IMGDO and only MGDO.

[lagilman]

Any woman who votes for the Republican party this go-round needs to reconsider her own sense of self-worth (and, possibly, self-hate).

Argue the economy all you want. Argue taxes all you want. Even argue war and national security all you want. When a party consistently says, over and over again, the only people that they recognize as having 'legitimate' rights are (straight white) males...

what does it matter if you're paying more or less taxes? You're not considered an equal citizen.


(new this week: the "no exceptions" abortion ban drafted by the GOP plank platform - no exceptions for rape. Because, according to Akin, we lie about it being rape, anyway. And what THEY believe trumps what YOU might believe. Because, well, you're not equal, after all.)

Comments

[janetl.livejournal.com]

Seconded.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I have long since grown weary of people like that giving "straight white males" a bad name . . .

[lagilman]

Truth. I know many sane, compassionate straight white males on both sides of the aisle. But they seem to be outnumbered and outshouted by the ..I don't even know what to call them. Patronizing Pale Patriarchy?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

If you will forgive the language in your space, why don't we just call them assholes and be done with it?

[lagilman]

Because assholes serve an important purpose in human anatomy, and they don't?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Is true. Waste of oxygen?

[lagilman]

"Misuse of a carbon footprint?"

[blazedglory.livejournal.com]

I like that one, though I am also fond of "Patronizing Pale Patriarchy."

[qnofhrt.livejournal.com]

Hemorrhoid - a PITA nobody needs!

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

Word.

[slweippert.livejournal.com]

Amen. Why they insist on holding to beliefs that make people run away from their party in droves is unfathomable.

[lagilman]

I'm more worried about the people who aren't running away. The ones who are willing to accept that women are nothing more than their uterus, and that homosexuals shouldn't have equal rights as heterosexuals, and that all brown people are SCARY, etc for..

what? What is the Republican party offering them, that makes this all acceptable?


Unless they buy into the above beliefs. In which case.... well, we know them, now.

[natmerc.livejournal.com]

I've made the mistake of reading some comment boards. A recurring theme seems to be that they're voting Republican b/c 1) they're Republican, and 2) the Republicans wouldn't REALLY ban contraception access/abortion/etc. if they're voted in.

If you're voting for someone who has stated certain beliefs and desires for the change they want to see, then... *headdesk*

At this point, I'd like to see a 3rd party in the US and a stronger 3rd party in Canada. This election may rip apart the Republicans though.

[blazedglory.livejournal.com]

My daughter says that she thinks the Republican Party might implode. I can't argue with her on that; she knows more about politics than I do.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

One can only hope that'd happen if Romney loses.

I am wondering what would happen with the Republican Party. There's a decent subset of the part that will follow Ron Paul anywhere, but I doubt he'll be leaving. At the same time, the Ron Paul people dislike the social conservative folks because the social conservatives don't believe in less government at all, but rather more of their type of government.

It's all a bunch of strange bedfellows, and in another four years some of their main constituencies will start dying due to old age. They've pretty much given up the African American and the Latino vote, and they're trying their hardest to alienate the female vote. Other than the elderly, there's only the rich and the white males. That isn't enough to base a political party on.

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

What is the Republican party offering them, that makes this all acceptable?

The only insight I have comes from conversations with my stepmother. She doesn't agree with the pro-religion, anti-science, and anti-women aspects of the current version of the Republican party, but she is rich and white and privileged, and sees anyone who even suggests that maybe, just maybe, the rich ought to pay their fair share in taxes as a commie pinko socialist who wants to take all her money away and give it to undeserving poor (brown) people.

The thing that terrifies her the most is the idea that all humans are equal. You should have heard her back in 2004 ranting about how Obama was a socialist who wanted to "level the country." I asked, "Level it with what? A steamroller?" She said, "No, no, he wants to make everyone equal," like equality was the single most horrible thing she could imagine. And when I asked her why that was such a horrible idea, she explained quite earnestly how god had created some (read: white) people to be better than others so that they could be leaders and caretakers of the world, and that equality for all was against the natural order of the universe and would bring about disaster.

That was the point where I decided never to discuss politic with my stepmother ever again, because how the HELL do you even begin to have a logical discussion about politics with someone who believes in divine right?

[lagilman]

I think I need to go scrape my skin (and brain) now...

