses, yet still struggled to retain staff. To make up for the lost public funding, she calculated, she would have had to raise rates for infant and toddler care from an already steep $280 per week to $400 per week. She knew this wasn’t feasible for the families she served.
State politicians in Wisconsin and elsewhere are fighting over whether to plug the hole left by the end of federal assistance. Meanwhile, child advocates around the country have urged Congress to simply renew some version of those federal stabilization grants. Republicans insist, though, that programs passed under the auspices of a pandemic response bill should not be extended now that the public health emergency is over — even if other emergencies loom, such as a potential collapse of the labor market as care infrastructure disintegrates.
Even President Biden, who has publicly supported more funding for child care in political campaigns and his annual budgets, has been unwilling to go to bat for it this time. The supplemental appropriations request his administration released this month omitted the issue completely, despite pleas from child-care experts and lawmakers who had been warning of the coming funding cliff for months.
This is astonishingly shortsighted. The littlest Americans need investments in their development. Their parents need help to continue working. And the nation’s economy, both today and tomorrow, would benefit from consistent support for both."
It could appear a contrived connection. But a suspicious majority of male legislators throughout the land seem about to redevelop the 19th Century role of women in the 21st Century.
Six week abortion rules, absent child care and continued pay differences all prepare the nation for half the nation to be kept barefoot in winter and pregnant in Summer.
It is a growing phenomena of both the MAGA Party and many ignorant males to defy the Rights of Mankind and total human equality.
Bill, there is a similar problem at the other end of the age spectrum….elder care. It is underfunded, underpaid and severely understaffed. Add to that that private equity firms are buying up facilities and squeezing their resources dry (as they are doing in other “industries”)…. Sigh, a human-care problem of epic proportions.
Indeed. Most of us have first hand knowledge of this. Someone said that a society or a nation could be judged by how it treats its youngest and its oldest...and its prisoners.
Someday, historians and sociologists will reflect on how a nation with such promise couldn't unite around ideas of compassion, empathy and the efficient treatment of its most vulnerable.
In 2008, I voted for Hillary in the primaries and for Obama in the general election.
As the primary race unfolded, it was do-or-die for Hillary in the North Carolina primary. I planned to stay up late and watch the results come in.
Around 10 or 11 p.m., Hillary and Obama were neck-and-neck, and... %$#@! the computers crashed, just like the computer vote fraud conspiracy theorists talked about.
I waited up, hour after hour, because I wanted to see the moment that results were updated. Around 3:00 the computers came back up: Hillary's total was flat, but Obama had received a big boost, putting the primary (and the nomination) out of reach.
For a couple days, there was talk that Hillary might challenge the results. She didn't, and went on to be Secretary of State. North Carolina Attorney General Ray Cooper went on to br Governor. Charlotte, North Carolina was awarded the next Democratic convention.
Fast forward to 2016. It would appear that, emboldened by Obama's example, the Republicans stole the presidential election from "that woman" Hillary Clinton:
"According to the exit polls conducted by Edison Research, Clinton won four key battleground states (NC, PA, WI, and FL) in the 2016 Presidential Election that she went on to lose in the computerized vote counts. With these states Clinton wins the Electoral College with a count of 306 versus 232 for Trump....Exit polls were conducted in 28 states. In 22 states the discrepancies between the exit polls and the vote count favored Trump. In 12 of these states the discrepancies favoring Trump exceeded the margin of error of the state’s exit poll."
Mike S, the post has already been reported to "Substack admin"as an apparent "repeat" post from yesterday. One of the many tactics is to take "Readers" OFF the LFAA thread to another URL. Caution.
Bryan, can you tell me how to report a possible troll to "Substack admin"? I've looked, but I can't find anywhere to do this.
And yes, this appears to be word-for-word a copy-paste of a post from yesterday. I've reported him/it (bot?) once again, and really, if he/it wants his/its voice heard he/it can write his own column on Substack or elsewhere; he's/it's just wasting bandwidth here.
When did they have the 60 votes necessary in the Senate? I do agree though it needs to be top priority going forward. As well as general voting rights bills
The Constitution requires a 2/3 vote for the following: to find a person guilty of impeachment charges to the Senate by the House of Representatives [only 3 Presidents have been impeached Trump was impeached twice) No President has every been found guilty. To override a Presidential veto both Houses of Congress must have a 2/3 majority. To Amend the Constitution requires 2/3 of both the Houses of Congress to be sent to the States for Ratification and 3/4 of the States must ratify. The filibuster on the other hand appears nowhere in the Constitution; it is a Senate rule, first used in 1837. Rules are NOT signed into law and therefore can be negated at anytime, although I think the Senate would demand 2/3 vote to end it. Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Papers #22 objected eloquently to the use of the 2/3 rule as he feared exactly what we have today. Tyranny of the minority
DW This was a provision in the Constitution to ‘protect’ the rights of small states. Now there are numerous small states (often governed by Republicans) that can block any proposed constitutional amendment intended to ‘modernize’ aspects of the constitution.)
I do not foresee any significant constitutional amendment that can now obtain a 3/4 state approval, even were it to obtain the 2/3 congressional approval.
The only hope for ‘amelioration’ on voting rights and other issues on which the Stench Court seem firmly opposed is through congressional legislation. For this, one would need Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate and a Democratic president.
Might the 2024 election provide this breakthrough?
Let's face it: some might think that it is religious conservatism that is the problem here in the U.S., but more than that it is rank racism. Proof of this is the study by two Univ. of Kansas professors, David Norman Smith and Eric Hanley published in the peer-reviewed journal, Critical Sociology in Feb. 2018. Trump's support comes from racists, misogynists, xenophobes and homophobes. That we're dealing with a KKK mentality becomes clear if you read Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland," about the rise of the KKK in the 1920's. They went underground and rose up as MAGA.
Yup, it seems HCR agrees: "Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the amendment, and the last one necessary to make the amendment the law of the land." That would be 36/48 = 3/4.
Thank you, you are correct it is 3/4, my only excuse is it was 2 AM when I was reading this in my worn copy of the Constitution. Thank you for being observant.
I agree. But what would happen if busloads of young Democrats drove all the minority voters to the polling stations in 2024? I think this might be a way to work around gerrymandering. Especially if the first busses arrived at the polls at least 30 minutes before opening so the first in line were those people the States are trying to disenfranchise. Even the Supreme Court would find it difficult to find for the racists.
I agree, and so would Alexander Hamilton, he predicted this could happen and he wanted plain majorities on all votes. To our woe 60 is often a hill too high to climb. On the horrible chance the Fascist party of Trump and company do manage to split us, I hope the new leaders of the Liberal-Progressive-Democrat whatever, learn their lesson well and the new Country they form sticks with ordinary majorities.
'In the November 2008 elections, the Democratic Party increased its majorities in both chambers (including – when factoring in the two Democratic caucusing independents – a brief filibuster-proof 60-40 supermajority in the Senate), and with Barack Obama being sworn in as president on January 20, 2009, this gave Democrats an overall federal government trifecta for the first time since the 103rd Congress in 1993.'
'However, the Senate supermajority only lasted for a period of 72 working days while the Senate was actually in session.' (Wikipedia) See link below.
Fern did not that senate "supermajority" also include the likes of "democrat" Joe Manchin? ...virtually guaranteeing that anything truly progressive would be stopped cold?
I agree Pat. If anyone should have a moral compass against lying, I would think it would be a Federal Judge in their confirmation hearing! We, as a nation, are and will continue to suffer for their lies until they are removed.
The first two year of Obama's presidency were mostly consumed with getting the ACA passed. Roe was decided in 1973 and the confirmed to be an "essential right" in 1992's Planned Parenthood v. Casey. There didn't seem to be a need to codify the right to an abortion. More fool us.
No, I remember the venom against the “socialist” and the mess he inherited. I was just amazed that he lived through it. Even sane people I knew just lost their minds and the villages lost their idiots. And they never went back. Been in Congress ever since with Rupert to tell them how to vote. Sadly, plenty of women too (Ginni comes to mind). There used to be sane republicans who would work with Dems, they are long gone…
Fair point. Thanks for clarifying, and yes I totally agree. Unfortunately, people take a right for granted until it is taken away, as we are now seeing.
How many elections have we tried to turn people out to vote because the Supreme Court was at stake? Now the country is stuck with this…civil rights disaster…for decades.
The Obama administration had a tiny majority, and his top priority was to do something about healthcare. We didn’t see clearly the malevolence of the Republican Party towards women and progressive action with their thuggish behavior, coming for the Supreme Court and creating the unethical fraud of a judicial body we have today.
We have to be constantly vigilant about our rights and the predation of the “religious” right. They use their money and power to strip women and minorities of any rights in the name of their magic sky daddy.
I agree that the condition of the current Republican Party is stunning. Reason, facts,cooperation and compromise have been cast aside and have been replaced by a fever to win at any cost. If we allow this to continue, we will see political persecution, and people being placed in protective custody.( concentration camps) We already have violence and assassins threatening liberals, judges, juries, witnesses, with the Defendant doing what he can to encourage this. Fortunately , the DOJ has finally stepped up to do what should have been done during 2021. It will take much more effort to stop this.
It’s a common way of referring to the exclusively male “gods” of all the major religions. Join the atheist community, who often see things as they are.
Just a quick review of when Obama was inaugurated. Mitch pledges his top priority is to deny Obama a second term. Kennedy has a brain tumor. The democrats have slim majority in the House and Senate. ( after Al Franken is finally seated following a battle from his opponent who refused to concede) Committees are formed but curiously I sensed a lack of urgency to take advantage of the rare opportunity to pass anything they wanted. Kennedy passes on from his battle with when cancer. The democrats nominate a loyal but politically inept candidate for Kennedy’s seat. The Republican guy with the pick up truck scores an upset victory. Mitch takes over the Senate and eventually stops the Garland nomination to SCOTUS. The moral of the story is you gotta strike while the iron is hot. Don’t debate it, have your agenda and just do it , when you are lucky enough to have a super majority. At least that is the way, I saw it.
Perhaps these next months wouldn't be too soon to start compiling that "agenda?" It seems there may be many heavy lifts on it: remedying the current SCOTUS distortion; fixing loss of women's loss of control over their own bodies (turning Roe into law); eliminating the filibuster; eliminating gerrymandering; re-establishing voting rights act in the Constitution; taking more immediate and dramatic action toward slowing climate change...let's see, I think there are more...
Jack, I'd add to your concise summary the horrendous economic situation in 2008 when Obama took office. The Bush admin. had sent the US and global economy into a tailspin, mainly ( I think) through de-regulation of financial markets which had horrible effects on the real estate market and the stock market. Obama had to deal with huge job losses and business closures, for which the right wing were happy to blame him. It was amazing to me that the Dems were able to still push through our nation's first healthcare initiative at that time.
Not only were they de- regulated, they were allowed to commit massive fraud, with no repercussions. Bloomberg news estimated $12.8 trillion in losses, Bernie Sanders said around $16 trillion and some independent research indicate it was as high as $28 trillion. Those banks should have been nationalized then sold off as smaller banks. Paul Krugman said so. The blame began with Bush Junior and carried over into the Obama presidency. It was a corporate crime wave that was never adequately addressed.
Jack, we must FIRST have an agenda! WHAT is our agenda ....>
With the successes throughout the country of "Bidenomics," I suggest our agenda is ... Democratic Capitalism - and this be THE only thing Dems campaign on. This would embrace ALL forms of civil and gender and ecological rights, in the name of a ... democratic .... economy and society
Frederick, our agenda must be to undo Citizens United, reverse the decision on Roe v Wade, bring back the equal time rule in all media, TV, Radio and cable “news”, pass the ERA, pass a bullet proof voting rights act. In short we must do the impossible. I wish I knew how. Biden has given us a good start but much more must be done.
