From the Washington Post by Petula Dvorak:
The Women’s March needs passion and purpose, not pink pussycat hats
Please, sisters, back away from the pink.
Pink pussycat hats, sparkly signs, color-coordinated street theater, all of it is gleefully in the works for the upcoming Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21.
And that scares me a little. Because all of this well-intentioned, she-power frippery can make this thing more Lilith Fair than Lilly Ledbetter. And the Women’s March of 2017 will be remembered as an unruly river of Pepto-Bismol roiling through the streets of the capital rather than a long overdue civil rights march.
This is serious stuff.
It’s about human rights. It’s about the way 51 percent of our nation’s population still gets less pay, less representation in elected office and in corporate corner offices, less access to health care, less safety and less respect that the other 49 percent of our deeply divided nation.
The Women’s March needs grit, not gimmicks.
Case in point?
Bra burning. That’s the trope that folks have been using to dismiss feminists for nearly half a century.
In fact, no bra was burned at a Miss America protest in 1968 and 1969. Feminists threw false eyelashes, mops, pans, Playboy magazines, girdles, bras and other symbolic “instruments of female torture” into a trash can. But the Atlantic City municipal code didn’t allow them to set it on fire.
Yet because the idea of a burning bra was so lurid, it eclipsed the fact that in the 1960s, women couldn’t get a credit card without a husband’s signature, couldn’t serve on juries in all 50 states, weren’t allowed to study at some of the nation’s Ivy League schools, couldn’t get a prescription for birth control pills if they were unmarried, were paid 59 cents for every dollar that men earned and could easily be fired from a job if they got pregnant. Among other outrages. [BOLD is the editor’s]
Feminists were people who fought those inequalities. But thanks to a stunt, they’ve been called bra-burners for decades. Even Betty Friedan, author of “The Feminine Mystique” and mother of the movement, objected to what she called the “bra-burning, anti-man, politics-of-orgasm school” of feminism.
Sorry, knitters. I know the pink hats with pussycat ears y’all are knitting for next week’s march are totally clever and cute and fun. They’re a smart and snarky middle finger to the incoming Predator-in-Chief, who somehow managed to win the presidency despite openly bragging about grabbing women by their genitals.
But it also undercuts the message that the march is trying to send.
Dana Fisher, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland, has been studying protests and political action for nearly two decades. And when she was in deep on climate change protests, she saw a hard-to-miss family: They all had mohawks, even the kid.
And despite the scientists, environmentalists and students trying to make serious points at the protests, all the cameras focused on the mohawk family. Everyone remembered the mohawk family.
But mohawks are fun! So were all those drummers during the globalization protests outside the World Bank and International Monetary Fund more than a decade ago, and the puppets and street musicians at the anti-Iraq War marches.
Occupy Wall Street was totally right. But their goofy protests, tent cities, body piercings, chants are what folks remembered. Meanwhile, Wall Street plundered the rest of America.
“It’s a difficult line,” Fisher explained. Because there’s the temptation to make the protest fun, enjoyable, to give it a street fair feeling and draw more people. Crowds amplify a message and get attention. It’s especially tempting for the Women’s March, which plenty of children are expected to attend.
Protests are successful and effective when they have a clear message, a clear mission. That’s part of what made the 1913 march by the suffragettes seeking the right to vote so memorable and the 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr.-led March on Washington so powerful.
They are unsuccessful when they are simply a stage for venting.
“I’m seeing the New York State Nurses’ Coalition, Planned Parenthood, Free the Nipple? I don’t even know what that is,” Fisher said, as we both looked at the partner coalition page for the upcoming Women’s March. “It’s just wacky.”
Planners are predicting 150,000 women at the march — a gathering that could deliver a strong warning to Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill.
But we can’t make a difference with goofy hats, cheeky signs and silly songs. This is our chance to stand up, to remind the world how powerful we are and demand to be heard. On equal pay and opportunity, on sexual assault, on reproductive rights, on respect. We need to be remembered for our passion and purpose, not our pink pussycat hats.
Petula Dvorak hit the nail on the head! I reprinted her entire column here, with full credit to her, because of the importance of what she is saying.
