MizB is a stunned, weary 20th Century woman struggling to cope with the horror and banality of the present as she reflects on the facts of the past and the unknown of the future.
Since we’re just three
weeks from Election Day, I think now would be a good time to remember that
there are other important considerations besides The Economy
(unemployment/debt/deficit/taxes) and the country’s biggest-ticket-items: Defense,
Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and health care.
Of course all this is critical – especially since the Presidential opponents
have significantly different ideas about how to handle them.
But the “ancillary” issues
that are dismissed in some quarters as "distractions" are in fact very important. They
literally define what our country is now and what it will be in
the future: our culture, our values - not in some uptight religious sense, but having a collective, humane agreement about what matters.Most of these issueshave something to do with women, because the category of "woman" overlaps or underpins almost everything else.
All the major stuff, plus: the future of
the Supreme Court, green energy, effective foreign policy, youth
and adult education, poverty, hunger, homelessness, the erosion of hard won
civil- and voting-rights, Gay Rights and Marriage Equality, immigration and the Dream Act, progressive
science, the environment, infrastructure, reforms and regulations, the
arts and humanities, fighting voter suppression and the lie of voter fraud - all the things that are the essence of our democracy and literally civilize us and make us great.
Women’s rights, woes, and unbalanced
status in America and around the world personify the very real culture clashes that define our times. And it's an outrage that it's happening here in America. After
decades of struggle to earn the right to vote,
not to mention personal autonomy, property
ownership, professional opportunity, pay equity and more, women are now in real danger of losing control of our own bodies due to a growing lack of basic
and preventive health care, and access to legal abortion and contraception, some of which require enduring intrusive, unnecessary medical procedures and
stressful waiting periods. The
repeal of Roe v Wade is a very real possibility in a Conservative/Republican
administration.
However, the greatest
problem women face – to a much lesser extent here in America but to a vast
extent around the world (particularly but not exclusively in the Muslim World)
– is atrocious oppression, abuse and violence. You’re no doubt aware of the 14-year
old Pakistani girl who was recently shot in the head by a Taliban terrorist
because she wrote a blog and spoke out against the Taliban and advocating
education for women. According to CNN’s
Christiane Amanpour, “The United Nations mission in Afghanistan says it
verified 34 attacks against schools in just the first six months of this year, ‘including
cases of burnings of school buildings, targeted killings and intimidation of
teachers and school officials, armed attacks against and occupation of schools,
and closures, particularly of girls’ schools’.”
And let us not forget the
routine honor killings, stonings, cutting off women's noses, acid attacks, indentured servitude, sexual slavery and rape
as a tactic of war and cultural intimidation that are central to radical
Islamic Shariah Law. In addition, throughout
Africa and elsewhere, female genital mutilation is traditional. More recently, the gang rape of lesbians in
order to “turn them into proper African women” has become common, as well as
the rape of young girls (including infants and toddlers) because it’s believed
that sex with a virgin will cure or prevent AIDS.
While most of this behavior is not an
American issue per se, some of it is. Rape,
sexual slavery (of children and women) and severe domestic violence are very
much American problems – particularly growing violence against girlfriends by
teens and young men. And there are millions of educated-but-ignorant young women who cluelessly ignore these matters and truly believe they're living a solid post-feminist reality. The have no real understanding of history and are contributing nothing to the existing, still-valiant struggle - because "feminist" has become an old-fashioned, bad word. They're the Starbucks Generation.
Which feeds in (you should pardon the expression) to America's benefits for the poor that so many
people seem to bitterly resent: Welfare and Food Stamps. Separately or
combined, they barely provide the ability to survive. Although many
Americans picture Welfare
recipients as burly black men laying around the house watching 60”
televisions,
and Food Stamps recipients as people using these benefits for
non-nutritional
purposes, like buying booze and frequenting strip clubs. These
stereotypes
couldn’t be farther from the truth. The vast majority of people on
Welfare and
Food Stamps are white women and their minor children and their lives are brutal. These women
are generally unskilled,
under-educated to the point of illiteracy, and plagued by severe
mental/ emotional problems, too. (Abject poverty, constant worry and
social disdain
can do that to a person.)
Which brings us back to
the fact that women’s health, safety, freedom and prosperity are very much an important part
of the 2012 campaign – domestically and as a foreign policy issue. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton has made great efforts and some strides in the area of
women’s rights by vocally supporting education, professional opportunity and personal
freedom, and forcefully speaking out against horrific violence and oppression of women. Republican John R. Bolton – George W. Bush’s
ambassador to the U.N. and a specialist on security and arms control – is said
to be Romney’s top contender for Clinton’s post should he win the Presidency. Do you imagine Bolton would make the crises and
needs of women a top priority as he travels the world?
