Opinion
Palin: wrong woman, wrong message
Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.By Gloria Steinem
September 4, 2008
Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to Shirley Chisholm, who first took the "white-male-only" sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million votes.
But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.
Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."
More: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-steinem4-2008sep04,0,5990544,print.story or http://tinyurl.com/695owy
Imagine if men were forced to live under the same rules they try to force onto women: Sorry, no condoms, vasectomies, or hand jobs allowed, because they allow "potential babies" to die. Sorry, you have no right to sue if your employer discriminates against you because you didn't find out that he was cheating you. Sorry, you must justify why you should be allowed to sue the person who assaulted you at the ATM machine because having your wallet out was highly provocative, you should have known better than to behave in such a tempting fashion.
By the way, since when is an anti-abortion person "pro-life?" These same people believe it is acceptable to use capital punishment for convicted felons, even in cases where there is significant and reasonable doubt that the person was even guilty. These same "Pro-life" people believe it is okay to use guns to kill people who are possibly threatening their home. These same "pro-life" people believe it should be illegal for women to have physicians remove growing cells from their bodies, cells which are incapable of surviving outside of that body, yet these "pro-lifers" believe it is acceptable to maim and murder wolves from helicopters. If all life is "sacred" (a religious term), then shouldn't these people be pacifist vegans? Well, they're not. Their mission is actually all about hypocrisy, privilege, and entitlement.
The right for any woman, for any family, to choose whether and when to bring a child into this world is the TRUE "pro-life" stance, the true "pro-family" set of morals. I was brought up to believe that religious tolerance is not optional, is an essential core belief of our country, which means that if a woman, if a family's religion does not allow birth control, does not allow women to make private medical decisions with their physicians, does not allow abortion, then that woman or family has the right to practice that religious belief. It does NOT mean that they are allowed to force their religion on others who do not share those beliefs.
Vote to put "religious freedom" back into the practice of this great country of ours. Vote against the bullies, against those who want laws and constitutional amendments to force their religion, to bully those who do not hold power.
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