It is critical to remember that there is an objective to this march. I am just not sure what it is. No one is. Ask 20 women and you will get 20 different answers. Yes, the hats are cute and a good preparation for a day of fun. “Cute” is not the message I think most of us want to convey. We don’t want “cute,” “sweet,” or “girlie.”
If the right message were being sent, I would figure out a way to drag these poor old bones down to the mall, pulled hamstring, bad knee and all. But it isn’t. I am enraged on a level that there just isn’t an icon or gimmick for. I don’t want to hear snarky comments for the rest of my life over the pink pussy parade or whatever vulgar remarks anti-feminist men are going to throw out there to minimize and marginalize the power that women have lost in this past election.
Most strikingly, reproductive rights are extremely endangered, more so than any other time in the past several decades. Stature is also endangered. We just elected a president who never quite apologized for getting caught saying he wanted to grab women he found attractive by the p***y. That’s a deal breaker for me. We don’t need to be feeding in to this mentality. The level of vulgarity and disrespect that has been shown to women in general by this president-elect is simply unacceptable.
Women need to send a strong message that they refuse to accept reduced reproductive rights, any cut back in medical care, and educational and job opportunities. Women need to be careful not to come across in male terms. They need to address their concerns in female-speak, not male-speak.
I vividly remember women being fired for being pregnant–not single women–MARRIED WOMEN! I also remember having to have parent permission at age 21 to get birth control pills. I remember not being allowed to apply to the college in my home town because I was a woman. I remember what my best friend went through when she got a semi-legal abortion with a medical doctor in D.C. I remember her paying 3 times what she made a month for the procedure since she had to have a doctor, a lawyer and a psychiatrist who emotionally abused her. Women need to be reminded that Roe v Wade is not secure. It will take one Supreme Court appointment of the wrong persuasion to overturn that landmark decision.
I have been to three of the national women’s marches. They were great. The best ones were the ones where people made their own signs. I don’t know what you say about Trump and a total Republican take over. So much of my value system is offended, it’s hard to know where to start. Perhaps the strongest message to send is one of equality and reminding all concerned that women do vote. Send the message that having control of your own reproduction is empowerment–economic empowerment. Without that control, women will always be second class citizens.
I have passed the baton to the next generation.
You may want to grab that baton back Moon… this Women’s March is more about identity politics than it is about women’s issues. If you’re a White participant in this march you may be asked to check your White privilege upon arrival, not speak and stand in the back.
Many people are attending who don’t have attitudes.
That’s one reason I am not going. Too many issues.
Moon doesn’t stand in the back. 👿
@Jerome Doublas
I was there, and you could not be more wrong. In fact, the majority of women I saw were white, and actually, I would say the turn out, really, was probably representative of the the break down of population nationally. There were a TON of families too. I wasn’t there for the speakers, who I never heard by the way, never even got close to the stage, I was there for the fellowship!
I could absolutely identify with what Ashley Judd said. Yes, she shocked me. Yes, I identified with a whole lot of what she said. She said things I had never verbalized and I know she said things a lot of people (men) didn’t know or want to hear about.
I met a female engineer yesterday at a tech event who told me that she despises working for other women. Somewhat taken aback, I asked her why. She told me that women supervisors tend to be overbearing and engage in oneupmanship with other females in the workplace.
The battle for equal pay in the workplace is already won. It is illegal to discriminate in terms of pay and position on the basis of gender (although it seems awfully hard for young men to get promoted lately if there are any qualified females in the organization).
It seems to me that the time to march in Washington has passed. The next step should be to win over hearts and minds, rather than pissing off people that want to enjoy the Inauguration.
The women’s march is the day after the inauguration. No one will be interfering with those attending the festivities, at least from the women’s march.
I think that your engineer friend was making some sweeping generalizations. I have worked for a lot of both genders. I can say what your friend said has fit both genders during my career.I have worked for and with some real nasty women and also for some of the finest you would ever want to meet. Same for men. I will say that the men being jerks probably outweighs the women being jerks.
The issue continues to be reproductive rights. That’s where all the empowerment really is, when you get down to basics.