Until Biden came along, I have been repeatedly disappointed by the Democrats. After a nearly successful coup, the Dems found the courage to act like Democrats again. No more advocacy of “ pay go” by Pelosi. Even the rethuglicans never really believed in that one.
Linda, I’d sure like to see it passed in my lifetime! I remember the debates about the ERA during the Vietnam war saying if the ERA passed women could be drafted & my response was “yeah, equal is equal, as it should be”. [oh and I was against the war but never never never against those who served—I was aghast and angry when protestors sometimes vilified them…and was very vocal about it.]
I don't think Obama even casually imagined the possibility of the SCOTUS being 'manhandled' the way it is, much less overturning of 50 years of precedence; it's actually as I see it, an illegal act.
Obama is a fine person and was a decent, if flawed, President. But he was naive. He thought he could lead as a uniter and unifier. I think he really thought there were less bigots than there are. He was a dreamer.
He had a habit of being generous with the opposition going back to law school, but it did not serve him (or us) well in the White House. On the other hand, he remained alive. I remember canvassing for the ACA at the Staten Island Ferry, and a woman said to me, "Honey, I support the President, and every night I pray for his life."
Thanks Ed Nuhfer, I read the 2009 article. While Obama saw abortion as a moral and personal issue, others saw it as a political issue. They diligently worked at stacking the SCOTUS with judges they wanted , and who dutifully overturned Roe v Wade. I admire Obama in many ways , but when it came to abortion politics he was Bambi in a forest fire.
Not expecting perfection from any elected official. But I remember him campaigning on the issue and then dismissing acting on his campaign emphasis by assigning it low priority for action after being elected. I just thought the reference pertinent so I posted the link with no editorializing. If I misunderstood what occurred, I'm willing to be educated.
The ONLY way this will happen is if we keep Biden/Harris in the White House, AND have a Super Majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Without a Super Majority in both, we will never her everything done that needs to be done. Also, IF we, the people, don’t get all of these Republicans out if the local, state, and federal offices, we’ll never get anything accomplished either.
We have a lot of Erik to do before the 2024 election, and every ejection thereafter.
That's what I figured--especially when I saw, "ejections," but since I often am the last to recognize the obvious, I'm always concerned that I might have missed something that everyone else knows about!
Beware of the spellcheck, the dyslexic's false friend!
And beware even more of Microsoft Word's perverse and grossly misleading notions of grammar -- a semantic minefield for the unwary, especially for foreigners...
Between spell-checker changing a word, my chunky fingers on these little buttons on this phone, and my lying on my back on oxygen and breathing machines. I’ll learn to check stuff sooner or later.
By the way ejections is supposed to be “elections”.
Much needed done or at least started Janet, such as the human right to affordable medical care for all US citizens. When you consider the vast timeline from thought / urgency to actual completion of rights such as tonight's essay, you easily see how slowly we get past fear, ignorance, acceptance. Propaganda then and now is largely responsible; multiply that reality times the sheer crushing number of media outlets this day along with the probable number of propagandist outlets and you begin to see that it's harder now than ever. *edit in > And universal equal care is still not a done deal; however, it is started.
Another women’s march in our pussy hats within days of the vote, Jill Biden, Kamala Harris, and as many congressional wives as will join, leading the march.
There is an element in Democratic politics that does not share in the greater democratic principals. I see them as a Trojan Horse. I had to go left of the party a long time ago. The idea of fighting in the jungles of Vietnam had a lot to do with my move. There are jungles inside the Democratic Party. That's what's happened to the ERA. NAFTA and labor unions. Corporate money. Fossil fuel subsidies. The hits keep coming.
Hi Ally. Let me know when your present. Just link and respond to this message. I'll see you. * Or you can a new message today that alerts me that you're on and I'll reach back from this message.
Ok. Reply right away to 'this message' telling me "you got it", then I'm going to disappear the private data. *Private data that I will send when I know you're right there.
And the struggle goes and will go on until women hold enough votes in both parties and houses of Congress to control the legislation that is brought up for a vote.
I cannot comprehend how Republicans, men and women decide who to vote for. Most of them blindly voted for Trump twice as well as other misogynists time and again. Women's health care is under assault in half the states and yet, these women would rather vote for a convicted sexual predator than someone who has and will look out for their best interests.
I have so much respect for all of the women in the Biden cabinet. Biden trusts their ability to make decisions without retribution because they don't praise him endlessly. Every one of them has strong leadership skills, which should be the most important criteria for a cabinet member.
With at least two sexual predators on the USSC, an ex-president and several members of Congress, how long will it take for women to truly be equal in the eyes of the GOP? Most of the elected Republican officials clearly look upon women as being inferior to men including men of color. In fact, even many Republican women feel women should be subservient to men (Amy Comey-Barrett.)
Ally, in prehistoric times all people realized women were at least equal to if not superior to men, both as food providers and as child-bringers. They seem to have forgotten, and we will have to teach it to them again. At least equal. At least.
Women with leadership skills and strong voices are obviously viewed as threats to the men in power. I really liked the Woodrow Wilson speech referenced in this Letter.
Having come of political age when Phyllis Schlafly was on the loose, I can testify that the right wing does attract "women with leadership skills and strong voices." Women were prominent in the anti-suffrage movement too: Elaine Weiss's THE WOMAN'S HOUR, which focuses on the fight to get the 36th state, Tennessee, to ratify the 19th Amendment, is a good introduction to this. There are quite a few such women on the Republican side of the aisle these days too. Their politics are disgusting, but they wouldn't be as visible as they are without "leadership skills and strong voices." They're also in the forefront of the anti-choice movement, and for that matter they've been the indispensable mainstays of such patriarchal institutions as the Catholic Church for decades.
Funny how they are not *being/living* the idealized version of womanhood. As I mentioned in a comment above, Schlafly, never had to toe-the-line she proscribed for other women.
You'll notice that this is not uncommon among people who live to tell other people what to do -- certain Catholic priests and Evangelical leaders, for instance. My recollection of Schlafly et al. is that they were generally talking about what society as a whole needed, not what each and every woman should do. So to some extent they let themselves off the hook. Schlafly did have six kids, however -- and the wherewithal to keep the home fires burning when she was on the road. (P.S. It's PREscribed, not PROscribed. ;-) They're opposites in meaning.)
To recommend a thought-experiment book on the subject of women/power/agency/control/contribution may I recommend a novel I read back in ‘16 (was on Obama’s 2017 list of favorite reads): The Power by Naomi Alderman. Ha, if only….tho’ one must be careful of the negative effects of power….seductive it is.
Unfortunately, the final push to success for women's suffrage was made by upper class women in the South who convinced the male legislators that they needed the votes of white women to "maintain society as it should be." And not just against Blacks, but also the lower class whites. This argument was also made in the North. As has been seen in the 103 years since, not all women are as progressive and dedicated to rights for all as are all the women I am fortunate to know.
Man, those mealy-mouthed women drive me nuts. And there are a lot of them. I remember a small march for the ERA in the '70's which passed a Methodist church where (apparently) the ladies auxilliay was gardening. They shouted "Shame" to us. And "No to ERA" I couldn't believe how they didn't get it. "The rising of the women is the rising of the (human) race." Bread and Roses.
It seems unfathomable that women in this country were denied voting rights for so long. And yet the inequality continues worldwide. How long is the march for equality in every corner of the globe? And why does it take men/humanity so long to embrace the obvious benefits of equality. What joy exists in oppressing the right of women? It’s so obvious that denying half the population education, equality, and opportunities to contribute is a drag on prosperity. When will the systemic subservience be universally acknowledged as the tragic and shameful atrocity it is?
Shawn, I have been appalled at the societal treatment of women in some countries/cultures….particularly Taliban controlled areas where women are in no way equal citizens & literally locked away. I truly wonder at the character of men who impose such control on women….are they so weak and stupid that they cannot control themselves when near a woman who is not covered head-to-foot? Are they so weak/ignorant that they cannot comprehend women can be talented/contributing members of society. To me is just shows such men are weak and unintelligent and fearful. Hard pass on any guy holding these ideals.
Sadly, the racially based killings in Jacksonville this past weekend are part of the same issue, here and elsewhere. Some people (white men, in this case) are using whatever means possible to keep themselves top dog, including murder. That applies to domestic murders and racially based murders in this country.
It kills me when I hear women say that the ERA is bad because it makes it seem like women aren't strong enough to stand up for themselves. Needless to say these are privileged women with little to no understanding of the ways in which most women are STILL systematically oppressed.
Traitor Ginni. What a POS she is, serving as Clarence’s envoy, garnering scraps of attention --not admiration--as she plays stealthy go-between for neonazi fascists seeking to undermine this democracy. She should be disbarred--and indicted with the rest of the Jan 6 Coup organizers. To think that slob expects to go to heaven, on top of it all...
With respect to your last sentence, quoting Dr House, "as the philospher Jagger once said, 'you can't always get what you want.'" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDa-AJtpdGQ
St. Peter should have a surprise or two, hahaha. If they really believed what they claim, they would be down on their knees. Proof positive they are scam artists
"Some who, having obtained their rights, would deny them to others..."
All those in a nation of immigrants who found in their new freedom an opportunity to turn the tables on centuries of oppression by exercising the role of the oppressor, exterminating and despoiling native Americans, exploiting black slaves and treating their descendants as subhumans, spitting on all successive generations of incomers...
Meanwhile in 19th century Europe, the more civic rights were granted to Jews in France and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the more anti-Semitism flourished... and still does in Viktor Orban's Hungary. In Germany, assimilation went so far that many of the country's settled and well-integrated Jewish citizens were horrified by the influx of pogrom victims from the Russian Empire...
Identity politics, leading all the way to Hitler's wars of conquest, to Babi Yar, to Auschwitz, to Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor and the other industrial Vernichtungslager.
“...an opportunity to turn the tables on centuries of oppression by exercising the role of the oppressor...”
You articulate a fundamental, unresolved problem malignant in the Deep South where I reside. This is the large cornerstone, unspoken, of the “heritage” trumpeted continuously during the moves to diminish the tangible objects of Southern idolatry of the Civil War. In the Antebellum South, the most destitute White had the authority to bear down his knee on the neck of any Black person he encountered (deliberate evocation of George Floyd). The origin of “Georgia cracker” lies with the role of unpropertied white men (hence lacking any significant social status in the agrarian South) employed to crack whips on the backs of slaves to drive them to work. So, too, with White women using the dog whistle of “he looked at me!” to instigate a lynching.
People mourn the loss of a society in which they could wield that kind of power. The loss of that kind of power was not seriously threatened here before the civil rights actions beginning in the sixties. Those people are still alive today. They have passed along
Still, let's be honest, quite apart from southern resentments and their urge to dominate, racism is endemic throughout the US.
One of the first things noticed by friends from Chicago on arriving in France was the number of mixed couples (to whom no one was paying the least attention). That, they said, does not exist in Chicago...
Montesquieu, tongue in cheek:
"It is so natural to think that color is the essence of humanity..."
You are correct regarding the problem existing throughout the country. A large portion of the defeated southerners sought fortune in the west taking their perspective and notion of social structure with them. For its part, the north had not given much thought to what should follow Appomattox. HCR’s West From Appomattox (I do not know how to underline in Substack) makes this pretty clear. The northern states certainly did not anticipate the influx of formerly enslaved people seeking a living and willing to work for paltry wages after having slaved for none. (Jill Lepore’s These Truths is also a thorough narrative.) Needless to say (but I will do so anyway), that produced a lot of resentment that became manifest in a lot of ways like “ghettoing,” redlining residential real estate, denial of business loans, and educational neglect in neighborhood schools (I also lived in Indianapolis throughout the ‘60’s and into the early ‘70’s seeing it first hand). It is a different kind of Jim Crow. So, you are right that the issue is no longer strictly regional in nature. I have lived in the Deep South since the ‘80’s and have not had much opportunity to directly observe elsewhere the strident “Heritage, not hate” which is preserved and celebrated here.
