American Woman
2022 Edition
Women in America have been napalmed.
In a war for equal rights that we have been fighting since the dawn of time, our opponents are clearly tired of playing nice and just nuked the whole fucking battlefield. The inches we’ve gained are now scattered to the four winds.
The decision to overturn Roe versus Wade, which was “settled law” according to our 3 most recently appointed justices in their confirmation hearings, is now obliterated. “It’s not a guaranteed right in the Constitution.” was the argument they chose as they backpedaled on their previous decrees.
In the same week, and almost in the same breath, they freed up gun restrictions with seemingly no regard at all for the “well-regulated militia” part that IS in the 2nd amendment.
Originalism
The basis of this particular line of interpretation is called “Originalism” or “Original Intent” is defined thus:
“The term original intent refers to the notion that the judiciary should interpret the Constitution (including its amendments) in accordance with the understanding of its framers.”
**Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer nor judge and have no legal training other than my own research.
Our country’s judges are divided into 3 general schools of thought:
· Conservatives are change-averse, prefer private versus public, and like “traditional” values (whatever that means).
· Liberalism embraces individual liberties, is open to new concepts, and promotes social welfare.
· Moderates float around in between the above depending on the topic.
For the purposes of this article, I am going to concentrate on those claiming to be “conservative”, their stranglehold on this country, and where I think they’re trying to drag the rest of us, particularly women, kicking and screaming.
WHAT is Happening?
I’m in my late 50’s and the political actions of the last few years have me gobsmacked. I was truly under the impression that, in my lifetime, America had made huge strides toward equality and fairness. With the election of our first black president, things started to rumble. Then, of course, Trump blew the doors, and all pretense of propriety, completely off.
On the morning of November 9, 2016, I booted up my computer fully expecting our first woman president to greet my sleepy face. Seeing Trump…I began to cry and said aloud to no one, “Oh my God…what have we done?” I’ll never forget it.
Many would agree that havoc has reigned supreme since.
The truly frightening part of this is…this has been the plan. Granted, Trump is no smooth operator, but perhaps he and his bases’ bumbling bulldozer antics were meant to keep us distracted while behind the scenes, “conservatives” continued to nurture their seeds of destruction.
Lower level political positions like school boards, judges, state legislators have been replaced quietly while we all watched in horror and disbelief that the President of the United States, a man credibly accused of an assortment of tax frauds, multiple business failures, sexual assault, inciting an insurrection and more, effectively reduced our country to the laughingstock of the world stage.
But now that the shock and awe have worn off, it’s not hard to see where this is headed. It’s about power. Who has it and who doesn’t. Those who have it want to keep it…at any cost.
Where it all began…
It’s no secret that our country, even the white-washed vanilla versions in our school textbooks, was founded on white men in power. It was the (European) norm of the day. These books acknowledge slavery and that women were…relegated to hearth and home.
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While a woman was “counted” as whole person for the purpose of the census and thus representation in Congress, the few rights they had being unmarried were scooped to the man in a practice called coverture when she did marry. The acquisition of rights for the American woman has been a slog since the middle 1800’s.
But it has been within my own lifetime, just shy of 60 years, that women could even hold their own separate bank accounts, have credit cards, or …in 1973, bodily autonomy.
Now, we don’t.
Napalmed…
I say ‘napalmed’ because of the insidious nature of this war weapon. And make no mistake…we are at war here. Napalm “sticks” wherever it lands and unlike a burning ember that can be brushed off or smothered, it keeps on burning.
With the speed of an assault rifle mowing down a crowd, 13 states with trigger laws went into effect, banning abortion completely. Many with “no exceptions” and as many as half the states will have some sort of restrictions soon.
Kind of makes one wonder if there was insider information here. At this point, I would put nothing past these maniacs.
Justice Thomas said the quiet part out loud when, in his concurring opinion, he all but promised to reconsider gay marriage and sex, and the right of married couples to seek contraception…which would essentially pull the rug out from under any woman’s right to…avoid pregnancy (ergo, abortion).
The strangeness of this opinion, coming from a black man married to a white woman, still has me scratching my head.
So, to put all of these complicated pieces together, here is what I believe is happening… By using the Originalist method of translation, literal interpretation will drag us back over 200 years where:
· Slavery was accepted as normal. Black men, if they were lucky, were considered 3/5ths of a whole person.
· Only white (male) landowners could vote.
· Women had no inherent rights.
· Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness only applied to …white men.
The people supporting these ideas want to be able to rape and pillage with the wild abandon of their forefathers. That the rest of the world is there to service their needs, by the grace of God.
Why Women?
These people are unified in their pursuit of power, no matter how distasteful they find some of the steps needed to be taken. They have the prize in mind.
In any battle, the strategy is often to take out the biggest target first. Women comprise more than half our population. And our vote is even stronger. So what does that have to do with abortion? Stay with me here…
The majority of abortion providers are women and of course only women get abortions. Additionally, some states are attempting to cast wider nets to include any person(s) or organization(s) that aid in the abortion process. Because many of the new bans carry some sort of felony charge, which, in most states automatically disqualifies the individual from voting. Essentially taking away the right to vote without touching the 19th Amendment. Even in states where felons can vote, the process is usually long and laborious to reestablish that right.
This is their napalm.
Furthermore, with the not-so-subtle voter suppression laws, overt gerrymandering, and supporters in key election positions, they will be able to sweep any election legitimate or not.
It’s not about the babies.
