The Trouble With the Women’s Vote

[AtroposHeart]

I live in a battle ground state where the middle class woman’s vote is being heavily courted. Ads denouncing Romney on the issue of reproductive choice are constant. Let’s leave aside the farcical nature of that strategy for now. Ann Romney herself, in her speech at the GOP convention, offered her own nod to girl power:

Sometimes I think that late at night, if we were all silent for just a few moments and listened carefully, we could hear a great collective sigh from the moms and dads across America who made it through another day, and know that they’ll make it through another one tomorrow. But in that end of the day moment, they just aren’t sure how.

And if you listen carefully, you’ll hear the women sighing a little bit more than the men. It’s how it is, isn’t it?

It’s the moms who always have to work a little harder, to make everything right.

It’s the moms of this nation—single, married, widowed—who really hold this country together. We’re the mothers, we’re the wives, we’re the grandmothers, we’re the big sisters, we’re the little sisters, we’re the daughters.

You know it’s true, don’t you? You’re the ones who always have to do a little more.

You know what it’s like to work a little harder during the day to earn the respect you deserve at work and then come home to help with that book report which just has to be done. You know what those late night phone calls with an elderly parent are like and the long weekend drives just to see how they’re doing. You know the fastest route to the local emergency room and which doctors actually answer the phone when you call at night.

You know what it’s like to sit in that graduation ceremony and wonder how it was that so many long days turned into years that went by so quickly.

You are the best of America. You are the hope of America. There would not be an America without you.

Tonight, we salute you and sing your praises.

I’m not sure if men really understand this, but I don’t think there’s a woman in America who really expects her life to be easy. In our own ways, we all know better!

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, we have to perpetuate the idea that women work harder than men, have it rougher than men, and carry the burdens of this nation on our weary shoulders. Never mind if it’s true or not, we’ve got to get that highly coveted female vote!

I have been considering for several years now the reality that the 19th amendment has done more harm than good. The system whereby a man’s vote was representative of his entire family is preferable to me. I feel so strongly about it that I vote in line with my husband even when I’d rather write in the most radical libertarian candidate I can think of.

This year the two candidates are so indistinguishable on the issues that matter most to us that this may be the first year in many that we lodge a ideologically pure protest vote. But I digress…

I strongly disagree with the notion that every person over the age of 18 should be guaranteed the right to vote. Voting is a privilege, not a right, and a minimum ability to demonstrate an understanding of how government works and the impact of one’s vote should be required before a ballot is handed to any of us.

I’ve never articulated before why I believe the 19th amendment served to hasten what was probably the inevitable demise of a once great republic, and I only do so today because Ann Barnhardt has done a better job than I ever could in her post from September 1st. You’ll have to go there and find the entire reading, but I offer an excerpt which aligns pretty closely with what I think is the problem with universal suffrage for women:

Women are made with a healthy, innate desire to be provided for and protected. I know this because I am a woman, despite the pair of enormous brass balls I have to carry around. Those are merely an anomaly. Please ignore them, and no, you may not touch them. I just polished them last night. Back to the point, women want someone or someTHING to take care of them. For this reason, women tend to lean socialist, and are generally in favor of the expansion of government when the government promises to “provide†for them.

If you have read me for any length of time you could probably write this next paragraph yourself. Satan has used this healthy feminine dynamic, perverted by suffrage, to systematically replace men with the government as the providers in society. A woman no longer has any need of a man. Marriage no longer serves any practical purpose. A woman can whore around and have as many fatherless children as she pleases, and Pimp Daddy Government will always be there to provide. Men have learned well from this, too. Men can also slut it up to their heart’s content knowing that the government will take care of their “women†and raise their children for them. Fathering children no longer binds a man to a woman in any way. Men didn’t vote to societally castrate themselves, and never would have. No – in order for this system to have come about, women’s suffrage was an absolute necessity. Women themselves voted the system into place which objectifies and devalues both them AND their children.