(people like that seem, to me, to be the most terrified of mice, unable to even think of standing on their own merits rather than some random genetic asset and a self-crafted deity)

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I mean, yeah, I knew that she and my dad bought into that whole "white man's burden" thing when it came to race, but to hear someone in 2004 advocating for what amounts to the divine right of kings ... *helpless shrug*

Like most rich white Republicans, she doesn't see her own privilege, or understand how that privilege works. To her, the rich are rich simply because it is their nature to be so, and the poor are poor because of theirs. If a poor person really wanted to become rich, well, they would have done something to change their circumstances. That they can't is not the fault of a system that's designed to keep them down, but an obvious indication of their natural inferiority.

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

And at the same time they cite the Constitution as a biblical absolute and the founding fathers as patron (Christian) Saints - completely ignoring the historical reason that necessitated the constitution and that many of the FFs were at best radical freethinkers, Masons and in Paine's case atheist!

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

People like that aren't interested in the American Dream, because that threatens their way of life. I can only imagine what she'd have thought of all those internet millionaires out in Silicon Valley, who were just scum on the surface of the pond (and nerds!) until they struck it rich by giving people what they wanted.

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

Actually, no. Both she and my dad are the old-fashioned kind of Republicans who think anyone can succeed if they just work hard enough, no matter their circumstances, and they have the utmost respect for people who do just that. It's something they point to time and time again when talking about why there are so many poor minorities; by their reasoning, if poor minorities really wanted to get out of poverty, they'd damned well pull themselves up by their bootstraps and DO IT. The fact that they don't is proof to them that minorities are inherently lazy, inferior, etc. They don't seem to understand that the system is rigged to keep them from succeeding; in their world, all you have to do is want something bad enough and you'll find a way to make it happen. Which is an attitude that only someone who has never truly wanted for anything could have.

[lagilman]

and probably caries over to their "if you'd only take care of yourself you'd get better" 'tude, too. *sighs*

Yeah, if you're born into money and education, you've got a damn good shot. If you're born white, with money and education, you're already well ahead of the game.... but the moment you acknowledge that, you have to also acknowledge that some people aren't, and then your own mythology is at risk.


I have no tolerance for the unexamined life/mythology.

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

and probably caries over to their "if you'd only take care of yourself you'd get better" 'tude, too. *sighs*

Yep, that's exactly where it comes from.

If you're born white, with money and education, you're already well ahead of the game.... but the moment you acknowledge that, you have to also acknowledge that some people aren't, and then your own mythology is at risk.

Exactly, and they are NOT willing to do that. In fact, the very idea of it scares the hell out of them, and is why any kind of government assistance aimed at helping the poor and the disenfranchised is seen as "minorities wanting special privileges they didn't earn."

[elsceetaria.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

What you said.

[msdori.livejournal.com]

I sorta feel like I'm looking at the Republic of Gilead trying to cross over in to my reality.

Wait, no. I don't sorta feel that way, I definitely do.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that not being an equal citizen *directly affects* my personal economy. Not enough people are bringing that up in this race - that for all the handwaving of "no, no, look over there, it's the economy that's bad for women, not our social policies" those very policies will be the cause of more want, more poverty, and more economic stress for women.

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

My feelings exactly.

You may have seen my comment on Twitter yesterday, that if any female votes GOP at this point, she should just take her self-loathing out of the polling station and in front of the next oncoming bus. I just can't fathom it.

[rosefox]

Have some compassion for the poor bus drivers!

[strigine.livejournal.com]

I'm a member of a genre writers' group, mostly women, who meet every other week. There's a subset of us, all women, who get together on the off weeks.

Tonight two of the other women in the group said they're "on the fence" re: Obama vs. Romney and I was just stunned.

[mikaela-l.livejournal.com]

I am getting more and more relieved that I don't live in the US. Not that we don't have problems in Sweden, but I would prefer a stronger conservative party, rather than a stronger nationalist party. (Right now the conservative party is below the limit to get into the parlament, and the nationalist party is the fourth largest party.)

[lagilman]

The thing is, there IS a difference between traditional US "conservative" and what the GOP has turned into. There are just a lot of people who've been in the warm bath so long they don't realize it's gone cold and their skin's about to slide off.

(and the ones who do realize are still trying to convince themselves it's only a fringe, and even if you elect a crazy that doesn't mean you're putting crazy into power. Um....)

[nycdeb.livejournal.com]

I may need "what does it matter if you're paying more or less taxes? You're not considered an equal citizen" on a t-shirt

[blazedglory.livejournal.com]

Cafepress? If it's not there, I can make it be there, if Laura Anne agrees. Needs an image, though.