It’s a terrible situation that American women find themselves in as a result of Republican politics when it comes to their rights. Not only are they in deep trouble as regards Roe v. Wade but they are in trouble as regards voting rights as well. Where voting rights is concerned, all of us are in the same boat together; male and female. Of course, the white males that are already in power – that’s why the rest of us are in this situation in the first place – and fighting to avoid ceding even the smallest bit of it, are in a much better position than are the rest of us. Those white males who are in power now are there because they were elected to fill those positions even when all kinds of bells and whistles were sounding and every red light in America were flashing. These bells and whistles began sounding and all of the red lights in America began to flash the moment that Mr. Donald J. Trump announced that he would run for President of the United States of America.
It is indeed a terrible situation that “the rest of us” find ourselves in and, unfortunately, this situation is having an immediate and devastating impact on women: and this devastating impact is due in great part to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) allowing Texas’ SB8 law to stand. And now, the remainder of “the rest of us” – including those white males who want things to be fair and equal although they are in a sort of win-win situation, is scrambling to avoid having our votes not count or losing our right to vote altogether. Women have long been out front in American elections – even though they have not held political office and political positions of power in the numbers that they deserve, and have always had a major impact on their outcomes. Their efforts and input have had tremendous influence in helping to press for fairness and equality due in no small part to the threat of the overt power of their collective vote.
Like it or not, this overt power of women’s collective vote has proven to be a two edge sword: women definitely played a major part in putting Mr. Donald J. Trump into office and likely also played a major part in placing many of those who proved to be his minions into office. That notwithstanding, Mr. Trump played the key role in painting women into the corner that they find themselves in now by packing courts, including the SCOTUS, with conservative judges. There is no doubt that he could not have done this without strong support from then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Once Mr. Trump was elected and Leader McConnell began supporting his agenda, all of the other Republicans in the Senate and the House fell in line. Don’t be fooled, these judges and all of their conservative supporters who claim to be ‘pro life’ rather than ‘pro choice’, are instead really just ‘anti choice’ and not ‘pro life’ and they must be recognized and labeled as such.
These comments about the two edge sword are not meant to point the finger at women and say that they alone are responsible for their current situation and all of our current political woes; all of us have had plenty to do with that: but they are meant to say that just like over the years women have been out front in Americas’ elections, they were also out front when Mr. Trump was elected. More women voted for Mr. Trump than for Hillary Clinton. Let me say it again, more women voted for Mr. Trump than for Hillary Clinton!
In July of 2018, I wrote and posted an article entitled ‘I Want To Understand Why The Majority Of White Women Voted For Trump In 2016’ to my website ‘Political Pawns And Puppets’ after Mr. Trump was elected that mentioned this fact. In that article I referenced an article in HuffPost where a HuffPost reporter named Sarah Ruiz-Grossman apologized to women of color for the fact that white women, because of the large numbers that voted for him, put Mr. Trump over the top. Women deserve the credit for doing a yeoman’s job in their contribution to assuring that American politicians operated with at least some semblance of a moral compass and shaping American elections over the years, so it is not unreasonable or harsh to recognize and have discourse about their contribution to the election of Mr. Trump: witness the article by Ms. Ruiz-Grossman in the HuffPost.
The point of this article is not to rehash what happened in the 2016 election and to gripe and moan and groan about how great things could have been had only more women voted for Secretary Hillary Clinton instead of Mr. Trump and point fingers at women. Instead, the point is to grab women’s attention and hold on to it before the 2022 and 2024 elections so that they will vote to throw those Republican (and Democratic) Trump minions out of office and replace them with true statesmen Republicans (and Democrats – you know who you are) who will put Party and personal interest in its proper place and collectively place America and her interests, democracy and the American people first. That way, elected officials – Democrats, Republicans and Independents will be able to have reasonable, meaningful discourse on all of the issues that require their attention and get America back on the right track.
So always remember – whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent – your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!
Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line