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Sunday, August 26, 2012

Women Can Thank Republicans for the Vote; They Can Thank Democrats for the War on Women

History is an interesting teacher. The war on women has proceeded for a long time and in the 19th and early 20th century Democrats spearheaded the persecution against women working for suffrage. It was Republicans who championed the vote for women; Democrats vigorously opposed it. The first women delegates to political conventions were elected by Republicans. The 19th amendment to give women the vote was first introduced in 1878 by Sen. A.A. Sargent, a Republican from California. Here's more from the NFRW website:
At the request of Susan B. Anthony, Sen. A.A. Sargent, a Republican from California, introduced the 19th Amendment in 1878. Sargent’s amendment (also known as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment) was defeated four times by a Democrat-controlled Senate. When the Republican Party regained control of Congress in 1919, the Equal Suffrage Amendment finally passed the House in May of that year and in the Senate in June.

When the Amendment was submitted to the states, 26 of the 36 states that ratified it had Republican legislatures. Of the nine states that voted against ratification, eight were Democratic. Twelve states, all Republican, had given women full suffrage before the federal amendment was ratified.

On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th and final state needed to ratify the amendment. The U.S. Secretary of State certified the amendment on Aug. 26, 1920.
Who was one of the chief opponents of giving women the vote? None other than Democrat president, Woodrow Wilson. It was on his watch that women were arrested for picketing outside the White House on the spurious charge of "obstructing traffic." (Funny, that's the same charge I faced several times for trying to save threatened babies at abortion mills.) Suffragettes received draconian jail terms and were mistreated in prison by guards. The terrorizing experience began for the 33 arrested on November 15, 1917. It continued for about ten days until a federal judge ordered most of them released. Some he said would die if they continued to be held. It was no wonder. Several women were beaten, one had a heart attack. They were given worm-infested food. When they went on a hunger strike they were force fed until they vomited, all this with the knowledge of Wilson.

Today's continued war on women takes the form of treating them as recyclable sex objects who are defective because of their fertility. Their health  is jeopardized by chemical birth control and abortion. They are exploited by the pornography industry and sex trafficking. Minority women are particularly targeted. And who supports these things? The Democrat party.

But women are waking up. Evil can only sell itself for so long before its ugly reality is exposed. And the center of the war on women is the same place it was in 1917 -- the White House.

3 comments:

  1. Well, yes, the Republicans started out as the liberal party. The radical Republicans pushed through the 14th amendment, on which so many of the civil rights decisions of the last century have been based. Teddy Roosevelt was broke up big business, and was a conservationist.

    Today's Republicans? Well, they run away from the 14th amendment, conservation, and business regulation. They incorporate Lost Cause rhetoric into their politics, and openly speak of secession.

    Political parties change.

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  2. Fascinating post. But you've completely avoided the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately questions.

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  3. "Political parties Change."

    I agree anonymous - at least with regard to the Republicans. They have certainly become Democrats lite in the area of spending - they are almost as fiscally irresponsible as the Democrats. And the country club Republicans are just as anti-life and pro-eugenics as the Democrats.

    But I can't see that the Dems have changed much. They denied civil rights of blacks; now they deny civil rights of unborn (and even born) babies who are "unwanted." And they went from treating women like second class citizens to treating them like recyclable sex objects. Not much difference if you ask me. And when you see how much their policies have hurt minorities...well they've just shifted their bigotry to modern methods.

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