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POLITICAL LARYNGITIS -- CURABLE OR TERMINAL?
Human rights are in the court of public opinion.
Politicians claim to be sensitive to the voice of the electorate -- that's us, but they are not hearing us. We have been drowned out for some time now by a deluge of voices who claim to be right (correct) but are really from the right (direction) of the political spectrum.
Why aren't we being heard? The biggest reason is that many of us are not talking; we are not talking loud enough or often enough and we are not actively supporting human rights advocacy groups such as Women's Clinics, NARAL, Planned Parenthood etc., so they can shout aloud for us.
Whether it's a C.N.N. viewers comment or C-Span -- the great majority of the voices heard are NOT OURS. Brian Lamb of C-Span tries very hard to allow all callers an opportunity to get their views heard. He started a policy of taking calls in order, i.e., have the caller declare their Party affiliation: "Crats", "Pubs" or "Indys." In an interview, he expressed his remorse that even this did not work, because the callers of one Party would I.D. themselves as Crats or Indy's and then when they got on the air would show themselves as mean-spirited Pubs.
So, O.K. It is a fact that many Pubs have the money to wait on the phone. They have the time also, but the biggest factor is that they have the desire, the will to drown us out -- and they are doing so. We don't mean just on the national radio programs such as Limbaugh. We mean everywhere. Check out the letters to your local paper and see whose views predominate. Are yours represented?
Nearly
every town has a talk-radio show now. The great majority of callers
are anti-woman Pubs. That is where the battle for your human rights
is taking place every single day and your views are heard only very seldom.
We do have some great columnists such as Molly Ivins or Ellen Goodman
but do we support their views with calls to the talk-radio programs or
letters to the editor?
Face it. We
are in trouble. The Senate is lacking only 3 votes to remove part
of YOUR body from your control and put it in the hands of the 
political/religious
terrorists. C.N.N. reported that the majority of Senators that
have changed their vote in the last couple of years are Catholic.
They are reacting to the demands of a religious/foreign principality and to "public pressure," the "ground-swell" of the electorate against a human right -- women's health and welfare. WHERE IS OUR VOICE IN ALL OF THIS? Why is the Constitution being ignored? Does it not still demand the separation of church and state?
Goodman's column recently reiterated some things that we should all be shouting out. "The bill is not really about banning one abortion procedure. If D&X is the first method banned without exceptions, it won't be the last."
Understand that the goal of the political/religious factions is to *totally eliminate* a woman's reproductive rights and freedom.
Recently the country of Iran elected a moderate for their president. This country has no separation of church and state -- religion controls. In this election, young people and women formed a gendergap that protested the extreme religions restrictions by electing a moderate.
We are informed that "moderate" in Iran does not mean the same as moderate in our country. For example, one of the reasons that this newly elected president is called "moderate" is because he does not demand that his wife get his permission before leaving the house.
1997-019
Copyright 1997 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: TWANDA@ConnRiver.net.
G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
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