Sunday, August 31, 2008

Ladies, Don't Get Lazy!

Shame on me, shame on you, shame on us if we don't vote and we don't care.

I recently came across an article, a little-known tidbit of American 20th Century history. The "Night of Terror" occurred on November 17, 1917, just one of the consequences for women in the suffrage movement wanting all women to be heard.

(AP Photo/Stephen Savoia)

If we sit home and make excuses, Lucy Burns and Alice Paul would wonder if their suffering and torture here in the United States had been worth it. They and other women were those Iron Jawed Angels who refused to give up.

Should we go back 100 years, when women were not given a voice, and not allowed to share an opinion: "Stay at home ladies. Mend clothing, cook meals, play the piano forte, raise children, but don't ever think about wanting to express your rights as full American citizens."

The women's suffrage movement was not against stay-at-home moms, so don't all the SAHM's be upset with me for thinking I don't believe domestic duties are beneath us. What I'm saying is that women, no matter what their career, have equal rights as citizens. We are capable of thinking and reasoning and, yes, even leading. And we can still mend clothing, cook meals, etc.

This election is historic in many ways. We have the rich and powerful running for office, as well as those from "regular" backgrounds. Laugh at McCain's foible about all his real estate, but I can guarantee you Sarah Palin knows about where she lives. Some might criticize the rich for being out of touch, but when a regular person stands at the brink of something big, those same critics demean the regular person's humble roots. Does being rich equal qualified yet clueless? Hmmm... Does being middle-class equal unqualified and clueless? Does that mean the middle-class are incapable of making decisions or leading?

What I liked about Sarah Palin were her words dealing with being a servant. Leaders are put in place by the intent of the people, to serve us. Ladies, those people are in office because we put them there. I like what she said about rooting out corruption at the highest levels in government. The bigger the organization, the more capacity it has for corruption to go unnoticed because of all the "busy" work. I think that happens no matter who is President, and whichever party holds the highest office.

I also liked her gracious words about the women who paved the way for her: Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton. Like them or not, it takes tough women who won't go away that make the idea of citizens' equality stick in our minds. We're reminded of possibilities, not obstacles.

This is a plug for us women to get off our duffs and start caring. Because if we don't care about what Lucy and Alice and other women like them strived to get us, will we care if rights ever get taken away? Our Constitution gives us rights, and it's up to us to be informed.

And by informed, I don't mean by reading and believing every anti-Obama or anti-McCain e-mail as gospel. (That's for another post one day.)

Ladies, let's must exercise our right to vote intelligently and prayerfully.

2 comments:

Virginia Harris said...

The 'Women's Vote' is a myth!

Senator Clinton and Governor Palin are proof that women can and do diverge on important issues.

Even on the question of whether women should vote!

Most people are totally in the dark about HOW the suffragettes won votes for women, and what life was REALLY like for women before they did.

Suffragettes were opposed by many women who were what was known as 'anti.'

The most influential 'anti' lived in the White House. First Lady Edith Wilson was a wealthy Washington widow who married President Wilson in 1915.

Her role in Wilson's decision to jail and torture Alice Paul and hundreds of other suffragettes will never be fully known, but she was outraged that these women picketed her husband's White House.

"The Privilege of Voting" is a new free e-mail series that follows eight great women from 1912 - 1920 to reveal ALL that happened to set the stage for women to win the vote in England and America.

It's a real-life soap opera!

Suffragettes Alice Paul and Emmeline Pankhurst are featured, along with TWO gorgeous presidential mistresses, First Lady Edith Wilson, Edith Wharton, Isadora Duncan and Alice Roosevelt.

There are tons of heartache on the rocky road to the ballot box, but in the end, women WIN!

Thanks to the success of the suffragettes, women can now support the candidates they choose, left, right, in-between or GREEN!

Exciting, sequential e-mail episodes are perfect to read on coffeebreaks, or anytime.

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Lynette Sowell said...

I like what you said here, Virginia" "Thanks to the success of the suffragettes, women can now support the candidates they choose, left, right, in-between or GREEN!"

That's my point of this whole post. We need to use our brains, use our voices. :)