I am not sure if there is equal pay for equal work. First you have to get the job. The discrimination might be illegal but you have to prove it for it to be illegal. Same as age discrimination.
I suppose there will be a need for marches as long as some Americans think its ok to elect officials who think saying “grab them by the ___” is even marginally acceptable.
What do you think is motivating the steam to defund planned parenthood? I don’t even want to hear “killing babies.” There are fewer unwanted pregnancies now than in the past …forever years. Why? Access to affordable, reliable contraception.
I also still see some of the same old attitudes, not very well hidden, that I barely tolerated when I was 20. Trust me, that was a long time ago.
Ashley Judd’s comments….if she thinks statements like hers will get men and women from middle-America to take her grievances seriously, she’s definitely lost all perspective. It’s one thing to grouse about pay disparities, or infringements on “reproductive rights”. It’s quite another to accuse the President of having “wet dreams” about his daughter.
Ashley Judd is like a school house in the summer….NO CLASS.
Trump did say something about if Ivanka wasn’t his daughter he would date her. How inappropriate is that?
I am sure that there are lots of generation 3 feminists who loved her remarks. I had 2 different texts from relatives saying she was rocking. I am not sure Ashley Judd was aiming for middle America. I am not even sure what Middle America is.
Maybe we are in two different bubbles, Steve. She caught my attention. She didn’t offend me. Many women, and I include Republican women, are furious over all sorts of things.
@MoonHowler
“I am sure that there are lots of generation 3 feminists who loved her remarks.”
I am sure there were. A whole bunch of them wanting to throw their vaginas in the faces of everyone around them.
I am also sure there are many 2nd wave feminists who are face-palming themselves saying ” I spent years fighting for equal pay, maternity leave, and the right to breast-feed on the job, only to have those who should be on my side subverting all of my efforts, whose only argument is “I have a P–sy, therefore you MUST listen to me.”
Here’s what the marches in DC, Boston, London, etc amount to: We are angry! T We have P__sies! Therefore you will listen to us…because Islamophobia and Black Lives Matter, and Racism…and Immigrant Rights…and Economic disparity…and Reproductive Rights, and LGBQTMOUSE RIGHTS…and everything else wrong with the world and Donald Trump! I will confront everything I feel is wrong with the power of my vagina….and you better listen to me…because P__sy!”
Tell me, what did these marches accomplish, beyond a whole bunch of women with a disparate list of grievance spending a wet day advocating against a man who now holds the reigns of power globally? If you ask me, it was quite pathetic. Really.
The net result will only galvanize those who voted for Trump (many who happen to possess the same genitalia as the protesters) in supporting his agenda.
People, both men AND women, want sanity and order. They don’t want lunatics claiming to represent them, screaming “BOW DOWN TO MY P__SY!” There might have been some logical arguments made yesterday, but those were buried under Madonna and Ashley Judd’s tripe, and the disparate messages of those speaking.
The only take-away I got from their rally is “We hate real men. We only want drones. WORSHIP MY GENITALIA AS IT IS ALL KNOWING, ALL SEEING, ALL ENCOMPASSING! IGNORE IT AT YOUR PERIL! I AM VAG! HERE ME ROAR!”
Yeah…good luck with that in 2018. Elections are won through addition,..not subtraction. The yardsigns should be interesting though.
Well, I don’t think you got the take away you were supposed to. Let me turn the tables. You belong to a large organization who has many representatives. Now would you rather someone like me walk away with the message of Tom Sellick or Ted Nugget. Same organization. Very different message.
All women’s marches are geared towards genitalia, mainly because at the center of all of them are attempts by government (usually comprised of a male majority) to have control over female genitalia.
I was not there. I was an armchair marcher…C-SPAN and me, BABEEEE. I heard many of the speakers on many different topics. Some were good, some were bad, some had no interest for me and some were down right offensive. Most of the people at the event couldn’t get near the stage, much less hear them.
After Trump’s grab remarks and his remarks about Megyn Kelly, I basically don’t care what was said. To each his own.