How women's issues are
addressed – and whether they are addressed at all – will, for years to come, be a revealing part of what
kind of country we are and strive to be.
I don’t believe that Romney/Ryan support heinous violence against women
here or abroad. But I also don’t think
they have the awareness, sensitivity, and concern we need in the White House, Congress and
Senate. For example, important legislation that would
have helped combat extensive sexual slavery in America has been defeated
numerous times by Republicans. They want small government, but they want it to be just big enough to control women, especially sexually. How long can women here and abroad be denied, defiled, and controlled by men with much power and little compassion?
Human beings are more
important than money, but ironically, a greater empowerment of women in all
ways would be a genuine boon to our economy and those of developing countries who are nonetheless determined to keep women in the Dark Ages.
So gentlemen, please don’t forget your mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, and all the
other women in your life when you vote next month.
And ladies, don’t forget the life and liberty you protect may be your
own – and perhaps those of our sisters worldwide.
Note: Sheer vanity about my political insight
forces me to tell you that I wrote this post last night before I
watched Washington Week, Rachel Maddow, Bill Maher, and a couple of other news analysis programs.If you saw them, too, you understand why…
As much as I’m angered by
political apathy on the part of many of my fellow citizens, I can’t deny the
rationale for their disengagement, given the current “we’ll do whatever’s
necessary to get your vote” political climate.I’m rather aggravated (read: enraged)
that in some quarters of the Right, when the Department of Labor’s Bureau of
Labor Statistics’ Monthly Jobs Report announced a national decrease in
unemployment – down to 7.8% in September from 8.1% in August – this modest but meaningful
improvement was deemed manipulated by “those Chicago guys,” implying the
President and/or his “corrupt” cohorts in the Windy City had cooked the Labor
Department’s stats.
I’m also downright
insulted that Mitt Romney had the chutzpah
to say he was “completely wrong” about his description of 47% of the public; not that he described an idea “inelegantly,” but just plain wrong.And we’re supposed to believe he really means
this!?
When I began writing this
post, I heard John Lennon’s song, “Just
Gimme Me Some Truth” running through my head (check out the lyrics) and I
had a sense of political déjà vu all over again.So, let’s take it from the top.The Right so despises Barack Obama that they
will try to discredit anything that
even slightly indicates his policies are having a positive impact on the
economy.Accordingly, when the Jobs
Report showed unemployment at its lowest point since Obama took office – and
also revised the July and August numbers as down by an additional 40,000 and
47,000 respectively – the Right smelled conspiracy like a dead mouse behind the
refrigerator.The Labor Secretary, Hilda
Solis, dismissed this implication as “ludicrous” and, indeed, there was no
evidence of any irregularity.But the
Right remains unconvinced.They’re also
not entirely sure the sky is blue, but that’s another matter…
Then, in his ongoing
effort to turn his well-coiffed head any way the wind blows, Mitt Romney
disavowed what he clearly believes in his heart-of-hearts.To be fair, on the tape of Romney’s speech to
funders, his 47% statement is clearly a reference to campaign strategy: that a large
segment of the population isn’t worth his pursuing for votes.In that
regard, “it’s not my job to worry about those people” is true.Where he screwed up was in his vehemently warped,
insulting, unguarded description of “the 47%” as people he clearly doesn’t
like, respect, understand, or have the ability to change.His tone and message are obviously genuine.
Politics has never been
the sport of gentlemen, and smart people understand this and view the game as crooked
overall – but still worth watching and taking sides on.That’s because Democracy isn’t a spectator
sport, it’s a serious game that actually affects people’s lives.But when the usual bullshit increases
exponentially and fair play is callously cast aside – through outright lies and
voter suppression, for example – it has an effect on Americans opposite to the
one desired: instead, interest and ticket sales (votes) plummet.Who wants to watch a viciously rigged game
played without the restraint of general rules?To much of the public, politics in the main has the stench of that dead
mouse behind the refrigerator and all it inspires is the desire to eat out.
For his part, the
President’s debate passivity followed by his campaigning indignation is further
proof that he doesn’t want to be perceived as an “angry black man” – which he
is and has every right to be.I keep
fantasizing that he’ll come out for the next debate wearing a dashiki and a
huge Afro wig – just to scare the “BeJesus” out of his opponent and
already-frightened White America.But of
course, he won’t; he can’t.
So we’re confronted with
two politicians who aren’t being fully truthful: one by outrageous commission,
the other by pragmatic omission.Either
way, it’s not being straight with the public, which is a sad and perilous state
of political affairs.Just give us some
truth – and please give us a break.
No fair-minded, honest,
political junkie can deny that Mitt Romney’s assertiveness, vigor, and
semi-specifics stole the show in last night’s first Presidential Debate of the
2012 campaign – much to the consternation of we on the Left who were
hoping (and expecting) that President Obama would wipe up the floor with his
clueless, wealthy, Conservative opponent.Alas, he did not.