Next, the issue of disenfranchisement. I believe that the 19th amendment actually DISenfranchised more people than it enfranchised. Many, many married couples quickly found themselves voting against one another. The man would tend to vote for the more conservative platform, and the woman would vote for the more socialist platform. When this happened, the effective result was the nullification of BOTH individuals’ votes. What this did was massively reduce the voting influence of the married household, and magnify the voting influence of the unmarried – and the unmarried tend to be younger, and thus more stupid, and thus vote for big government. It was all part of the plan, kids. All part of the plan.

I’ve probably ticked even one or two of you conservatives off with this post. Here is the question I would ask you: Why? Why are you ticked off? If you’re a woman, the reason you are ticked off is because you put yourself and your desire to assert your will above the well-being of society in general. I don’t feel that way. I would give up my vote in a HEARTBEAT if it meant that right-ordered marriage, family and sexuality was restored to our culture. I would rather that my little female namesakes grow up in a world where they did not have the right to vote, but were treated with dignity and respect, were addressed as “ma’amâ€, had doors held for them, and wherein men stood up when they entered the room. I would rather they be courted properly and then marry men who would never, ever leave them, and would consider it their sacred duty and honor to protect and provide for their wives and their children because he LOVED them. Oh, HELL yes. I’ll give up my vote in exchange for that any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Why wouldn’t you?

By Terry of breathing grace

terrybreathinggrace.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/the-trouble-with-the-womens-vote/

[JenniferJuniper]

Makes perfect sense. Women have it harder, so let's give up the right to vote and then men will hold open the door for us and call us ma'am and everything will be great.

No, hun, you haven't ticked anyone off. Everyone's laughing too hard for that.

[SpeakNow]

The stupidity makes my brain hurt.

[meda]

Rarely have I seen the wrong solution so vigorously advocated for a non existent problem. Dignity and respect for women: Those words, I do not think they mean what you think they mean.

[GiGi_41]

I feel like this woman's uterus needs to be revoked!

[erunerune]

Yea, I'm totally OK with this woman choosing not to exercise her right to vote. And it is a right in the US, all revisionist history christianese aside.

[lizziesmom]

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and millions of suffragettes are spinning in their graves.

[themadapple]

Terri of Breathing Grace can kiss my liberal, taxpaying, registered-to-vote flat ass.

I wonder what she would think if her right to spew this sort of bullshit were revoked.

[Hane]

Massive logic fail: We had to work and slave and wait for MEN to deign to give us the vote.

I tend to vote left-of-center not because I need the government to take care of me personally, but because I feel that we need a social compact that does things to take care of EVERYBODY: one that works to give us clean water and air, safe roads, humane working conditions, universal education, law enforcement, and non-toxic food and drugs. Rarely have right-wing men lined up to make sure that our food wasn't tainted, for example--it took exposes like Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" to bring about true change.

Big Daddy capitalism has rarely made any of these things possible simply out of the goodness of its heart--left-wing pressure has to work to curb the excesses of laissez-faire capitalism. Exxon, for instance, isn't about to voluntarily rise up and say, "Hey--how is dependence on oil hurting the planet, and what can we do to fix things?"

[fundiefan]

I hadn't realize she was still around. She has always made my brain itch. She takes things and twists and turns them to such an extreme that they are unrecognizable. She takes such convoluted, legalistic paths to her 'conclusions' that her mind must look like a hay-bale maze.

She has several daughters, right? I hope none of them vote in their adult lives because we the rest of the world doesn't need uneducated, myoginistic, religious women speaking their minds. They need to all shut up and stay in their place - the bedroom / kitchen - as their god, pastors, religious interpretations tell them they should be.

By opening her big mouth (still, after all these years I find it amusing that she's still blogging) she defies all that god means for her to do. But, I suppose that is ok; just not working or voting or being educated or controlling her own fertility/body.

