I
thought I would weigh in on the GOP’s “war on women”. Since I am a
woman, it seems an appropriate topic for me to discuss and I can claim
to be somewhat of an expert at being female. Pundits and our friendly
neighborhood Congress and our lawmakers do not seem to agree and those
of us that are weighted with the X-Chromosome are hardly heard from at
all, relegated once again to the back of the galley to be seen and not
heard by our “betters”. Time and again I have sat in stunned disbelief
as the Right gets more and more radicalized and strives to throw us back
to the disparity and callousness of the Victorian era, an idealized version of society that only favored white men, let me clarify that, it
only favored white wealthy men and never really existed in the first place. It is a fairy tale that the wealthy warm themselves with at
bedtime.
Poor?
Too bad, send your lazy kids to work cleaning up the schools they
attend and get your dinner from a garbage can. Oliver would feel right
at home. Can’t pay your bills? We have for-profit prisons just dying to
throw you behind bars. That’s right folks; it is the return of the
debtor’s prison. Lost your job and can’t pay your
mortgage? The big banks will falsify your paperwork, throw you out and
tell you to live in your car, if you have one, while handing themselves
big bonuses. There are homeless camps springing up all over the country,
almost as bad as the Great Depression. Sick and have no insurance?
Treat yourself with a do it yourself guide to surgery, go deeply in debt
to stay alive (or get harassed by bill collectors while in the hospital
or refused treatment until you pay), or just hope for the best until
it’s too late
and you die. Want to get a college degree? Here are some student loans
that will straddle you with massive debt that will take you your entire
working life to repay, that you can never bankrupt away, and with a huge
interest rate to boot. Have skin that is slightly darker than a St.
Tropez tan? Show me your papers, don’t walk to the corner store, just
accept that you will have less chance to get a job and are far more
likely to be thrown in jail.
The
idiocy of all of this is lost on the tea-partiers and the god, guns,
and, gays tunnel vision that is their red meat. The radicalized right
who are in our government has been growing increasingly insane by the
year turning into some crazed Chicken Little who preys on the ignorance
and base fears of the poor, racist, uneducated, and uninformed. All of
this Kabuki Theater in front while their elected officials laugh at
their base behind their back and pick their pocket at the same time,
siphoning off our countries wealth to those that need it least. The
corporations and their fat cats continue to be given free rein to do as
they please and we all suffer as a result, from a polluted environment
to draconian laws to keep us line. And oh soooo much more.
But I digress as I am wont to do when the subject is politics and contemporary America. The Republicans have used abortion and homophobia as vote bait for years. Since the 80s and the days of St. Ronnie, social conservatives have wanted to dictate what we do in our bedrooms and women are 2nd class citizens. Watch out for THE GAY AGENDA and don’t let kids learn about birth control in school it might give them idears. I am a modern woman. I grew up in an America shaped by the brave women (and men) who marched for our right to vote and risked jail and beatings, burned bras for equality, and shouted that we are equal to our male counterparts and should be treated so. The days of being barefoot in the kitchen were supposed to be behind us. And, still, until 2009 and the signing of the Lily Ledbetter act companies could pay a woman less than a man for the same work. 2009. It just seems so through the looking glass bizarre. We are over a decade into the new millennium and now they want to make birth control an issue? REALLY!?! That's all you got? There must be something going on behind the scenes that I can’t see because I just can’t fathom that this party actually believes that denying women access to birth control, calling those that want it sluts who should hold an aspirin between their knees, or lie about women wanting it covered under insurance (like Viagra) and portray it as the government paying for women to become a ride at Disneyland is a winning issue for them. Just because it is legal, not everyone has easy access to birth control. It is safe and has been in use for 5 decades but since it is a prescription drug that means you have to see a doctor. If is is not covered the cost can start at 40 bucks a month. For many low-income women who have to watch every dime, this can be a huge financial burden. I've been there, so I know where of I speak. This whole issue is really about control, white male privilege, and a religious minority who has, does and always will think that their version of morality trumps all and that their rights are sacrosanct. Yours or mine? Not so much.
But I digress as I am wont to do when the subject is politics and contemporary America. The Republicans have used abortion and homophobia as vote bait for years. Since the 80s and the days of St. Ronnie, social conservatives have wanted to dictate what we do in our bedrooms and women are 2nd class citizens. Watch out for THE GAY AGENDA and don’t let kids learn about birth control in school it might give them idears. I am a modern woman. I grew up in an America shaped by the brave women (and men) who marched for our right to vote and risked jail and beatings, burned bras for equality, and shouted that we are equal to our male counterparts and should be treated so. The days of being barefoot in the kitchen were supposed to be behind us. And, still, until 2009 and the signing of the Lily Ledbetter act companies could pay a woman less than a man for the same work. 2009. It just seems so through the looking glass bizarre. We are over a decade into the new millennium and now they want to make birth control an issue? REALLY!?! That's all you got? There must be something going on behind the scenes that I can’t see because I just can’t fathom that this party actually believes that denying women access to birth control, calling those that want it sluts who should hold an aspirin between their knees, or lie about women wanting it covered under insurance (like Viagra) and portray it as the government paying for women to become a ride at Disneyland is a winning issue for them. Just because it is legal, not everyone has easy access to birth control. It is safe and has been in use for 5 decades but since it is a prescription drug that means you have to see a doctor. If is is not covered the cost can start at 40 bucks a month. For many low-income women who have to watch every dime, this can be a huge financial burden. I've been there, so I know where of I speak. This whole issue is really about control, white male privilege, and a religious minority who has, does and always will think that their version of morality trumps all and that their rights are sacrosanct. Yours or mine? Not so much.
I am lucky. I don’t feel
that being female has ever hindered me, a lack of money has done that far
more than my sex. But I feel it keenly when I am denigrated just as
every other minority does and this whole situation, the talking heads, the committees, and the comments from the faceless on the internet show that we girls still have a long way to go. This party has already alienated the
immigrant, the Blacks, the Hispanic, the homosexual, the sane, and now women. Just
who do they think will be left to vote for them? What is really going
on? These shenanigans would be funny if they weren’t so shameful and
other countries watch this and it is embarrassing. I have been lukewarm
on President Obama for a while now but there is no way that I am not
voting this time around. There is NO WAY that I want Etch-a-Sketch
Mittens anywhere near the White House. I am sick to death of fighting
the same battles over and over again when we should use that energy to
fight the real battles. It would be so great if we could actually see
serious action taken on so many of the real issues that face us today
such as never-ending wars, gaining a green energy independence or fixing
public education so that it teaches children to think not memorize.
America has real problems and whether or not I chose to take a pill to
prevent pregnancy that has been around for 50 years is
not one of them. But maybe that is the point all along. Get us to fight
amongst ourselves about non-issues so that we won’t pay attention to
what is really going on, which is really obvious so I don’t have to
point it out. The misdirection is not working as well as once it did,
and I am heartened to think that we are not as ignorant as the powers
that be would have us be. I can still hope that soon we will no longer
put up with this nonsense and make this a better world for all.
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