Peter, one delight for me is watching some British TV shows is the variety of POC’s in roles not specifically designated as a “POC role”….like, duh, a regular human doing a job/living a life….as it should always be….as in not remarkable in any way…just normal!!!!
Too many women and men vote against their own interests. While many others of us see the bigger picture and vote FOR other’s interests. Like all of us post-menopausal women who still vote and work for pro-choice candidates even though we are too old to ever need an abortion.
Boy, do I know some of them. About half following instructions from hubby, the rest true believers in bull Schitt (sort of like those upper class women in the South, still trying to “maintain society as it should be”).
It's not just the South, although there's plenty of it there. Keep in mind that before Fanny Lou Hamer demanded a seat at the table, women and people of color were poorly represented in the Democratic Party. I worked for the DNC at the 1968 Convention in Chicago, and there was a "women's division" headed by India Edwards, who was furious that Hubert Humphrey had caved to Mayor Daley and allowed the convention to be held in his city.
The one political regret I have ios being pissed off enough in 1968 that I didn't vote. The only time that ever happened and 55 years later I still kick myself, thinking of the thin margin HHH lost by.
I couldn’t vote in 1960, but I had liked Ike. Didn’t know at the time that Ike didn’t have much use for Dickie and had wanted to replace him in 1956. Therefore escaped any Repub vote. Time to forgive yourself. I have regretted that I didn’t vote twice a few times…
TC, you absolutely called this one right. Privileged Women can pull up the ladder just as quickly as Privileged Men. In fact, these women can be more vicious and dastardly than the men against other upwardly-aspiring women (talking from business experience)!
. . . adding to HCR's last lines: and an overwhelming turnout of women voters in the '24 elections, as well as the turnout of other demographics, will be THE best way possible to get rid of Donald J T***p and the rest of the fascists that now masquerade as the Republican party. If we soundly turn them out of office, we send the strongest of messages that we are not going to give up this democracy for them to destroy. That is the only way we will get through to them that their ideas of governance are completely out of step with the people of this country. The country is evolving and changing from what it has been for far too long, and they'd best change along with it, or forever be marginalized into political irrelevance. We've got this.
Bravo Bruce. But we have to carry the message as best we can and then some; all of us here, to broadcast facts, rather than silence or worse, propaganda. Propaganda has always been with us and it most impacts those who've not been educated to think objectively and spend the effort to learn, think, and act objectively. That''s a larger problem than we ever realized nor wanted to realize. It is what it is though folks; we accept and help, or we all go down together - just like the constitution's framers realized themselves.
If you read the replies to tweets like those of Kevin McCarthy, you might be a little more heartened. He and the other Magats are bashed over and over by many, many who are in the fight with gloves off.
What I intended to convey was that in spite of all the angst, pearl-clutching, etc. etc. about T***p, his crimes, his arrests, his poll numbers, etc. etc. WHATEVER, it all is going to come down to the election in '24. Whoever is the Republican candidate chosen from their cabinet of crazies, we HAVE to send them packing. That will be the ONLY way to settle the arguments and show them exactly how unpopular they and their positions are, once and for all. There is so much "noise" right now coming from all sides, I do manage to try and tune some of it out. Yes, we are in a bit of an echo chamber in this community and most of our comments do end up being "preaching to the choir", and that's okay. But, as Dan says, WE have to take the message beyond these pages. We can and should use this forum to sharpen and hone our ideas so that we can more effectively confront their lies and misinformation. Truth HAS to win out, and it will, but it can't stay within the confines of foræ like these and succeed. My hope and prayer is that over time this is going to happen. Like the bumper sticker says: "We may not be perfect, but they're NUTS!"
I honestly believe reality IS going to begin to dawn on some in the Republican party when they begin to see just how flawed having a candidate with mugshots is going to be when trying to sell their positions. Having most of the candidates raise their hands Wednesday night showing their support of T***p even if he's their candidate represents a true nadir in the history of an American political party, IMO. In the long term, especially once all these trials get underway, is NOT going to play well with Independents in this country, nor with a lot of Republicans. With 14 months or so to go, there is still a lot of time for T***p to totally implode, and my feeling is the other aspirants to the candidacy probably are banking on this. So then, it's easier for them to feign support for T***p NOW ,and then disavow/ignore it later on once T***p is history.
I'm very heartened because I truly believe in people in this country rising to meet challenges and I think if we, Democrats, Independents, et alia can continue to shine the harsh lights of reality on just what the Republican party is espousing as policies, the forces of change CAN get started. But, we need to think BEYOND our own "borders". However one chooses to do that is up to each us. Do what we can, as many of you are. What we can't do is allow ourselves to be discouraged. We have right on our side. After all, "They're NUTS!"
I want to add that there is also reason to hope that the appallingly republican-gerrymandered voting maps in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas (3 - 5 seats), Florida, New York, South Carolina, and Tennessee will have been corrected well in time for the 2024 election. At least four and as many as 9 new House seats created or restored. Brian Taylor Cohen and Marc Elias discuss this at length in this Democracy Watch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJwMDyEpNNY&list=PLOMpnzRkbFsi2yOiCKDN3fYgOzvrvfZm4&index=5.
So there is definite reason to hope for a significant Democratic majority in the House as a result!
And edited to add that the state supreme court in Mississippi just ruled that people who've served their criminal sentences cannot be permanently disenfranchised under the 8th Amendment, which may allow as many as 200,000 Mississipians to be re-enfranchised. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWa2pIa6SFI&list=TLPQMjcwODIwMjNO4Y21LInPuQ&index=8.
Maybe 55 years ago when I was in my early 20s I worked for a woman who was in her eighties or nineties who was I believe Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s daughter or granddaughter. She remembered the suffragettes from when she was a child. It was wonderful to talk to her. I am from Rochester NY where Susan B. Anthony lived and is buried. My sister and her family go to services in the church Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas attended. He is buried in the same cemetery as Susan, Mount Hope. This is not some distant history. It is living history that continues into this day.
It is amazing the years, the decades, the generations that never gave up the fight to make this a more just nation -- a nation moving toward the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Now, much of that is at risk and it is up to us to continue the struggle to protect democracy and to continue toward a more perfect Union. Unfortunately, many Americans do not realize what is at stake. Will enough wake up in time to stop cult Republicans from destroying the American experiment before its 250th birthday?!
More Americans would realize what is at stake if the media weren't spending all its time handing oxygen to those who believe in raw cruel power over democracy.
It has to be severed at the head and the heart Michael; a very tall order indeed. But we must concentrate on severing the head - the leadership, and educating the sheeple; the leadership preys on the unknowing.
What troubles me more that the Americans that do not realize what is at stake are those who want to move towards authoritarian dictatorship. It is primarily white Christian nationalists that are carrying the torch, but the number of people who are supporting that world view is depressing.
Ally, agree…those who look at Hungary’s Orban or Türkiye’s Erdogan and aspire to their “type of democracy” (really autocracy in democracy’s cloak). It’s a scary thought that could, if we are not vigilant and engaged, become a reality.
'In a sense, the growing worldwide movement is circular. The fight for women’s rights in functioning democracies connects with the women fighting repression in autocracies and provides them with strength and support. The fight for women’s autonomy is a fight against authoritarianism.'
___Macarena Sáez, Executive Director, Women's Rights Division
'We have seen how political control over courts has resulted in a decrease of women’s rights. In 2020, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal virtually banned legal abortion when it ruled that abortion in cases of “severe and irreversible fetal defect or incurable illness that threatens the fetus’ life” is unconstitutional. In June, the US Supreme Court eliminated constitutional protection of abortion rights, overturning almost 50 years of jurisprudence. The results of these decisions have been devastating for pregnant women. In El Salvador, courts have sentenced women who had miscarriages to 30 years in prison.'
'We should explicitly recognize that when governments tell women where they can go, whom they can or must go with, what they must wear, and whether they can be pregnant or not, those are signs of authoritarianism. Such restrictions not only directly affect more than half of the population, but, among other effects, also increase the arbitrary power of the government over community. Women’s rights restrictions undermine democracy. Women know this and have been paying the price for speaking out.'
'The Fight for Women’s Rights is a Fight Against Authoritarianism' (HumanRightsWatch) See link below.
This is so important, Fern. Thank you. Women in Mexico and South America are being murdered because they dare speak up and speak out. Women in Muslim countries speak out against the authoritarians. I often wonder why more American women are not organizing and marching like they did in the 60s.
In my little rural county in far far northern coastal CA, the women’s march was the largest demonstration/march our county had EVER seen. Small compared to most cities, but blew the socks off locally! The air just vibrated with positive energy and purpose.
Thank you reading it. This piece makes the point of how women around the world are being subjugated by the authoritarians ___the far-right, bigots, racists, white nationalists, misogynists, fundamentalist religions...! We are in the battle for freedom together.
The movie “Iron-jawed Angels” depicts the suffragette movement leading up to the passage of the 19th Amendment- fascinating. Visiting the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY (it’s free) I learned that native women of the Six Nation Confederacy had much greater legal, political, economic and personal authority than American women. No wonder white men wanted to control and silence the far more advanced native tribes! They couldn’t risk their women clamoring for the same kind of rights and privileges as the women of the tribes.
I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize that not ALL women got the vote in 1920. That it took to 1964 to ‘sort out’ these inequities….
And the paradox of our really desperate need for ALL THOSE WOMEN’S VOTES in 2024 is so painfully obvious and the vision of Fani Lewis this week frames the magnitude of the challenge to our democracy in brilliant ‘color’…..
Native Americans, men and women, didn't become full citizens with the right to vote until 1924. Immigrants of Asian descent couldn't be naturalized until the 1940s.
The list of the oppressed in our history is very extensive. Magats turned it around to defend their positions, but obscure and even hide the complete truth Gailee.
The Equal Rights Amendment has met all of the requirements of Article V of the US Constitution. The ERA is the 28th Amendment. The National Archivist needs only to publish!
Enough states ratified it only after the 7 year deadline. Since then 6 states voted to rescind their ratification. It's a bit more complicated than what you claim, though I wish you were right.
Gailee, Jimmie Cochran Pratt posted a link to an article that provides greater context and explains that the ERA had in fact met the constitutional standards for ratification, but that the Republicans have been thwarting its implementation.
Thanks for this reminder about the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Reading about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony's efforts to win with the right to vote for women, I am grateful for their efforts and newly outraged by the usurpation of Anthony's name by a fake grass-roots organization that seeks to outlaw a woman's right to control her own body. See for instance, https://susanbanthonyhouse.org/blog/misrepresenting-susan-b-anthony-on-abortion/
This is POWERFUL history. I think of my Grandma, single, 33 YEARS OLD, working as the administrator for a Senator in Washington, D.C., and what this must have felt like to her. Unfortunately, we never discussed it. I do, however, know her father's position on women's votes: he, his wife, and their 5 daughters were members of Grace Lutheran Church in Washington, DC (where eventually my Grandpa became the minister, but that's a whole other story. ;-) My great-grandfather was not a bit happy that he was the only one out of his 7-member family who was allowed to vote in various church elections. He pushed for this to be changed, and it was. Given that family history, I have absolutely no doubt that he was in favor of women's suffrage!
Each time we have an election, I created a video which encourages all women to vote. This artwork was included in the last video which was a timeline of women's movements from the earliest suffragettes through the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, ..... This was such an important poster. It called upon women from 'sea to shining sea' to take up the call for the right to vote. It was very successful. Thank you for posting this 💖
Thank you so much for this news today! Another happy moment with special pleasure in being a woman in the midst of these dark ages of social, political & military upheaval with horrendous loss of life not to speak of loss of freedom to conduct our lives according to our own private needs & desires.