She's a hypocrite of the highest order and always has been. As is typical in fundie land, absolutely nothing has changed in the years since I last knew of her.

[linnea27]

I... I can't, even. There are no words.

[CallmeChaCha]

This so WTF-ery that I'm not sure if I should laugh or be pissed off.

[desertvixen]

Massive logic fail: We had to work and slave and wait for MEN to deign to give us the vote.

I tend to vote left-of-center not because I need the government to take care of me personally, but because I feel that we need a social compact that does things to take care of EVERYBODY: one that works to give us clean water and air, safe roads, humane working conditions, universal education, law enforcement, and non-toxic food and drugs. Rarely have right-wing men lined up to make sure that our food wasn't tainted, for example--it took exposes like Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" to bring about true change.

This, this, THIS!

[Hane]

Ads denouncing Romney on the issue of reproductive choice are constant. Let’s leave aside the farcical nature of that strategy for now.

"Farcical," my rosy red @$$. Yeah, life was a picnic back when women couldn't control their own fertility. Let's go back and be like that!

[Distant Lines]

While she's exercising her right not to vote, I'll be exercising my right to vote. Some fundie women may like to shut their brains off and run on autopilot in their marriage, but I find life to be more enjoyable when I actually use my brain, challenge my beliefs, and educate myself.

[AtroposHeart]

Today, I lost my license for a bit and I panicked about how I would not be able vote.

Me a nineteen year old, who lives off disability, is a progressive, and asexual.

Oh, the horror

[desertvixen]

I strongly disagree with the notion that every person over the age of 18 should be guaranteed the right to vote. Voting is a privilege, not a right, and a minimum ability to demonstrate an understanding of how government works and the impact of one’s vote should be required before a ballot is handed to any of us.

That's cool. Terri can stay home since I think this post illustrates that she does not meet the bare minimum she has just outlined.

Women are made with a healthy, innate desire to be provided for and protected. I know this because I am a woman, despite the pair of enormous brass balls I have to carry around. Those are merely an anomaly. Please ignore them, and no, you may not touch them. I just polished them last night. Back to the point, women want someone or someTHING to take care of them. For this reason, women tend to lean socialist, and are generally in favor of the expansion of government when the government promises to “provide†for them.

You are a woman. You are not all of us.

I don't want to have everything provided, but I do understand the concept of ensuring that there is a safety net that protects EVERYONE, not just me and my little group.

A woman no longer has any need of a man.

Not true. They are handy for lots of things, except when they're patriarchal jerks who expect their entire family to revolve around them, their wishes, and their words. We no longer have any need of THOSE men, thanks much.

I believe that the 19th amendment actually DISenfranchised more people than it enfranchised. Many, many married couples quickly found themselves voting against one another. The man would tend to vote for the more conservative platform, and the woman would vote for the more socialist platform. When this happened, the effective result was the nullification of BOTH individuals’ votes.

Maybe initially, but even then I doubt it. Plus, there is such a thing as married couples who are on the same political page. I don't ever expect to be one of them, but being military we would also vote in different states.

If you’re a woman, the reason you are ticked off is because you put yourself and your desire to assert your will above the well-being of society in general. I don’t feel that way. I would give up my vote in a HEARTBEAT if it meant that right-ordered marriage, family and sexuality was restored to our culture. I would rather that my little female namesakes grow up in a world where they did not have the right to vote, but were treated with dignity and respect, were addressed as “ma’amâ€, had doors held for them, and wherein men stood up when they entered the room. I would rather they be courted properly and then marry men who would never, ever leave them, and would consider it their sacred duty and honor to protect and provide for their wives and their children because he LOVED them. Oh, HELL yes. I’ll give up my vote in exchange for that any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Why wouldn’t you?

Why not? Because too often in this society, "dignity and respect for women" are empty fucking words that are thrown around like deck chairs on the Titanic. A lot of the patriarchal men talk a big game, but honestly, I would rather have some equality and freedom than having the door held for me. I don't need a man to stand up when I enter the room, I need a man to stand up when my rights are being oppressed.