I am going to try to address something else, hopefully without being too vulgar….You have attempted to demean millions of women for whatever reason but your message was clear. Perhaps when men stop worshipping female genitalia (like the president) and trying to control when women do with their genitalia, then perhaps their message will weaken. I think the days of men controlling women is pretty much over.
Right now a lot of women have been empowered through their own efforts. I expect that the apathy we have seen in the past has rolled over and jumped up with a roar (that’s what you really heard).
This past election was just an exercise in the unacceptable. Why elaborate?!! You know as well as I do how and what. Unless you are a member of a group of people who really haven’t been franchised for a full century, it might not seem quite as important.
Me? I am sitting here thinking, (as suggested by one of the signs) Why do I still have to protest all this shit.
@Jerome Doublas
I was there, and you could not be more wrong. In fact, the majority of women I saw were white, and actually, I would say the turn out, really, was probably representative of the the break down of population nationally. There were a TON of families too. I wasn’t there for the speakers, who I never heard by the way, never even got close to the stage, I was there for the fellowship!
@Steve
There is no recovery for Donald Trump for many women. He bragged about “grabbing a woman by the pussy” and there is no coming back from that, period.
Ashley Judd spoke to an honesty that was shocking. But much of what she said in the rap she was “honoring” many a woman’s experience.
For many women, we know what’s is like to be careful not to to smile to big in fear some man might take it as an invitation. We know what it is like to be marginalized by the way men talk over you, using their voices or simply the sheer size of their bodies.
Smile, don’t be too harsh, be nice, give a hug when you don’t want to. No, she was awesome and real and if it was too much to hear, then try living in a woman’s shoes, a woman who has suffered sexual assault, a woman who has been grabbed and touched by strangers without her permission.
Think it was tough listening, imagine living it.
Trump is a pig. I know men like him. And with my last breath, I will work to ensure that he is NEVER normalized and that the only person who controls my daughters reproductive rights is her. The government does not own her vagina simply because she is capable of bearing children. She has dominion over her future. She has dominion over her economic choices and the impact having children will have on her future. She has dominion over her health.
Oh, there was no subtraction and there will be none. The women who think that Trump’s behavior is acceptable won’t change, any more than my gay friend who wanted to live long enough to vote for him would never stop contributing to his own oppression.
I don’t expect he will make it 4 years. His ego won’t be able to stand it. The Republicans also won’t let him run the party tinto the ground.
@MoonHowler
Moon,
I think you and Elena are operating under the incorrect assumption that I want the protests to stop. Quite the opposite…I want them to continue. I want the Left to continue their hubristic tantrums, demonstrating who they are for all the world to see. I want them to continue to believe they can get what they want, simply by making vulgar signs, shouting vulgar slogans, and not really sitting down to analyze why their multitude of “progressive” causes, and their standard-bearer were completely rejected last November. The longer it takes, the better.
I want them to fixate on Trump’s offensive comments from the now infamous tape, and do exactly what they are doing…reacting to the offense by being offensive. I want them to continue to provide a forum to intellectual nitwits like Madonna, Lena Dunham, and yes, Ashley Judd, thinking “We have all these pop-culture people behind us….how can we possibly lose?” not even considering the possibility that people who don’t live in their little bubbles categorically reject most of what these celebs stand for. You can disagree with me on this, but it won’t change the fact that DJT is our president, and HRC is not.
Occupy….BLM…Hollywood….and now the “Pink P’s”…let them think they are actually doing something constructive, when in fact all they are doing is galvanizing those who protested in the most effective way possible, and handed HRC a stunning defeat. The longer these anti-Trump protesters sooth themselves with the thought they managed to get a whole passel of women (plus a few men) to make a bunch of signs like these: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/scenes-from-a-pussy-riot/article/2612595
the longer it will take them to figure out why they lost.
From wikipedia:
The Women’s March on Washington was a political rally that took place on January 21, 2017, in Washington, D.C., to promote women’s rights, immigration reform, and LGBTQ rights, and to address racial inequities, workers’ issues, and environmental issues.
I thought this is what the Democrat party ran on…and lost? Yep…keep focusing on this, while Obamacare gets repealed, the economy takes off, the Military gets re-built, and a supreme court gets tipped back to those who are constructionists. Keep holding protest marches rather than listening to the saner members of the Democrat party who understand that it is their party, not the GOP that is on-the-ropes.