The right to vote for all citizens is a basic tenet of democracy, but we still don't have an Equal Rights Amendment. Women still don't earn as much as men do in similar jobs. And women no longer have the right to determine their own health care. We need to keep using the vote to ensure equality in our country. And we need to do it NOW!
And it took nearly 200 years from the country's founding to even get the vote. Shocking and shameful.
Around the globe the times were different. Women were chattel. Even in the new America. In Britain. In the U.S. women were not allowed credit cards in their own name until 1974. Inchworms of progress now being threatened.
“Inchworms of progress now being threatened.” My mantra to my “coming of age” granddaughters.
That's great turn of phrase... my three grandaughters will hear it on our next Facetime call.
💐💐💐💐💐💐
Right. And we who see it clearly must act and educate without judgement.
When I saw the writing on the wall with the certain ending of my marriage, I knew I needed a couple of credit cards. I didn’t have any money and the ex was telling me he wanted to see me living under a bridge. So I applied to three different companies and they all said I had to use my husband’s social security info too to be eligible for a credit card. Even though he was not going to have the card too.
When I wanted to get a separate account for my cell phone because he was using information from my phone clearly looking at my phone records, the phone company said I had to get permission from the ex to separate my cell phone account from his.
So we think we’ve got it all squared away but we don’t in the eyes of many companies!
Denise, when I read your post, my stomach twisted into knots. Do you mean that this was recently? If so, women need to know. Thank you for sharing. 💖
I had a credit card in my own name at the Mormon owned department store in Salt Lake until 1971 when I got married and mentioned that I needed to changed my name to my married name. The card was immediately confiscated and I was told I no longer existed even though I was still working the same job and paid my bills. I never shopped there after that.
This is just gut wrenching. I wish more women understood what is at stake for them. 💖 Thank you for sharing, Linda.
As soon as I graduated from college in 1975 and had a job, I got my first credit cards (gas stations first, then department stores; credit union loan in 1982 for a car; major bank card came later after I established a credit history of always paying my bills in full). All women should do the same if they can. I know some Gen Xers who got burned with student loans, though.
In all honesty, I had possibly $30,000 in credit card debt when I met my husband. I was concentrating on a writing career and only tutoring children in LA so living was expensive. I had just taken a bar tending course which I was terrible at and was going to retake it when I met my husband. Somehow, I make the perfect vodka martini (for him). Ice cold. He later told me that when we met, he couldn't decide if he wanted to date me or hire me so he did both. 😅😅 He paid my credit card debt against my arguing because he didn't want it to grow any larger. We use the banks and the cc companies by paying everything at the end of the month. Few can. They live totally indebted. I am constantly getting emails from bank and cc telling me to take out loans. Disgusting. I hurt for the younger people just beginning.
“And now women are the crucial demographic going into the 2024 elections. “ And won’t it be sweet and so very appropriate to see it be women who drive that bloated orange misogynist into the ground that November, like a rusty nail, Talia?
More like a stake through the heart of a monster.
And GenZ...plus Simon Rosenberg...and turnup, the drive to register 17yo who’ll vote in ‘24...there are good things happening in the background. Let’s stay proactive.
Yea!!!!! I use it for my meditation mantra!!
💯 When I learned how long it took for women to earn the right to vote as a child I was (and still am!) furious at the injustice of it. I couldn’t wait to be able to vote and have voted in every election as soon as turned 18 (though I admit I missed a few midterm elections in college 😉)
One could say: 'Women's rights were not our highest priority" is part of the DNA of our history. Turns out it seems that it is not yet "history," but very much alive in our cartel party politics.
Talia, see my comment above - I'll paste it here > Much needed done or at least started Janet, such as the human right to affordable medical care for all US citizens. When you consider the vast timeline from thought / urgency to actual completion of rights such as tonight's essay, you easily see how slowly we get past fear, ignorance, acceptance. Propaganda then and now is largely responsible; multiply that reality times the sheer crushing number of media outlets this day along with the probable number of propagandist outlets and you begin to see that it's harder now than ever.
You don't mention, D4N, the reactionaries' discreet but immensely powerful fifth- columnist ally, the force of inertia.
You don't mention either that peculiarly American specialty, a "work ethic" probably rooted in chattel slavery and abuse of indentures, living to work instead of working to live. A specialty skillfully used since Reagan and his Reaganomics to gradually erode the economic and social freedoms of America's middle class, its working people, while oligarchs quietly siphoned off the country's wealth and concentrated all power in fewer and fewer hands...
Treating human beings as you wouldn't treat a machine has an important added advantage for exploiters: however able and well educated the exploited employee may be, the treadmill makes it far harder to exercise critical thinking.
Mindless in the workplace ties in perfectly with smartphone-screen-manipulated mindless in the shopping mall, transforming sentient human beings into easily herded cattle.
Your writing calls out why I fear artificial intelligence as the controllers will be those same oligarchs.
A sound point -- and there's no lack of others.
My main one:
To see this new hyper-dependence as the ultimate abdication, the ultimate self-mutilation.
Westerners view with horror the traditional Islamic punishment for theft, cutting off the thief's right hand.
[Yet, when the company set up by King Leopold II of the Belgians exploited his vast Congo acquisition for profit, the locals risked having BOTH hands lopped off when they failed to meet daily production targets... And this was done not only to adults but to small children...]
I don't expect readers to follow me easily from this point onwards, but beg patience.
Industrialization, followed by the swift development of robotics, have disempowered hands by the billion... save for the lightning shifting of thumbs on smartphone screens. Yet now we're moving from "Look No Hands" to "Look No Mind"...
We factor in the profits gained by technological progress, even when that progress has ceased to make prosthetic gains and become a self-feeding, self-serving process, completely autonomous, divorced from the human body and mind.
We never count the cost of our cult of so-called "progress".
When I first came to Japan in the early 1970s, I was struck by how, when making a sale, sales people would never count out the change. They'd use mental arithmetic to calculate the amount, then simply hand it to the buyer. Occasionally -- and I recall seeing even more of these in Hongkong -- they'd use an abacus.
Now... I'm aware of no real time gain, but human brainpower has been shoved from the nest by the cuckoo pocket calculator.
In Japan too, at the end of the last century, I visited a sawmill where beams were accurately cut to size without recourse to mechanical measuring devices and cabinet makers worked with the greatest precision, likewise without measuring instruments...
We seem to be bent on far more than neglecting our innate capacities, so immense, so unknown, so unexplored, castrating our minds instead.
I hope something of these thoughts finds the occasional reader with the nous to take them up for what they are or are not worth. And hope they'll at least jolt minds...
French phenomenologist Michel Henry spoke of what he called BARBARISM.
17th century brought time measurements to the workplace thus ending serenity of work.
George Orwell was a few years early in his prognosis.
I made a comment once (in regard to some asinine MAGAt meme that a former sergeant of mine had posted) that the only people allowed to vote in the next election should be those who were granted their right to vote via amendment to the constitution. First global reply (meaning from those who thought the meme was "right on") was "Huh?" I then articulated more specifically that both black men and 50+ years later all women were given the right to vote by way of the 14th and 19th Amendments. You should have heard the squeal.
Ha Ha Ha, you rabble rouser, Ally House (Oregon)! Bravo!
...and took relentless efforts by those most affected for 72 years!
Never give up, never give up, never ever give up a just and righteous cause!
My heart goes out to those brave women who persevered over the decades. One of the most shameful acts was to arrest women suffragettes picketing the White House. They were sent to the Lorton Prison in Virginia. In November 1917, Lorton became notorious for imprisoning the “Silent Sentinel” suffragettes like Dora Lewis and Lucy Burns, who had protested for the right to vote. At the Occoquan Workhouse, they were abused and chained to cells. Their food was rotten and had worms in it. When they protested their treatment by going on hunger strikes, they were force-fed. Their work toward voting rights for women, and being outspoken about poor treatment at the Occoquan Workhouse, helped secure the 19th amendment to the Constitution in 1919. Side Note – I live 5 minutes away from the prison which was built in 1910. Remnants of the prison still exist. It is now called the WORKHOUSE with classes, museum, etc.
I remember being shocked when I first learned about the atrocities that happened at the Occoquan Workhouse, while I was living 30 miles from this place. Some of my artist friends had studios in the WORKHOUSE, but I always had trouble going there, as the energy of suffering is palpable. I'm hoping all the creativity is helping to transform the atmosphere. It's hard to comprehend what occurred under those roofs, the evils perpetrated on women who were marching for the right to vote!
Thank you for sharing this. The force with which these women were opposed demonstrates the threat they posed to the established order
In America! That's amazing. In Australia, even in spite of some bad governments, a great deal of progress has been made on this, to shame the fat white males and lift women to full equality.
Excellent ❗️ ❗️ ❗️
I agree, the Democrats could have done more but fears of inflaming the situation stopped that from happening. Playing it safe is often a good strategy but not always. Do you remember Nancy Pelosi opposing the first impeachment, early on? She does not feel that way now.
We must realize that our country is in grave danger and it requires strong action to save it. Did we wait too long? And what do we do when one party is no longer functional? The justice system has been far too lenient with TFG, IMO. There is so much uncertainty ahead.
We need more women legislators. There should be close o a 50/50 range of female to male representation. It is true there are some women for whom I would never vote, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sarah Palin, come to mind. But then there are a number of men for whom I would never vote Matt Gaetz, Kevin McCarthy. Mitch McConnell among the many. It is too bad the framers of the Constitution had not listed good civic behavior, and good character as some of the qualities for candidacy, along with age. They would probably never in their lifetimes the possibility of persons of criminal behavior like Trump would ever be considered worthy of running for office. These are the jobs the DNC and RNC should be doing; finding candidates of quality behavior and dedication to the Common Good instead of personal enrichment and power. Instead the current associations see their only job as collecting money.
MAGAts think chump did nothing wrong, the power of propaganda, and his big mouth. At least 40 years of blather about libtards and feminazis set the stage for W and chump. Plenty of women lapped it up, Phyllis Schlafly head of the pack.
Schlafley and Reagan - a match made in the lowest circles of hell.
Damn, they should have hitched up and been the horror story of the ages. He and Nancy did bad enough, and I have always thought that she ruled him, by whatever means…
Jeri, and Phyllis never had to abide by a life (for herself) she consigned other women to live.
The whole cognitive dissonance thing is real. How her behavior and her policies could actually live in the same head - how does that work?
Oh boy, they’re A LOT of folks, especially in politics, I’d like to know the answer to that question about! Pretzel logic??? Maybe how to play the game Twister as a mental exercise? Wish the writer’s strike would be successfully negotiated, ‘cuz we sure do need the late night show hosts to poke holes in & fun at these mental monkey-minds (meaning no offense to monkeys).
"It is too bad the framers of the Constitution had not listed good civic behavior, and good character as some of the qualities for candidacy, along with age." ✅
The absence of an Equal Rights Amendment is symbolic of the struggle we shouldn't be in. It's 2023! And the reality is that we STILL don't get it. Sexism is embedded in the halls of Congress. Nothing has changed. Even our Democrats are silent on this.
It takes two adults working to raise two kids. Federal Funding for day care is about to expire and nobody in Washington DC cares. And soon, one of the adults will be forced to quit working. I wonder which parent that will be...
Please read Catherine Rampell's WaPo column pasted here to beat the paywall:
"In June, when Tracy Fredrick was forced to close her child-care center’s doors for good, 100 kids suddenly lost their care arrangements.
They’re just the start. Nationwide, 3 million more kids are expected to lose their child-care slots in the coming months, after a significant federal funding program ends in September. The country is facing a cascading crisis not only for the children losing care, and their families, and the small businesses that watch and educate children, but also every other sector of the economy that needs the care industry to exist so parents can work.
“People were crying on the phone wanting me to take their kids, saying, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to have to quit my job,’” said Fredrick. She ran Today’s Child Learning Academy, in Waterford, Wis., for eight years, usually with a long waitlist.