If we did not have the right to vote, I don't think we could retain our "dignity and respect".

[Claddagh]

If these fundie women don't want to vote then they should lead by example and stay home on election day. The rest of us women who want to vote can go to the polling places. These people need to realize that just because they feel it's right for them doesn't mean it's right for all.

These types of people remind me of that girl in college who bitched WWII was started because German women weren't putting out enough. :doh:

[fundiefan]

Women no longer 'need' men? What the hell is her life like to even imagine this? Heterosexual women 'need' men for companionship, touch, intimacy; someone to share life with, trust, believe in; be supported (emotionally) by....and I'm not even touching the 'cute' little things like fixing cars, mowing the lawn, fixing the roof or whatever other stereotype they have of 'strong men'.

I have no need (or desire) to be married, but I have a lot of needs that can only be fulfilled by a man. As a heterosexual woman, the intimacy of a relationship with a man is a need, for me. Not just the sex - the entire package.

Women never, ever 'needed' men to make decisions for them. Pair bonding serves many purposes and always has. None of those purposes have jack shit to do with the woman's brain and her ability, and right, to use it. Men at certain times in history have tried to make that so, using their position in society to accomplish their goals, but it is not an innate, human 'law' that women need men to take care of them or make decisions for them.

This enrages me far more than it should.

Fuck you, Terry. Just...fuck you.

[SPHASH]

Didn't Ann Coulter once say women should not be allowed to vote? Wouldn't surprise me considering she used to be a man.

[mockingbird]

I need to find a way to work "Pimp Daddy Government" into my regular vocabulary :lol:

Have y'all been posting comments? She got particularly upset about the one that said penis and vagina. I bet those words are not appropriate for her blog :dance:

I particularly loved these two quotes from her replies:

For my part, I’d rather the vote be reserved for net taxpayers, business owners, property owners, those who are serving or have served in the military, and married or widowed heads of households. In other words, those with skin in the game regardless of gender. Singling out women as a group to bestow the vote on was an error in my opinion.

In other words, only people who agree with her or whom she deems moral. So was the 15th amendment a mistake too? Because it also singled out another group to vote. :roll:

One can do the same with Latinos, Blacks, gays, any other disenfranchised group and based on what happens, make the claim that it undermines an ideal.

These are disenfranchised groups? I’m not being flippant here. This is a serious questions. How are they disenfranchised? How are they, in 2012, legally blocked from opportunity and enfranchisement?

[notsocommon]

She can stay home, my hubby and I voting for the same ticket will cancel out her headship's vote- HA!

I'll also keep my right to vote, AND the 'gentlemanly' behavior she talked about. Just today, as I went about my business, I had men hold the door open for me at church, the restaurant I had lunch, laundromat, and mall. I was also addressed as 'mam' by store clerks and the like. One even paid a polite compliment and said I smelled nice (I had spilled fragrance oil all over myself at the last store- oops!) Funny how my right to vote hasn't turned the men around me to pigs.

[AtroposHeart]

Didn't Ann Coulter once say women should not be allowed to vote? Wouldn't surprise me considering she used to be a man.

We do not have to bring trans phobia into this. We can disagree with her without that

[Trynn]

Eh, I'm toying with the idea of not voting... because I don't like either candidate... but that's my choice... and it's not like giving up the right to vote would automatically bring about peace on earth, as this woman seems to think. I mean, if it would, I as an individual would consider it, but, even if every single woman everywhere gave up her right to vote, the world would not suddenly become respectful of women. In fact, I forsee quite the opposite happening....

[SPHASH]

We do not have to bring trans phobia into this. We can disagree with her without that

What makes you think I'm transphobic? I don't care if she had a sex change operation or not. I'm just calling her out on her hypocrisy.