The Post & Courier ran an article last Wednesday on the local coalition which had organized to send buses to Washington for the "new march," the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's March for Jobs and Freedom. I read through it a few times and then concluded that, once again, women were being left behind.
The purpose of this coalition:
“to stand together against the recent attack on voter rights, against Stand Your Ground and racial profiling, and to continue to raise awareness on unemployment, poverty, gun violence, immigration, gay rights and other critical issues affecting our nation,” according to the National Action network.
Apparently, women's rights fell into the unnamed "other critical issue" category.
Sure, just like in the 60's, we could join up and demonstrate against the war in Vietnam, or for civil rights, but we signed up as helpers, keeping the men happy so they could do the real work.
By the 70's, women like Gloria Steinhem and Betty Friedan confronted that hypocrisy, questioning our second place position in society, from family roles to economic rights. It was a fight that continues today, because we continue to be the second class citizen, with lower pay and less input. While we run more things than ever, we continue to have a supporting role in our own lives.
Our struggle for freedom and equality has never been greater than it is today, when state and federal legislators strike down programs that would provide economic security, and push through laws that make us prisoners of our own bodies.
Imagine vasectomies being banned from government health insurance plans, as are abortions. Suppose a man had to prove he was married before he could buy erectile enhancement drugs? Imagine couples of mixed race being refused service for religious reasons, as pharmacists are now allowed to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions. Just as those of us in the LGBT community are winning hard fought battles for equal rights, women are being threatened with imprisonment for refusing to carry a pregnancy to term.
The public spectacle that we have allowed to exist with women's bodies as the object is as horrific as Russia's attack on its gay citizens. In this country we should be appalled that women would be subject to government control by virtue of the fact that we are capable of getting pregnant.
If so many of our government leaders are opposed to that mythical evil that the ignorant call "Sharia Law," how can they propose the same kind of religious imprisonment and call it Christianity?
Getting back to the article about the 50th Anniversary March, it seems that we -- women -- have gotten so desensitized to our exclusion that we don't even realize that the coalitions that are fighting for freedom and justice are not fighting for ours.
It's time, once again, to open our own eyes, so that we can confront that hypocrisy each time it occurs. Don't let our leaders make a set of rules for free Americans, and another for women. Don't support Democratic candidates who refuse to stand by a woman's right to the same privacy as a man. Stop allowing our government to be controlled by religious extremists that prove their power by exploiting women's bodies.
Don't forget, and don't let our fellow Democrats leave us behind.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Both Sides of Eric Cantor's Mouth
Eric Cantor is suddenly concerned about who's in the doctor's office with us:
For decades we have had to make room for all the representatives of private insurance companies; in the heyday of managed care, there were all kinds of folk, from nurses to administrators, and even occasionally a doctor.
But Eric Cantor's proud contribution to the "manning" of the doctor's office has been all his votes to criminalize abortion. He has voted every which way to limit a woman's rights when she is in her doctor's office, from forcing her to watch a sonogram to controlling how many weeks to who pays for the visit to where she can go.
And all these bills, should they become law, require personnel. More enforcement personnel, in fact, than it would take to stand arm-in-arm guarding the Mexican border.
So I would like to take this opportunity to put Mr. Cantor's mind to rest (and I do believe a little rest would be good for such a panicky little man).
Only an idiot would think that the IRS is going to be involved in medical decisions. The IRS would have lots less to do with medical decisions than does the insurance industry, to which Cantor would like to return all control by repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Obviously, this is another "keyword" mind game. The IRS has become the fall guy for, well, everything, but it started with the "scandal" that right-wing groups were having applications for tax-exempt status denied. In fact, political groups on both sides were being denied, as they should have been. But Democrats being Democrats, instead of saying, "Yeah, what of it?" they cowered and allowed "IRS" to become yet another bad word eliciting knee-jerk rage like Benghazi.
I would like to hear Eric Cantor's defense of those votes which would place law enforcement solidly in the doctor's office with American women, and then he can explain why he thinks one more guy would make a difference in there.
"The doctor's office is the last place anyone would want to find the IRS."I believe his concern stems from the fact that, particularly for women, the doctor's office has been getting crowded.
For decades we have had to make room for all the representatives of private insurance companies; in the heyday of managed care, there were all kinds of folk, from nurses to administrators, and even occasionally a doctor.
But Eric Cantor's proud contribution to the "manning" of the doctor's office has been all his votes to criminalize abortion. He has voted every which way to limit a woman's rights when she is in her doctor's office, from forcing her to watch a sonogram to controlling how many weeks to who pays for the visit to where she can go.
And all these bills, should they become law, require personnel. More enforcement personnel, in fact, than it would take to stand arm-in-arm guarding the Mexican border.
So I would like to take this opportunity to put Mr. Cantor's mind to rest (and I do believe a little rest would be good for such a panicky little man).
Only an idiot would think that the IRS is going to be involved in medical decisions. The IRS would have lots less to do with medical decisions than does the insurance industry, to which Cantor would like to return all control by repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Obviously, this is another "keyword" mind game. The IRS has become the fall guy for, well, everything, but it started with the "scandal" that right-wing groups were having applications for tax-exempt status denied. In fact, political groups on both sides were being denied, as they should have been. But Democrats being Democrats, instead of saying, "Yeah, what of it?" they cowered and allowed "IRS" to become yet another bad word eliciting knee-jerk rage like Benghazi.
I would like to hear Eric Cantor's defense of those votes which would place law enforcement solidly in the doctor's office with American women, and then he can explain why he thinks one more guy would make a difference in there.
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