Okay, that isn’t a very civil title, but the stakes are high and I can’t contain myself.
I’m a 55-year-old white woman. Our greatest matter of urgency is to be sure a Democrat becomes President in November, and to get as many Democrats as possible elected to both houses of Congress. We’ve also got to do that at the local, grassroots levels. When we’re finished doing that, we’ve got to hold the Democrats accountable for what they do or don’t do. We’ve got to demand representation, respect, and results. If they descend to the depths of the Republicans—or even come close—, we need to fire them all and hire new elected officials. We need to repeat the process until they get the message that we mean business. We need to be uppity women and citizens.
I’ve never supported any political candidate enough to campaign or canvass for them. I’ve observed them all, and none of them inspires my impassioned belief in them. And until now I’ve been able to keep a respectful silence while others with very strong feelings for either Democratic Presidential candidate have public melt-downs when their candidate has a political setback.
I can’t keep quiet now. I’ve just been watching a white woman in my age group on CNN going radioactive about how she’s going to vote for John McCain if HIllary Rodham Clinton doesn’t get the Democratic nomination. She gave as her rationale for this chop-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face tactic that the Democratic party has turned on its women supporters.
To this woman, if you and others like you are reading this: Im sure you aren’t in the majority of Clinton supporters. But you’d like the proven record of Republican conservatives for their all-out war on women’s rights? We’re now paying the price for three decades of conservative domination in America—what it’s done to the American character; the fact of American commerce now as morally bankrupt as it is; the abuses of Wall Street; the abuse of the environment; the poisonous cynicism and corruption of this administration; the use of torture, illegal wiretaps—I could go on for pages.
Back to the issue of women’s rights. You, Screaming Woman: you are old enough to remember the pre-Roe v. Wade days in America. Remember coat hangers, Drano, women hurtling themselves down stairs, illegal abortions performed on garage floors without anesthesia? Remember women dying and left unable to bear children from illegal botched abortions? Remember birth control—even birth control information—outlawed? Remember the early 1970s, when a woman could not get a credit card or a bank loan in her own name—when a woman needed an adult male co-signer’s permission for them because we were deemed incompetent to manage our own financial affairs? Remember gender-segregated “Help Wanted” ads, with the best-paying jobs always in the “MALE HELP WANTED” column? Remember when sexual harassment and sex discrimination were legal? Remember when a woman being used as a punching bag by her husband had no recourse—no earning power, no options, and when the police she turned to often were abusers themselves and sympathized with the husband? Remember when we had no rape shield laws and when marital rape was legal? Remember when domestic violence shelters weren’t even a twinkle in anyone’s eye?
If I remember all of that—and I do—then you do, too, Screaming Woman. Republicans fought the changes that spare today’s women the horrors and humiliations they endured then, and too often still do. Give the Republican Party platform a close reading. They want to return us to those days, want it so bad they can taste it. And because the Democratic Party enacts a decision you (and maybe I) don’t agree with, you’re really going to show them, aren’t you, and vote for McCain? The same McCain who, in front of a group of people and in a fit of mouth-frothing rage, called his wife a cunt? The same McCain who mocked Chelsea Clinton—a child at the time—as ugly? The same McCain who vows to appoint Supreme Court justices who will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade? The same McCain who laughed when a Republican woman asked him, on camera, “How do we beat the bitch?”—referring to Clinton, your candidate of choice? The Democratic Party’s decision is worse than this?
Please. Get things in perspective. I do not consent to watching Republicans—the American Taliban—imposing their misogynistic agenda on my nieces. Grow up. I seldom use language this strong, and I understand your anger. No one wants to see a woman President more than I do. But remember who our adversaries are. Remember what theyr’e made of, remember the damage they’ve done already and the worse damage they will surely do if we vote them back into power. Truly, Screaming Woman, I cannot wrap my brain around any woman willing to hand all American’s women over to these American Taliban if Clinton doesn’t get the nomination.
You implied in your meltdown that the Democratic Party is making a calculated effort to prevent a woman from winning the nomination because she’s a woman. News flash: it’s possible to support Obama and not be a misogynistic goon.
I had to get that out of my system. Now please, calm down and do this. Think critically, interpret accurately what the candidates say and do, reach informed decisions based on their judgment, character, track record, and positions on the issues, and don’t abuse the vote—a precious right—that women fought so courageously to win.
Becca
phantomcity
thehumble1
uppitywoman1