There was never exactly an abundance of available child care in this country, given the yawning gap between what most parents can afford and the pay levels required to attract and retain care workers. Then the pandemic further destabilized an already tenuous business model. Providers around the country shut down — or could stay open only intermittently because of frequent covid outbreaks. Employment in the sector plummeted by more than one-third in early 2020.
As the economy reopened, many of those laid-off or furloughed child-care employees decided to leave the sector for good. The pay had never been sufficient, especially relative to the exhausting work of wrangling and educating small children. Now, different opportunities became even more attractive, as other industries facing labor shortages rapidly raised wages. Fredrick said her company’s starting wage was $13 per hour, the average for all child-care workers across Wisconsin; that’s less than new employees make at Walmart or Home Depot.
Think child care is hard to find now? Wait a couple of months.
Another Wisconsin child-care provider I interviewed, Corrine Hendrickson, said her 16-year-old son outearns her, at least on an hourly basis, at his part-time job in the back of a restaurant.
Thankfully, a series of pandemic-era government interventions has helped keep some of these fragile care operations afloat, at least for a while. Among the most significant came via the American Rescue Plan, which awarded states $24 billion in “child-care stabilization grants.” States distributed this money in different ways, with allowable uses including raising staff pay, reducing tuition, and defraying rent and maintenance costs.
The care sector is still struggling, no doubt. The number of employees working for child-care providers remains below pre-pandemic levels. This funding nonetheless helped stave off complete collapse.
Collapse is back on the table, though, as the funding is slated to expire Sept. 30. After that happens, more than 70,000 child-care programs are expected to close entirely, according to estimates from the Century Foundation. Researchers there project that in some parts of the country (Arkansas, Montana, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and D.C.), the number of licensed programs could be cut by half or more.
We’ve already seen a preview of the carnage to come, as states have begun winding down their subsidy programs.
With relatively little notice, Wisconsin slashed its monthly payments to providers in half in May. That helped drive Fredrick’s decision to close the following month. She had been receiving about $15,000 per month from the state’s Child Care Counts program, which she primarily allocated for raises and bonuses, yet still struggled to retain staff. To make up for the lost public funding, she calculated, she would have had to raise rates for infant and toddler care from an already steep $280 per week to $400 per week. She knew this wasn’t feasible for the families she served.
State politicians in Wisconsin and elsewhere are fighting over whether to plug the hole left by the end of federal assistance. Meanwhile, child advocates around the country have urged Congress to simply renew some version of those federal stabilization grants. Republicans insist, though, that programs passed under the auspices of a pandemic response bill should not be extended now that the public health emergency is over — even if other emergencies loom, such as a potential collapse of the labor market as care infrastructure disintegrates.
Even President Biden, who has publicly supported more funding for child care in political campaigns and his annual budgets, has been unwilling to go to bat for it this time. The supplemental appropriations request his administration released this month omitted the issue completely, despite pleas from child-care experts and lawmakers who had been warning of the coming funding cliff for months.
This is astonishingly shortsighted. The littlest Americans need investments in their development. Their parents need help to continue working. And the nation’s economy, both today and tomorrow, would benefit from consistent support for both."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/27/child-care-funding-crisis/
It could appear a contrived connection. But a suspicious majority of male legislators throughout the land seem about to redevelop the 19th Century role of women in the 21st Century.
Six week abortion rules, absent child care and continued pay differences all prepare the nation for half the nation to be kept barefoot in winter and pregnant in Summer.
It is a growing phenomena of both the MAGA Party and many ignorant males to defy the Rights of Mankind and total human equality.
Bill, there is a similar problem at the other end of the age spectrum….elder care. It is underfunded, underpaid and severely understaffed. Add to that that private equity firms are buying up facilities and squeezing their resources dry (as they are doing in other “industries”)…. Sigh, a human-care problem of epic proportions.
Indeed. Most of us have first hand knowledge of this. Someone said that a society or a nation could be judged by how it treats its youngest and its oldest...and its prisoners.
Someday, historians and sociologists will reflect on how a nation with such promise couldn't unite around ideas of compassion, empathy and the efficient treatment of its most vulnerable.
Thank you for your comments. Always insightful.
Protecting children from "indoctrination" is WAY cheaper than saving them from poverty. R's know how to choose their battles.
Affirmative! On a tangent, someone has noticed that since 2016? 20 million seniors have died and 24 young voters have entered the rolls.
In 2008, I voted for Hillary in the primaries and for Obama in the general election.
As the primary race unfolded, it was do-or-die for Hillary in the North Carolina primary. I planned to stay up late and watch the results come in.
Around 10 or 11 p.m., Hillary and Obama were neck-and-neck, and... %$#@! the computers crashed, just like the computer vote fraud conspiracy theorists talked about.
I waited up, hour after hour, because I wanted to see the moment that results were updated. Around 3:00 the computers came back up: Hillary's total was flat, but Obama had received a big boost, putting the primary (and the nomination) out of reach.
For a couple days, there was talk that Hillary might challenge the results. She didn't, and went on to be Secretary of State. North Carolina Attorney General Ray Cooper went on to br Governor. Charlotte, North Carolina was awarded the next Democratic convention.
Fast forward to 2016. It would appear that, emboldened by Obama's example, the Republicans stole the presidential election from "that woman" Hillary Clinton:
"According to the exit polls conducted by Edison Research, Clinton won four key battleground states (NC, PA, WI, and FL) in the 2016 Presidential Election that she went on to lose in the computerized vote counts. With these states Clinton wins the Electoral College with a count of 306 versus 232 for Trump....Exit polls were conducted in 28 states. In 22 states the discrepancies between the exit polls and the vote count favored Trump. In 12 of these states the discrepancies favoring Trump exceeded the margin of error of the state’s exit poll."
Quoted from "2016 Presidential Election Table," compiled by Theodore de Macedo Soares, at https://tdmsresearch.com/2016/11/10/2016-presidential-election-table/
An old resource about computerized vote fraud is "Votescam," with the first 39 pages here:
https://books.google.com/books/about/Votescam.html?id=ZxpZCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&gboemv=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
There he goes again.
Mike S, the post has already been reported to "Substack admin"as an apparent "repeat" post from yesterday. One of the many tactics is to take "Readers" OFF the LFAA thread to another URL. Caution.
Bryan, can you tell me how to report a possible troll to "Substack admin"? I've looked, but I can't find anywhere to do this.
And yes, this appears to be word-for-word a copy-paste of a post from yesterday. I've reported him/it (bot?) once again, and really, if he/it wants his/its voice heard he/it can write his own column on Substack or elsewhere; he's/it's just wasting bandwidth here.
Go to the 3 dots " ... " for the "Edit function" & the other option is for "Report". The "Report' goes Directly to 'LFAA admins".
I will handle the below Thx
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-26-2023/comment/39133074
Substack is watching us. Bryan Sean McKown is a creepy cyber-stalker.
Mike S (AKA Dutch Mike) is trolling me again, without any response to the content of my post.
I will be making further observations about computerized vote fraud in my ongoing responses to this post by another of HCR's readers:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-23-2023/comment/38990741
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Beth Cobb trolls me again.
:-(
When did they have the 60 votes necessary in the Senate? I do agree though it needs to be top priority going forward. As well as general voting rights bills
The Constitution requires a 2/3 vote for the following: to find a person guilty of impeachment charges to the Senate by the House of Representatives [only 3 Presidents have been impeached Trump was impeached twice) No President has every been found guilty. To override a Presidential veto both Houses of Congress must have a 2/3 majority. To Amend the Constitution requires 2/3 of both the Houses of Congress to be sent to the States for Ratification and 3/4 of the States must ratify. The filibuster on the other hand appears nowhere in the Constitution; it is a Senate rule, first used in 1837. Rules are NOT signed into law and therefore can be negated at anytime, although I think the Senate would demand 2/3 vote to end it. Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Papers #22 objected eloquently to the use of the 2/3 rule as he feared exactly what we have today. Tyranny of the minority
respectfully suggest that state ratification of constitutional amendments requires
three fourths approval-
impressive and essential compilation and presentation of information about the
deliberate rarity of constitutional super majorities-
DW This was a provision in the Constitution to ‘protect’ the rights of small states. Now there are numerous small states (often governed by Republicans) that can block any proposed constitutional amendment intended to ‘modernize’ aspects of the constitution.)
I do not foresee any significant constitutional amendment that can now obtain a 3/4 state approval, even were it to obtain the 2/3 congressional approval.
The only hope for ‘amelioration’ on voting rights and other issues on which the Stench Court seem firmly opposed is through congressional legislation. For this, one would need Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate and a Democratic president.
Might the 2024 election provide this breakthrough?
Let's face it: some might think that it is religious conservatism that is the problem here in the U.S., but more than that it is rank racism. Proof of this is the study by two Univ. of Kansas professors, David Norman Smith and Eric Hanley published in the peer-reviewed journal, Critical Sociology in Feb. 2018. Trump's support comes from racists, misogynists, xenophobes and homophobes. That we're dealing with a KKK mentality becomes clear if you read Timothy Egan's book, "A Fever in the Heartland," about the rise of the KKK in the 1920's. They went underground and rose up as MAGA.
Yup, it seems HCR agrees: "Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the amendment, and the last one necessary to make the amendment the law of the land." That would be 36/48 = 3/4.
Thank you, you are correct it is 3/4, my only excuse is it was 2 AM when I was reading this in my worn copy of the Constitution. Thank you for being observant.
The Senate is ridiculously skewed to states rights. But the House should be but is not representative of the population. Due to gerrymandering.
I agree. But what would happen if busloads of young Democrats drove all the minority voters to the polling stations in 2024? I think this might be a way to work around gerrymandering. Especially if the first busses arrived at the polls at least 30 minutes before opening so the first in line were those people the States are trying to disenfranchise. Even the Supreme Court would find it difficult to find for the racists.
I think, that if we do fail as a government and it fractures again, the Filibuster and the Electoral College will be principally responsible.
I agree, and so would Alexander Hamilton, he predicted this could happen and he wanted plain majorities on all votes. To our woe 60 is often a hill too high to climb. On the horrible chance the Fascist party of Trump and company do manage to split us, I hope the new leaders of the Liberal-Progressive-Democrat whatever, learn their lesson well and the new Country they form sticks with ordinary majorities.
From Jack...Mitch pledges his top priority is to deny Obama a second term.
And it has been the same with Biden’s agenda. Spoken out loud and clearly. Amazingly ignorant and destructive.
I see divine intervention taking care of the Mitch issue along with a massive voter response to neutralize the MAGA movement.
'In the November 2008 elections, the Democratic Party increased its majorities in both chambers (including – when factoring in the two Democratic caucusing independents – a brief filibuster-proof 60-40 supermajority in the Senate), and with Barack Obama being sworn in as president on January 20, 2009, this gave Democrats an overall federal government trifecta for the first time since the 103rd Congress in 1993.'
'However, the Senate supermajority only lasted for a period of 72 working days while the Senate was actually in session.' (Wikipedia) See link below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/111th_United_States_Congress#
Fern did not that senate "supermajority" also include the likes of "democrat" Joe Manchin? ...virtually guaranteeing that anything truly progressive would be stopped cold?
This is why the Dems are losing.
"Settled law" until it wasn't.
Exactly. And with their overturn of Roe the tiniest iota of respect I may have held for any of the lying so-called "justices" flew out the window.
I agree Pat. If anyone should have a moral compass against lying, I would think it would be a Federal Judge in their confirmation hearing! We, as a nation, are and will continue to suffer for their lies until they are removed.
Agreed
What is "settled" is that we've got a problem. The six stand on the doorstep of Fascism and the door is already unlocked.
Exactly
The worst nighmare is happening with the SCOTUS - they've become a super legislative body, with no checks and balances. That's Fascism.
I still vividly remember my shock and the sense of betrayal.