Rather than brimming with
the passion, energy, and details he has demonstrated on the campaign trail, the
President came across as passive, petulant, exhausted, disengaged, and either
unwilling or unable to challenge Romney on several of his glaring departures
from his ultra-Conservative, bumbling, stump speeches.Anyone who saw last night’s contest but
hasn’t been paying attention to this endless horse race until now, could easily
come away with the notion that Mitt Romney is a strong, reasonable alternative
to Obama.It doesn’t matter that this
isn’t so; appearances are everything.
Indeed, as I watched the
Obama-supporting pundits last night and early this morning tear their hair out
over the fact that Mr. Obama didn’t challenge Romney’s doesn’t-add-up tax plan,
hit him over the head with the revealing 47% fiasco, remind the proud
businessman that a nation isn’t a corporation, or mention any of the vital
social and cultural issues (women’s issues, in particular) that are a critical
part of this campaign, I was reminded of an amusing historical moment and
comedian Eddie Izzard’s comments about it.
In June of 1963, President
John F. Kennedy addressed a huge, adoring crowd in Berlin.In an effort to convey his spirit of
solidarity with post-WWII West Germany, he told them “Ich bin ein Berliner,” intending
to mean “I’m one of you.”The crowd went
wild – even though “Ich bin ein
Berliner” literally means “I am a doughnut,” referring to the popular German
dessert.The correct phrase would have
eliminated the “ein.”But as Eddie
Izzard has said, “It proves once again [that in public speaking] it’s 70% how
you look, 20% how you sound, and 10% what you say [that matters].”
Last night’s debate proved
anew that this formula is true, in large part, I believe, becausethe President couldn’t politically speak truth to aspirational
power.He couldn’t say “I saved this
country from falling into another Great Depression after GWBush fucked
everything up,” or “It’s a miracle that I was able to get anything done when, from Day One, your party was dedicated to
having me fail and getting rid of me,” or “I’ve had to govern while being
continually accused of being an anti-business Socialist, not being a Real
American in my understanding of this country, not being a native-born citizen,
and being a Muslim who’s trying to have the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood take over
the White House.”And most of all, he
couldn’t say “What really burns your ass is that a black man is in charge, and
you’d like to ‘take the country back’ to the multitude of inequities of the
1950s.”
Until a few years from
now, when the post-presidency “a look into the Obama White House” books come
out (yes, I know there are already a few), we probably won’t know why the
President chose to handle the first debate as he did – and it had to have been
a deliberate decision, because there’s no doubt that Mr. Obama has a mass of
facts at his fingertips.For example, during
a speech in May of this year at the NanoTech Complex at the State University of
New York in Albany, Mr.
Obama said: “Companies get tax breaks for moving factories, jobs and
profits overseas. They can actually end up saving on their tax bill when
they make the move.”This is something
that Mr. Romney claimed to know nothing about last night, despite his own
business history of considerable outsourcing.
So, I encourage my fellow
Obama supporters to not lose heart.There’s still plenty of time for Romney to put his foot back in his
mouth while speaking out of both sides of it.And, there are still three more debates (two presidential, one
vice-presidential) to come, during which, I’m confident, Mr. Obama and Mr.
Biden will land hard punches on the Far Right that Romney alternately embraces
and rejects, depending on who he’s talking to.It ain’t over ‘til the proverbial fat lady sings – and I’m not even
humming…
MizB is a single, 67-year-old, born-and-bred New Yorker, raised in the Bronx and (primarily) Brooklyn by her White/Jewish mother and Black (West Indian)/Episcopalian father; she steadfastly considers herself biracial. She is an Old School Liberal who participated in the major human rights movements of her time: Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, anti-Vietnam War, and Gay Rights. She is greatly distressed by the stupidity, rigidity and meanness of contemporary politics. She is a secular Jew and a spiritual appreciator of the life and cosmic mysteries for which we have no answers. She is an ordained Interfaith Minister of Spiritual Counseling as well as a certified Professional Tarot Reader. She has no sense of connection to animals, nature or children. She hugely dislikes the majority of communications technology and social media that have taken over the world's hearts, capacity to think, and to use language effectively. She is an unrepentant cigarette smoker (makes her own) and is not ashamed of being fat! She loves actual paper books, 60s folk music, rock'n'roll, and folk/rock, detective fiction, really old movies, public television, smart stand-up comedy, and great food of all kinds. She is passionate about language and hates the way it is being increasingly degraded, devalued, and replaced with symbols and acronyms. MizB is a nice woman with a wonderful sense of humor, but an admitted curmudgeon - and with every passing year, she finds herself changing in profound and multiple ways.