My question is,
Ladies,
“Are we going to continue letting rich, old, white men in suits, disguised as politicians, run this country?”
Disrespect, intended and deserved.
“I HATE POLITICS” DOESN’T BUY A SEAT AT THE TABLE
In her book, “What Women Really Want”, author Kellyanne Conway, a Republican strategist and pollster, wrote,
“If a woman bristles, “I hate politics,” what she is saying in effect is that she cares not who manages the public schools and what is taught there; how health care is accessed, delivered, and paid for in the United States; whether the nation is safe, prosperous, and globally competitive. Yet clearly she does not mean that. Politics and governance are the vehicles through which change in these areas is accomplished but not necessarily the prism through which women interact with them.”
To my mind, it’s time we women purchase a new prism.
Although women comprise more than half of the electorate in this country, we hold only 16% of the seats in the United States Congress. That’s a disgrace. This column is a plea to women, in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s who are A-political to B-Come-political.
Of the 100 members of the Senate, only seventeen are women. Only ten Senators are below 50 years of age: in their 80’s – 3 Senators; 70’s – 19; 60’s – 38; 50’s – 30. So, the most powerful legislative body in our country is comprised primarily of rich, old, white men who have served and lived in the Capital city for one, two, three and even four decades. That is not okay.
Please understand, I have great respect for experience and maturity, but we haven’t seen much of that lately, have we? What we have seen is inflexibility, rigidity and pomposity. More importantly, old people need sleep! With around-the-clock meetings, media moments and meals with lobbyists, when do these Senators sleep? Take their Lipitor? Floss?
In the House of Representatives, it doesn’t get better. Of the 435 voting Congresspeople, only 72 are women.
NO TIME FOR GLOATING
According to a CBS News/New York Times poll taken this Spring, more than fifty-nine percent of Republicans said they had ‘favorable views of the Tea Party.‘ And, while the media may be playing this as a “Gotcha/all-smiles/we won” moment for the Republican Party, I’m betting that many moderate Republicans are just as dismayed and disgusted and frustrated with the apparent result as I am.
In early July, New York Times columnist David Brooks, a conservative Republican, wrote,
“ The struggles of the next few weeks are about what sort of party the G.O.P. is — a normal conservative party or an odd protest movement that has separated itself from normal governance, the normal rules of evidence and the ancient habits of our nation.
If the debt ceiling talks fail, independent voters will see that Democrats were willing to compromise but Republicans were not. If responsible Republicans don’t take control, independents will conclude that Republican fanaticism caused this default. They will conclude that Republicans are not fit to govern.
And they will be right. “
DO YOU YOUNG WOMEN EVEN GET IT?
By most accounts, the debt ceiling deal, yet to be finalized, is a Bully Bill, legislation-by-fear. The biggest fear? Not being re-elected. Wow, quite a way to run the country, Mr. President and Congress.
What scares me the most, besides my dwindling bank account, is the precedent that is being set. A fanatical, fear-mongering wing of the Republican Party is legislating policy for this country. They have an horrific laundry list but here are just some examples.
Women’s Rights? Republicans tried (and, will again) to block the $70 million Planned Parenthood receives each year under Title X. Now that’s a program implemented under Republican President Richard Nixon in 1970 to provide contraceptives, cancer screenings, pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease testing at community health centers across the country. They want to cut off $293 million the clinics receive through Medicare.
Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz. (69 years old, in Congress since 1987) told the media that abortions are “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.” He later clarified that the statistic, which is inaccurate, was “not intended to be a factual statement.” Wow, what a giggle!
Women’s Rights in every arena are being compromised.
Environmental Concerns? House Republicans, led by the Tea Party wing, are using a 2012 appropriations bill to gut our country’s environmental laws. They have already attached 38 anti-environmental riders to the Interior Department/EPA bill which will effectively dismantle the protections we now have. But, hey, climate change/global warming, is a myth. Right?
War? I am 100% positive that if more women were in Congress,to any significant level, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq would be over. Done. Finished.
DO IT FOR MOM
To my 45- and 41-year old daughters and all the other smart young women I know, it’s time, it’s past time. Find time. We need you to become involved, and to become political. Run for local office or support those like-minded women who do. Make calls. Lick envelopes. Get out the Vote. Find common ground through political dialogue with those whose views you oppose. Be the grown-ups. Raise the bar.
You don’t have to follow in any footsteps. Make your own.