They do indeed.
That's what happens when you ass u me.
The first two year of Obama's presidency were mostly consumed with getting the ACA passed. Roe was decided in 1973 and the confirmed to be an "essential right" in 1992's Planned Parenthood v. Casey. There didn't seem to be a need to codify the right to an abortion. More fool us.
Don’t forget Obama was also dealing with the aftermath of the Great Recession. That was priority #1.
True! It's too easy to forget how close we came to a depression.
No, I remember the venom against the “socialist” and the mess he inherited. I was just amazed that he lived through it. Even sane people I knew just lost their minds and the villages lost their idiots. And they never went back. Been in Congress ever since with Rupert to tell them how to vote. Sadly, plenty of women too (Ginni comes to mind). There used to be sane republicans who would work with Dems, they are long gone…
Newt Gingrich had a lot to do with destroying the process of negotiation and compromise. Historians will not treat him kindly, nor should they.
Maybe Mr. history professor will have a chapter about what a piece of Schitt he was his whole life, personal and political
Fair point. Thanks for clarifying, and yes I totally agree. Unfortunately, people take a right for granted until it is taken away, as we are now seeing.
Indeed.
How many elections have we tried to turn people out to vote because the Supreme Court was at stake? Now the country is stuck with this…civil rights disaster…for decades.
Not necessarily Cindy; there are other ways.
Who expected after the row over SCOTUS’s decision in 2000 that it would continue to go rogued...until Trump?
The KKK racists were always there. We just didn't realize the depth and breadth of it. Timothy Egan's book is a must read.
Money talks, SCOTUS listens
The Obama administration had a tiny majority, and his top priority was to do something about healthcare. We didn’t see clearly the malevolence of the Republican Party towards women and progressive action with their thuggish behavior, coming for the Supreme Court and creating the unethical fraud of a judicial body we have today.
We have to be constantly vigilant about our rights and the predation of the “religious” right. They use their money and power to strip women and minorities of any rights in the name of their magic sky daddy.
I agree that the condition of the current Republican Party is stunning. Reason, facts,cooperation and compromise have been cast aside and have been replaced by a fever to win at any cost. If we allow this to continue, we will see political persecution, and people being placed in protective custody.( concentration camps) We already have violence and assassins threatening liberals, judges, juries, witnesses, with the Defendant doing what he can to encourage this. Fortunately , the DOJ has finally stepped up to do what should have been done during 2021. It will take much more effort to stop this.
I like “magic daddy.” It’s a bit flippant, but even the scholars who put it all together would probably have appreciated it.
It’s a common way of referring to the exclusively male “gods” of all the major religions. Join the atheist community, who often see things as they are.
Religion is a childish longing for daddy.
Just a quick review of when Obama was inaugurated. Mitch pledges his top priority is to deny Obama a second term. Kennedy has a brain tumor. The democrats have slim majority in the House and Senate. ( after Al Franken is finally seated following a battle from his opponent who refused to concede) Committees are formed but curiously I sensed a lack of urgency to take advantage of the rare opportunity to pass anything they wanted. Kennedy passes on from his battle with when cancer. The democrats nominate a loyal but politically inept candidate for Kennedy’s seat. The Republican guy with the pick up truck scores an upset victory. Mitch takes over the Senate and eventually stops the Garland nomination to SCOTUS. The moral of the story is you gotta strike while the iron is hot. Don’t debate it, have your agenda and just do it , when you are lucky enough to have a super majority. At least that is the way, I saw it.
Perhaps these next months wouldn't be too soon to start compiling that "agenda?" It seems there may be many heavy lifts on it: remedying the current SCOTUS distortion; fixing loss of women's loss of control over their own bodies (turning Roe into law); eliminating the filibuster; eliminating gerrymandering; re-establishing voting rights act in the Constitution; taking more immediate and dramatic action toward slowing climate change...let's see, I think there are more...
a tall order!
...oh yeah, undoing Citizen's United and at least exposing, if not restoring votes rather than money as the root of all political activity!
NO hope with Biden.
Jack, I'd add to your concise summary the horrendous economic situation in 2008 when Obama took office. The Bush admin. had sent the US and global economy into a tailspin, mainly ( I think) through de-regulation of financial markets which had horrible effects on the real estate market and the stock market. Obama had to deal with huge job losses and business closures, for which the right wing were happy to blame him. It was amazing to me that the Dems were able to still push through our nation's first healthcare initiative at that time.
Not only were they de- regulated, they were allowed to commit massive fraud, with no repercussions. Bloomberg news estimated $12.8 trillion in losses, Bernie Sanders said around $16 trillion and some independent research indicate it was as high as $28 trillion. Those banks should have been nationalized then sold off as smaller banks. Paul Krugman said so. The blame began with Bush Junior and carried over into the Obama presidency. It was a corporate crime wave that was never adequately addressed.
Jack, we must FIRST have an agenda! WHAT is our agenda ....>
With the successes throughout the country of "Bidenomics," I suggest our agenda is ... Democratic Capitalism - and this be THE only thing Dems campaign on. This would embrace ALL forms of civil and gender and ecological rights, in the name of a ... democratic .... economy and society
Frederick, our agenda must be to undo Citizens United, reverse the decision on Roe v Wade, bring back the equal time rule in all media, TV, Radio and cable “news”, pass the ERA, pass a bullet proof voting rights act. In short we must do the impossible. I wish I knew how. Biden has given us a good start but much more must be done.
Agree.
Until Biden came along, I have been repeatedly disappointed by the Democrats. After a nearly successful coup, the Dems found the courage to act like Democrats again. No more advocacy of “ pay go” by Pelosi. Even the rethuglicans never really believed in that one.
I think they have been trying to get it passed and keep failing. Now the question being addressed is should there have been a deadline on getting it passed? https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-equal-rights-amendment-blocked-again-century-after-introduction-2023-04-27/
New tactics are being tried. In light of Roe v Wade everyone realizes how important it could be to women gaining more say over their bodies. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/us/politics/democrats-equal-rights-amendment.html
Linda, I’d sure like to see it passed in my lifetime! I remember the debates about the ERA during the Vietnam war saying if the ERA passed women could be drafted & my response was “yeah, equal is equal, as it should be”. [oh and I was against the war but never never never against those who served—I was aghast and angry when protestors sometimes vilified them…and was very vocal about it.]
Not passing it is crazy. I hope that we see it passed soon.
https://www.reuters.com/article/obama-abortion-idUKN2946642020090430
I don't think Obama even casually imagined the possibility of the SCOTUS being 'manhandled' the way it is, much less overturning of 50 years of precedence; it's actually as I see it, an illegal act.
Mitch screwed his presidency, anybody remember Mitch’s assault on Obama immediately after his inauguration. And he never let up.
Obama is a fine person and was a decent, if flawed, President. But he was naive. He thought he could lead as a uniter and unifier. I think he really thought there were less bigots than there are. He was a dreamer.
Playing it safe, did not work.
He had a habit of being generous with the opposition going back to law school, but it did not serve him (or us) well in the White House. On the other hand, he remained alive. I remember canvassing for the ACA at the Staten Island Ferry, and a woman said to me, "Honey, I support the President, and every night I pray for his life."
Surviving did, for a while
Thanks Ed Nuhfer, I read the 2009 article. While Obama saw abortion as a moral and personal issue, others saw it as a political issue. They diligently worked at stacking the SCOTUS with judges they wanted , and who dutifully overturned Roe v Wade. I admire Obama in many ways , but when it came to abortion politics he was Bambi in a forest fire.
Not expecting perfection from any elected official. But I remember him campaigning on the issue and then dismissing acting on his campaign emphasis by assigning it low priority for action after being elected. I just thought the reference pertinent so I posted the link with no editorializing. If I misunderstood what occurred, I'm willing to be educated.
The ONLY way this will happen is if we keep Biden/Harris in the White House, AND have a Super Majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Without a Super Majority in both, we will never her everything done that needs to be done. Also, IF we, the people, don’t get all of these Republicans out if the local, state, and federal offices, we’ll never get anything accomplished either.
We have a lot of Erik to do before the 2024 election, and every ejection thereafter.
Our Democracy and the Constitution depends on if!
What does, "We have a lot of Erik to do before the 2024 election. . . " mean?
I suspect that the automatic spell-checker turned “work” into “Erik”.
That's what I figured--especially when I saw, "ejections," but since I often am the last to recognize the obvious, I'm always concerned that I might have missed something that everyone else knows about!
Beware of the spellcheck, the dyslexic's false friend!
And beware even more of Microsoft Word's perverse and grossly misleading notions of grammar -- a semantic minefield for the unwary, especially for foreigners...
Between spell-checker changing a word, my chunky fingers on these little buttons on this phone, and my lying on my back on oxygen and breathing machines. I’ll learn to check stuff sooner or later.
By the way ejections is supposed to be “elections”.
I am a Gilbert with same affliction. :)
It’s supposed to be “work”. Sorry ‘bout that! I should have double-checked before posting.
Bravi, detanglers! Many of us on some days need checkers. I thought Erik might be another obscure acronym.
Much needed done or at least started Janet, such as the human right to affordable medical care for all US citizens. When you consider the vast timeline from thought / urgency to actual completion of rights such as tonight's essay, you easily see how slowly we get past fear, ignorance, acceptance. Propaganda then and now is largely responsible; multiply that reality times the sheer crushing number of media outlets this day along with the probable number of propagandist outlets and you begin to see that it's harder now than ever. *edit in > And universal equal care is still not a done deal; however, it is started.
Democrats have 60 Senators for a few months after the 2008 election. The priority, at the time, was passing the Affordable Care Act.
Exactly. Thanks for the comment. Consider my free newsletter/blog https://lenspoliticalnotes.com
Another women’s march in our pussy hats within days of the vote, Jill Biden, Kamala Harris, and as many congressional wives as will join, leading the march.
Also Cecile Richards might organize it.
I have to agree with you.
There is an element in Democratic politics that does not share in the greater democratic principals. I see them as a Trojan Horse. I had to go left of the party a long time ago. The idea of fighting in the jungles of Vietnam had a lot to do with my move. There are jungles inside the Democratic Party. That's what's happened to the ERA. NAFTA and labor unions. Corporate money. Fossil fuel subsidies. The hits keep coming.
Yes. Why has this not been done?
My guess is that the Dems. are not dissimilar to the Repubs?
Women have had to fight hard to be seen as full citizens. Thank you for highlighting the landmarks of the struggle.
Yes, women weren't "given" the right to vote. Indeed, they fought for it.
"There" you are Cathy; I've missed your commentary !
Ahhhh.... You just made my day! Thank you.
I was being heartfelt serious Cathy.
D4N, I was sincerely taking it as a compliment. Truly. Thank you from my heart.
Same here, D4N.
Hi Ally. Let me know when your present. Just link and respond to this message. I'll see you. * Or you can a new message today that alerts me that you're on and I'll reach back from this message.
I think I just solid that.
*You have to keep hitting your 'refresh' button to stay in real time.
Did. Not solid. Carp.
*You have to keep hitting your 'refresh' button to stay in real time.
Yes. Both Signal and What’s App.
Ok. Reply right away to 'this message' telling me "you got it", then I'm going to disappear the private data. *Private data that I will send when I know you're right there.
And the struggle goes and will go on until women hold enough votes in both parties and houses of Congress to control the legislation that is brought up for a vote.
I cannot comprehend how Republicans, men and women decide who to vote for. Most of them blindly voted for Trump twice as well as other misogynists time and again. Women's health care is under assault in half the states and yet, these women would rather vote for a convicted sexual predator than someone who has and will look out for their best interests.
I have so much respect for all of the women in the Biden cabinet. Biden trusts their ability to make decisions without retribution because they don't praise him endlessly. Every one of them has strong leadership skills, which should be the most important criteria for a cabinet member.
