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THE SILENCE OF THE EWES
We've
been listening. We've been watching T.V. but, with few exceptions, we have
heard only male voices protesting the recent supremely rigged election
of a president.
Jesse Jackson has been out there loud and long, calling attention to the disenfranchised blacks and the women who fell victim to the butterfly ballot in Florida, but where are the women's voices? We've heard only one woman's voice speaking out with authority and clarity and it belongs to the editor of The Nation, Katrina vanden Heuvel.
Even in this cynical atmosphere, though, the Court majority's disingenuous invocation of "equal protection" to end the counting of unrecorded Gore votes stands out: as Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, the majority "effectively orders the disenfranchisement of an unknown number of voters."
This after the Florida Secretary of State expunged from the lists thousands of legitimate voters wrongly identified as felons; after credible allegations of intimidation of African-American voters; and after documentation of the way poor and African-American voters in Florida are disproportionately served by unreliable voting machines. In Jeb Bush's Florida, equal protection, evidently, means only the equal right to have your vote not counted and then to have your complaint never seriously investigated by a George W. Bush Justice Department. [from The Nation "No Honeymoon" editorial 1/1/01 http://www.thenation.com]
The Washington Times [12/20/00] reports that: "Allison Bethel, head of the Florida Attorney General's Office of Civil Rights, said investigators have not discovered 'any grand scheme' to deny blacks and minorities access to voter precincts during the Nov. 7 election, although the probe is continuing." Is this a case of sending the fox to guard the chickens?
One cable network had a panel discussing the demise of certain late term abortion to be followed by abolition of all abortions. All of the panel members were male, and most were critical of pro-choice appointments. Bush is quickly turning to ministers and "faith based" politics in his goal to blur the lines between church and state, and he isn't even president yet.
We did read about a reaction of one woman, JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT, Sandra Day O'Conner. She was at a gathering of people on election eve when the networks gave Florida to VP Gore. She was "visibly upset" by this news. Her husband explained the reason. She wanted to retire this year but felt she could not if a Democrat would be appointing her successor. So what's all this about the Supremes being non-partisan?
Be clear about this. Bush was not elected to govern us by "the consent of the governed." He was chosen by the Supreme Court.
Most of us are familiar with the way cult leaders attract converts to their point of view. Generally this involves promises to prospective members that they will be appreciated and their causes will gain attention. They are seduced into the cult by false promises. Once ensnared, the trap is sprung, they are unable to escape when they learn that they have been duped.
As Bush announces his Cabinet, it appears that he is advancing women's causes and minority causes by including them even some that are pro-choice. We will hear some say that he really supports women and that he really will work for our advancement, but he is carefully placing any pro-choice appointments in areas where that person will be ineffective as a woman's advocate. Note that as always, the real power is held by mainly white males.
It won't happen all at once, but gradually many women again may be ensnared and seduced by this age-old tactic of cult leaders. Too late, we will wake up to find our self-determination rights are lost and that we are once again CHATTELS OF THE STATE.
We lost the battle of the ballots in 2000. We must not lose it in 2002!
2000-052
Copyright
2000 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@gendergappers.org.
G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
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