Vote Democrat
To the editor:
Vote for Democrats like American Democracy depends on it — because it does.
Biden: “We need 2 additional pro-choice senators & a pro-choice House to codify Roe as federal law. Your vote can make that a reality. I know it’s frustrating & it made a lot of people very angry. But the truth is this… women of America can determine the outcome of this issue.”
Unfortunately, history has shown us that women can be other women’s worst enemies. I am recalling 1692 Salem witch trials. And the overturning of Roe.
We pro-choice women need our men to stand with us. Unwanted pregnancy affects everyone in the family and everyone in the community. I would like to remind the dear readers that we have more than 95,000 homeless unwanted children living in Florida alone. 2.5 million children are now homeless each year in America — this number represents one in every 30 children in the United States!
These children are mostly the result of unplanned, unwanted pregnancies and are our children, our children’s children or our neighbor’s children’s children. Human beings — innocent young lives who don’t even have a roof over their heads or food in their bellies but were unplanned and are unloved and are unwanted by their parents and by society. Need more proof that the religious right cares more about unborn fetuses than living children? It’s all about control of women — and the children pay.
Coming next, if SCOTUS Clarence Thomas has his way, will be birth control — even that used by married couples in the privacy of their own homes. Why? Because they can and the SCOTUS is currently owned by 6 far right-wing judges. Two with serious sex assault or misconduct allegations. One whose spouse participated in the Jan. 6, 2020 coup attempt. And one whose beliefs include “speaking in tongues.” Maybe they all need mental health evaluations.
SCOTUS and Republicans protect the rights of 18 year-old children to have guns designed to kill lots of people quickly without background checks or mental health evaluations. NY State and other State’s Rights to try to control mass murders was recently overruled by SCOTUS. If they were true originalists the only guns allowed would be single shot muskets! And the judges continue to support the rights of corporations to pour huge amounts of money into buying U.S. elections. But a woman’s right to privacy has to be turned back to the states to decide after 50 years of protecting that right.
Let’s address the 14th Amendment. It gives the federal government the power to protect individuals even and, especially, if their state legislatures pass discriminatory laws. Or resorts to enforcing laws made in the 1700 and 1800s.
In 1868 American voters changed the U.S. Constitution for the fourteenth time, thus, giving the federal government the power to guarantee that state governments could not pass laws that treated some people worse than others. The 14th Ammendment forbids states from denying any person “life, liberty or property, without due process of law” or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment. Many scholars view it as a “rebirth of democracy and a key component of the second founding” of the U.S. as a nation.
But the amendment had to be ratified.
And so does the amendment in 2022 to codify abortion rights of American women. Joe Biden is a good, decent man who gets weepy when talking about a 10-year-old girl being raped and then having to carry her rapist’s baby to term or travel out of state for a legal abortion. But Biden is not a dictator and cannot make these changes alone. He needs a Congress willing to work with him for the good of the country and the women of America.
Vote out any politician who does not support women and their families and the middle class. Vote for Pro-choice candidates who support and respect women and the decisions they must make for their families. Charlie Crist and Val Demings immediately come to mind. Democracy is fragile. Our rule of law stood up to a 2020 attempted coup by Donald Trump and his Republican enablers. Next time it may not.
Vote out Fascist politicians while you still can and prevent future attempts at tyranny.
Lynn Hagedorn
Cape Coral