With at least two sexual predators on the USSC, an ex-president and several members of Congress, how long will it take for women to truly be equal in the eyes of the GOP? Most of the elected Republican officials clearly look upon women as being inferior to men including men of color. In fact, even many Republican women feel women should be subservient to men (Amy Comey-Barrett.)
The short answer to your question in the last paragraph is, sadly, the 12th of Never.
Ally, in prehistoric times all people realized women were at least equal to if not superior to men, both as food providers and as child-bringers. They seem to have forgotten, and we will have to teach it to them again. At least equal. At least.
Love that reference Ally !
At this moment, I'm on your substack. Give me a like; I'll know your there.
Women with leadership skills and strong voices are obviously viewed as threats to the men in power. I really liked the Woodrow Wilson speech referenced in this Letter.
Having come of political age when Phyllis Schlafly was on the loose, I can testify that the right wing does attract "women with leadership skills and strong voices." Women were prominent in the anti-suffrage movement too: Elaine Weiss's THE WOMAN'S HOUR, which focuses on the fight to get the 36th state, Tennessee, to ratify the 19th Amendment, is a good introduction to this. There are quite a few such women on the Republican side of the aisle these days too. Their politics are disgusting, but they wouldn't be as visible as they are without "leadership skills and strong voices." They're also in the forefront of the anti-choice movement, and for that matter they've been the indispensable mainstays of such patriarchal institutions as the Catholic Church for decades.
Funny how they are not *being/living* the idealized version of womanhood. As I mentioned in a comment above, Schlafly, never had to toe-the-line she proscribed for other women.
You'll notice that this is not uncommon among people who live to tell other people what to do -- certain Catholic priests and Evangelical leaders, for instance. My recollection of Schlafly et al. is that they were generally talking about what society as a whole needed, not what each and every woman should do. So to some extent they let themselves off the hook. Schlafly did have six kids, however -- and the wherewithal to keep the home fires burning when she was on the road. (P.S. It's PREscribed, not PROscribed. ;-) They're opposites in meaning.)
Sigh….once, long ago I used to be an English major….now, in addition to brain-fade, my “clumsy-thumbsy” & autocorrect trip me up!
Good point. Food for thought!
To recommend a thought-experiment book on the subject of women/power/agency/control/contribution may I recommend a novel I read back in ‘16 (was on Obama’s 2017 list of favorite reads): The Power by Naomi Alderman. Ha, if only….tho’ one must be careful of the negative effects of power….seductive it is.
Obstacles are wearing.
Unfortunately, the final push to success for women's suffrage was made by upper class women in the South who convinced the male legislators that they needed the votes of white women to "maintain society as it should be." And not just against Blacks, but also the lower class whites. This argument was also made in the North. As has been seen in the 103 years since, not all women are as progressive and dedicated to rights for all as are all the women I am fortunate to know.
Man, those mealy-mouthed women drive me nuts. And there are a lot of them. I remember a small march for the ERA in the '70's which passed a Methodist church where (apparently) the ladies auxilliay was gardening. They shouted "Shame" to us. And "No to ERA" I couldn't believe how they didn't get it. "The rising of the women is the rising of the (human) race." Bread and Roses.
Just unbelievable.
It seems unfathomable that women in this country were denied voting rights for so long. And yet the inequality continues worldwide. How long is the march for equality in every corner of the globe? And why does it take men/humanity so long to embrace the obvious benefits of equality. What joy exists in oppressing the right of women? It’s so obvious that denying half the population education, equality, and opportunities to contribute is a drag on prosperity. When will the systemic subservience be universally acknowledged as the tragic and shameful atrocity it is?
Shawn, you ask a good question. Sadly, I am afraid the answer is the 12th of Never. Humans seem to be designed to perpetuate systems of subservience.
Where's the teary eyed sad emoticon....
Owning another human being has obvious perks.
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." --Upton Sinclair
Similarly, "traditional" women did not like the ERA because they did not want to upset the status quo of being a comfortably married housewife.
And they are still among us.
oooooh! love this quote.
Shawn, I have been appalled at the societal treatment of women in some countries/cultures….particularly Taliban controlled areas where women are in no way equal citizens & literally locked away. I truly wonder at the character of men who impose such control on women….are they so weak and stupid that they cannot control themselves when near a woman who is not covered head-to-foot? Are they so weak/ignorant that they cannot comprehend women can be talented/contributing members of society. To me is just shows such men are weak and unintelligent and fearful. Hard pass on any guy holding these ideals.
Sadly, the racially based killings in Jacksonville this past weekend are part of the same issue, here and elsewhere. Some people (white men, in this case) are using whatever means possible to keep themselves top dog, including murder. That applies to domestic murders and racially based murders in this country.
It is centuries of ingrained culture.
It kills me when I hear women say that the ERA is bad because it makes it seem like women aren't strong enough to stand up for themselves. Needless to say these are privileged women with little to no understanding of the ways in which most women are STILL systematically oppressed.
“…..couldn’t believe how they didn’t get it.”
Can anyone say Phyllis Schlafly?
And even before Phyllis. And even after...sigh.
Of course in any group there are always some who, having obtained their rights, would deny them to others.
Clarence and Ginni come to mind
Well done.
Traitor Ginni. What a POS she is, serving as Clarence’s envoy, garnering scraps of attention --not admiration--as she plays stealthy go-between for neonazi fascists seeking to undermine this democracy. She should be disbarred--and indicted with the rest of the Jan 6 Coup organizers. To think that slob expects to go to heaven, on top of it all...
With respect to your last sentence, quoting Dr House, "as the philospher Jagger once said, 'you can't always get what you want.'" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDa-AJtpdGQ
Shitty slobs DO NOT go to heaven.
St. Peter should have a surprise or two, hahaha. If they really believed what they claim, they would be down on their knees. Proof positive they are scam artists
"Some who, having obtained their rights, would deny them to others..."
All those in a nation of immigrants who found in their new freedom an opportunity to turn the tables on centuries of oppression by exercising the role of the oppressor, exterminating and despoiling native Americans, exploiting black slaves and treating their descendants as subhumans, spitting on all successive generations of incomers...
Meanwhile in 19th century Europe, the more civic rights were granted to Jews in France and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the more anti-Semitism flourished... and still does in Viktor Orban's Hungary. In Germany, assimilation went so far that many of the country's settled and well-integrated Jewish citizens were horrified by the influx of pogrom victims from the Russian Empire...
Identity politics, leading all the way to Hitler's wars of conquest, to Babi Yar, to Auschwitz, to Treblinka, Belzec, Sobibor and the other industrial Vernichtungslager.
“...an opportunity to turn the tables on centuries of oppression by exercising the role of the oppressor...”
You articulate a fundamental, unresolved problem malignant in the Deep South where I reside. This is the large cornerstone, unspoken, of the “heritage” trumpeted continuously during the moves to diminish the tangible objects of Southern idolatry of the Civil War. In the Antebellum South, the most destitute White had the authority to bear down his knee on the neck of any Black person he encountered (deliberate evocation of George Floyd). The origin of “Georgia cracker” lies with the role of unpropertied white men (hence lacking any significant social status in the agrarian South) employed to crack whips on the backs of slaves to drive them to work. So, too, with White women using the dog whistle of “he looked at me!” to instigate a lynching.
People mourn the loss of a society in which they could wield that kind of power. The loss of that kind of power was not seriously threatened here before the civil rights actions beginning in the sixties. Those people are still alive today. They have passed along
(Accidentally hit “send” in scrolling)
They have passed along their grievances to following generations, hence, “heritage.”
Still, let's be honest, quite apart from southern resentments and their urge to dominate, racism is endemic throughout the US.
One of the first things noticed by friends from Chicago on arriving in France was the number of mixed couples (to whom no one was paying the least attention). That, they said, does not exist in Chicago...
Montesquieu, tongue in cheek:
"It is so natural to think that color is the essence of humanity..."
You are correct regarding the problem existing throughout the country. A large portion of the defeated southerners sought fortune in the west taking their perspective and notion of social structure with them. For its part, the north had not given much thought to what should follow Appomattox. HCR’s West From Appomattox (I do not know how to underline in Substack) makes this pretty clear. The northern states certainly did not anticipate the influx of formerly enslaved people seeking a living and willing to work for paltry wages after having slaved for none. (Jill Lepore’s These Truths is also a thorough narrative.) Needless to say (but I will do so anyway), that produced a lot of resentment that became manifest in a lot of ways like “ghettoing,” redlining residential real estate, denial of business loans, and educational neglect in neighborhood schools (I also lived in Indianapolis throughout the ‘60’s and into the early ‘70’s seeing it first hand). It is a different kind of Jim Crow. So, you are right that the issue is no longer strictly regional in nature. I have lived in the Deep South since the ‘80’s and have not had much opportunity to directly observe elsewhere the strident “Heritage, not hate” which is preserved and celebrated here.
Peter, one delight for me is watching some British TV shows is the variety of POC’s in roles not specifically designated as a “POC role”….like, duh, a regular human doing a job/living a life….as it should always be….as in not remarkable in any way…just normal!!!!
When they say “ the South shall rise again” they really mean it. The rest of us must respond accordingly.
An important point.
Too many women and men vote against their own interests. While many others of us see the bigger picture and vote FOR other’s interests. Like all of us post-menopausal women who still vote and work for pro-choice candidates even though we are too old to ever need an abortion.
Because you're old enough to remember when you got that right, and why it was so important.
*raises hand*…me too. Lived it and will go down fighting for our rights.
Boy, do I know some of them. About half following instructions from hubby, the rest true believers in bull Schitt (sort of like those upper class women in the South, still trying to “maintain society as it should be”).
It's not just the South, although there's plenty of it there. Keep in mind that before Fanny Lou Hamer demanded a seat at the table, women and people of color were poorly represented in the Democratic Party. I worked for the DNC at the 1968 Convention in Chicago, and there was a "women's division" headed by India Edwards, who was furious that Hubert Humphrey had caved to Mayor Daley and allowed the convention to be held in his city.
Did not know that, loved Hubert. He was still so much better than Dickie
The one political regret I have ios being pissed off enough in 1968 that I didn't vote. The only time that ever happened and 55 years later I still kick myself, thinking of the thin margin HHH lost by.
I couldn’t vote in 1960, but I had liked Ike. Didn’t know at the time that Ike didn’t have much use for Dickie and had wanted to replace him in 1956. Therefore escaped any Repub vote. Time to forgive yourself. I have regretted that I didn’t vote twice a few times…
And their place upon their pedestals.
Sadly, I could name names in my family. Women that I previously respected
TC, you absolutely called this one right. Privileged Women can pull up the ladder just as quickly as Privileged Men. In fact, these women can be more vicious and dastardly than the men against other upwardly-aspiring women (talking from business experience)!
I have seen what you report in first-hand action.
. . . adding to HCR's last lines: and an overwhelming turnout of women voters in the '24 elections, as well as the turnout of other demographics, will be THE best way possible to get rid of Donald J T***p and the rest of the fascists that now masquerade as the Republican party. If we soundly turn them out of office, we send the strongest of messages that we are not going to give up this democracy for them to destroy. That is the only way we will get through to them that their ideas of governance are completely out of step with the people of this country. The country is evolving and changing from what it has been for far too long, and they'd best change along with it, or forever be marginalized into political irrelevance. We've got this.
Bravo Bruce. But we have to carry the message as best we can and then some; all of us here, to broadcast facts, rather than silence or worse, propaganda. Propaganda has always been with us and it most impacts those who've not been educated to think objectively and spend the effort to learn, think, and act objectively. That''s a larger problem than we ever realized nor wanted to realize. It is what it is though folks; we accept and help, or we all go down together - just like the constitution's framers realized themselves.
If you read the replies to tweets like those of Kevin McCarthy, you might be a little more heartened. He and the other Magats are bashed over and over by many, many who are in the fight with gloves off.
What I intended to convey was that in spite of all the angst, pearl-clutching, etc. etc. about T***p, his crimes, his arrests, his poll numbers, etc. etc. WHATEVER, it all is going to come down to the election in '24. Whoever is the Republican candidate chosen from their cabinet of crazies, we HAVE to send them packing. That will be the ONLY way to settle the arguments and show them exactly how unpopular they and their positions are, once and for all. There is so much "noise" right now coming from all sides, I do manage to try and tune some of it out. Yes, we are in a bit of an echo chamber in this community and most of our comments do end up being "preaching to the choir", and that's okay. But, as Dan says, WE have to take the message beyond these pages. We can and should use this forum to sharpen and hone our ideas so that we can more effectively confront their lies and misinformation. Truth HAS to win out, and it will, but it can't stay within the confines of foræ like these and succeed. My hope and prayer is that over time this is going to happen. Like the bumper sticker says: "We may not be perfect, but they're NUTS!"
I honestly believe reality IS going to begin to dawn on some in the Republican party when they begin to see just how flawed having a candidate with mugshots is going to be when trying to sell their positions. Having most of the candidates raise their hands Wednesday night showing their support of T***p even if he's their candidate represents a true nadir in the history of an American political party, IMO. In the long term, especially once all these trials get underway, is NOT going to play well with Independents in this country, nor with a lot of Republicans. With 14 months or so to go, there is still a lot of time for T***p to totally implode, and my feeling is the other aspirants to the candidacy probably are banking on this. So then, it's easier for them to feign support for T***p NOW ,and then disavow/ignore it later on once T***p is history.
I'm very heartened because I truly believe in people in this country rising to meet challenges and I think if we, Democrats, Independents, et alia can continue to shine the harsh lights of reality on just what the Republican party is espousing as policies, the forces of change CAN get started. But, we need to think BEYOND our own "borders". However one chooses to do that is up to each us. Do what we can, as many of you are. What we can't do is allow ourselves to be discouraged. We have right on our side. After all, "They're NUTS!"
I want to add that there is also reason to hope that the appallingly republican-gerrymandered voting maps in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas (3 - 5 seats), Florida, New York, South Carolina, and Tennessee will have been corrected well in time for the 2024 election. At least four and as many as 9 new House seats created or restored. Brian Taylor Cohen and Marc Elias discuss this at length in this Democracy Watch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJwMDyEpNNY&list=PLOMpnzRkbFsi2yOiCKDN3fYgOzvrvfZm4&index=5.
There are also cases in Utah and Kentucky challenging gerrymandered voting maps as well - another Democracy Watch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1Go95ZoaZH4.
So there is definite reason to hope for a significant Democratic majority in the House as a result!
And edited to add that the state supreme court in Mississippi just ruled that people who've served their criminal sentences cannot be permanently disenfranchised under the 8th Amendment, which may allow as many as 200,000 Mississipians to be re-enfranchised. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWa2pIa6SFI&list=TLPQMjcwODIwMjNO4Y21LInPuQ&index=8.
I like these guys!
Maybe 55 years ago when I was in my early 20s I worked for a woman who was in her eighties or nineties who was I believe Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s daughter or granddaughter. She remembered the suffragettes from when she was a child. It was wonderful to talk to her. I am from Rochester NY where Susan B. Anthony lived and is buried. My sister and her family go to services in the church Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglas attended. He is buried in the same cemetery as Susan, Mount Hope. This is not some distant history. It is living history that continues into this day.
It is amazing the years, the decades, the generations that never gave up the fight to make this a more just nation -- a nation moving toward the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. Now, much of that is at risk and it is up to us to continue the struggle to protect democracy and to continue toward a more perfect Union. Unfortunately, many Americans do not realize what is at stake. Will enough wake up in time to stop cult Republicans from destroying the American experiment before its 250th birthday?!
More Americans would realize what is at stake if the media weren't spending all its time handing oxygen to those who believe in raw cruel power over democracy.
It has to be severed at the head and the heart Michael; a very tall order indeed. But we must concentrate on severing the head - the leadership, and educating the sheeple; the leadership preys on the unknowing.
What troubles me more that the Americans that do not realize what is at stake are those who want to move towards authoritarian dictatorship. It is primarily white Christian nationalists that are carrying the torch, but the number of people who are supporting that world view is depressing.
Ally, agree…those who look at Hungary’s Orban or Türkiye’s Erdogan and aspire to their “type of democracy” (really autocracy in democracy’s cloak). It’s a scary thought that could, if we are not vigilant and engaged, become a reality.
'In a sense, the growing worldwide movement is circular. The fight for women’s rights in functioning democracies connects with the women fighting repression in autocracies and provides them with strength and support. The fight for women’s autonomy is a fight against authoritarianism.'
___Macarena Sáez, Executive Director, Women's Rights Division
'We have seen how political control over courts has resulted in a decrease of women’s rights. In 2020, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal virtually banned legal abortion when it ruled that abortion in cases of “severe and irreversible fetal defect or incurable illness that threatens the fetus’ life” is unconstitutional. In June, the US Supreme Court eliminated constitutional protection of abortion rights, overturning almost 50 years of jurisprudence. The results of these decisions have been devastating for pregnant women. In El Salvador, courts have sentenced women who had miscarriages to 30 years in prison.'
'We should explicitly recognize that when governments tell women where they can go, whom they can or must go with, what they must wear, and whether they can be pregnant or not, those are signs of authoritarianism. Such restrictions not only directly affect more than half of the population, but, among other effects, also increase the arbitrary power of the government over community. Women’s rights restrictions undermine democracy. Women know this and have been paying the price for speaking out.'
'The Fight for Women’s Rights is a Fight Against Authoritarianism' (HumanRightsWatch) See link below.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/01/04/fight-womens-rights-fight-against-authoritarianism
This is so important, Fern. Thank you. Women in Mexico and South America are being murdered because they dare speak up and speak out. Women in Muslim countries speak out against the authoritarians. I often wonder why more American women are not organizing and marching like they did in the 60s.
"Not organizing and marching like they did in the 60s..."
AND ON JANUARY 21st 2017...
In my little rural county in far far northern coastal CA, the women’s march was the largest demonstration/march our county had EVER seen. Small compared to most cities, but blew the socks off locally! The air just vibrated with positive energy and purpose.
Great!
But now, remind the neighbors: the time is coming to put that sense of purpose to the test.
Great link Fern; grateful. I have 2 daughters; the fight is mine and theirs.
Two daughters, how wonderful; a beautiful Sunday to you and the family, D4N!
Thank You as always Fern. Shared this article with your exerpt. So important.
It is Sunday, and here you are MaryPat. Please have a good one.
Thanks Fern! You, too!
Once again, Fern, you’ve shared important information. Thank you.
Thank you for reading it Mary. Wishiing you a good Sunday.
Another excellent post, Fern! Thanks!
Thank you reading it. This piece makes the point of how women around the world are being subjugated by the authoritarians ___the far-right, bigots, racists, white nationalists, misogynists, fundamentalist religions...! We are in the battle for freedom together.
Fern for President!
Thank you Fern. My backbone just got a little straighter.
Thank you, Gail Adams. I will straighten my backbone as well. On we go together!
Thank you, Fern.
The movie “Iron-jawed Angels” depicts the suffragette movement leading up to the passage of the 19th Amendment- fascinating. Visiting the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY (it’s free) I learned that native women of the Six Nation Confederacy had much greater legal, political, economic and personal authority than American women. No wonder white men wanted to control and silence the far more advanced native tribes! They couldn’t risk their women clamoring for the same kind of rights and privileges as the women of the tribes.
Further proof of how savage the Indigenous peoples were. <sarcasm font>
I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize that not ALL women got the vote in 1920. That it took to 1964 to ‘sort out’ these inequities….
And the paradox of our really desperate need for ALL THOSE WOMEN’S VOTES in 2024 is so painfully obvious and the vision of Fani Lewis this week frames the magnitude of the challenge to our democracy in brilliant ‘color’…..
Native Americans, men and women, didn't become full citizens with the right to vote until 1924. Immigrants of Asian descent couldn't be naturalized until the 1940s.
And then many (Japanese) were incarcerated during WWII because of false fears and beliefs.
The list of the oppressed in our history is very extensive. Magats turned it around to defend their positions, but obscure and even hide the complete truth Gailee.
My (Native American) husband’s father and uncles had to leave the state of Virginia to receive high school diplomas. The women were left behind.
That is such an awful story.
No matter how bad you know it was, it always turns out to be worse. I didn't realize this, though I lived over a decade in D.C. (1970s to mid-80s).
The Equal Rights Amendment has met all of the requirements of Article V of the US Constitution. The ERA is the 28th Amendment. The National Archivist needs only to publish!
Enough states ratified it only after the 7 year deadline. Since then 6 states voted to rescind their ratification. It's a bit more complicated than what you claim, though I wish you were right.
Thank you Jerry. I didn't know this.
Gailee, Jimmie Cochran Pratt posted a link to an article that provides greater context and explains that the ERA had in fact met the constitutional standards for ratification, but that the Republicans have been thwarting its implementation.
Thank you!
Jerry is incorrect.
https://user-35215390377.cld.bz/CBA-Record-May-June-2022/31/
Thank you, Jimmie!
Welcome!
😊
https://user-35215390377.cld.bz/CBA-Record-May-June-2022/31/
This is an effort Jill Wine Banks is pushing.
The Watergate Girl is unstoppable - and unflappable.
For a full explanation, view this by Attorney Michele Thorn
https://user-35215390377.cld.bz/CBA-Record-May-June-2022/31/
Thanks for this reminder about the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Reading about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony's efforts to win with the right to vote for women, I am grateful for their efforts and newly outraged by the usurpation of Anthony's name by a fake grass-roots organization that seeks to outlaw a woman's right to control her own body. See for instance, https://susanbanthonyhouse.org/blog/misrepresenting-susan-b-anthony-on-abortion/
Unreal, such unmitigated gall
Whoa!
This is so wrong!
Thank you for a fascinating 🐇🕳 very much worth the effort!
"... ‘invented memory’—history without foundation in the evidence but with modern utility.” There's a lot of that goin' round these days.
P.S. Now I'm curious as to who Harper D Ward, the author, is. "Harper D. Ward is the pen name of an independent historical researcher."
This is POWERFUL history. I think of my Grandma, single, 33 YEARS OLD, working as the administrator for a Senator in Washington, D.C., and what this must have felt like to her. Unfortunately, we never discussed it. I do, however, know her father's position on women's votes: he, his wife, and their 5 daughters were members of Grace Lutheran Church in Washington, DC (where eventually my Grandpa became the minister, but that's a whole other story. ;-) My great-grandfather was not a bit happy that he was the only one out of his 7-member family who was allowed to vote in various church elections. He pushed for this to be changed, and it was. Given that family history, I have absolutely no doubt that he was in favor of women's suffrage!
Thank you Professor. We try so hard. It’s right in front of us and we do so much wrong. Feeling existential. Everybody deserves to be equal.
A classic 1915 poster says it all "The Awakening: Women Fight for the Vote" https://forgottenfiles.substack.com/p/the-awakening-women-fight-for-the
Each time we have an election, I created a video which encourages all women to vote. This artwork was included in the last video which was a timeline of women's movements from the earliest suffragettes through the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, ..... This was such an important poster. It called upon women from 'sea to shining sea' to take up the call for the right to vote. It was very successful. Thank you for posting this 💖
Thanks for the wonderful poster❗️
Bringing light to dark places...
Kind of the flip side of John Gast's "American Progress"
Good observation!
Such an important essay and very timely!
Thanks Heather!
Thank you so much for this news today! Another happy moment with special pleasure in being a woman in the midst of these dark ages of social, political & military upheaval with horrendous loss of life not to speak of loss of freedom to conduct our lives according to our own private needs & desires.