Well done, Steve. Well done. Your attitude pretty much sums up the reason that over millions of women and men rallied on Saturday. Your response is demeaning and belittling.
You obviously have never been to a women’s march. The stage is so unimportant. Many people never see or hear what is going on there. It is irrelevant. The real action is on the street where individual women energize and plan with their own friends what to do about a deplorable situation.
Do you think it is all about the grab comment? The protest and disgust goes well beyond Trump’s misogynistic trash talk. Where have you been? Did you miss his entire candidacy? Do you dismiss the 3 million popular votes that Trump lost by?
What I really find amazing is that you aren’t horrified by the inexperienced leadership. The words at the CIA were deplorable. The attack on the press was deplorable. The inaugural address was actually frighting. Trump needs to grow up, get some experienced people in his administration and not make these boorish mistakes in the future.
You have a wife and a daughter. I know you wouldn’t want them alone with this creep president. Unless I really don’t know you, these people aren’t representing your values. Why do you defend them? Why aren’t you horrified and disgusted by HIS behavior?
Women’s marches are always raucous. They aren’t your Sunday school picnic. Pop culture has changed. People will be analyzing what Ashley Judd said for months to come. Women identify with her remarks because many of us have lived through much of what she said. Her remarks will serve as a platform for many conversations that perhaps women would not have had, especially more mature women. There were women of all ages there and of all political parties. There were women from Churches. I know Republican women who went. Not everyone espoused the same cause.
I don’t think you want any women’s protests to stop. I think you wanted to belittle and as I have often said, “look large.” I think you might get blind-sided by what you have trivialized.
@MoonHowler
Moon,
Remember your November 16th “Making Sense of the Trump Victory” post, where you encouraged your readers to take the Bubble Quiz? That was a good discussion. I would suggest you go back and look at our exchange on that post, and as this might shed some insight as to were I am coming from.
Ever since Trump won, I’ve been saying I understand what you and other’s who voted for HRC (or against Trump, if that’s your take) are going through. I’ve lived it for the last 8 years. I watched as the country elected and then re-elected a man with a past shrouded in secrecy and questionable relationships. I watched as this man filled his cabinet with “community organizers” “radicals” and “progressives”, whose views are the antithesis of what I believe, and told me and every other person sharing my views “We won. Get to the back of the bus.” I listened to his key advisor tell us “We are ready to RULE on day one”. I watched as sycophantic media slobbered all over this man. I watched him be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for absolutely no discernable reason.
I was called a “racist” for disagreeing with my President.
For eight years, I was told “it’s OK for you to be a Christian, but not OK for you to express your views from a Christian perspective” that I was a “bitter clinger”, and the last 2 years, was told that my “white MALE privilege needed to be “checked” as I am the source of all the ills in the world”.
I watched as the previous administration doubled-down on the folly of injecting democracy in a region with no democratic traditions, expanded instability, and then imported people from that region to this country. I listened when the President told me that there were no terrorist attacks on US soil, on his watch, ignoring Ft. Hood, Boston, Chattanooga, San Bernardino, Orlando.
I listened as the President lied. Discernable, demonstrable lies, the last and most outrageous being “I had a scandal-free administration”. When your AG breaks federal firearms laws, tries to cover it up, and lies about it when caught, that’s not a scandal? When your IRS targets groups with views differing from your own, tries to cover it up, that’s not a scandal? When BILLIONS of tax-dollars are doled out to companies run by your supporters and donors, and those companies subsequently go bankrupt, that’s not a scandal? When your SecState sets up a private server, conducts official business on that server, gets caught, attempts to destroy evidence, and your AG has a “convenient” clandestine meeting with the husband of the subject of a federal investigation, that’s not a scandal?
Now I am being told that I don’t understand your anger and fear for the future of the country, and don’t get why all of those women marched on Washington. I am being told I should look past all the vulgarity, because the guy I voted for said vulgar things 10 years ago, or took some cheap shots at a female reporter. I am told that he is “unqualified” and “inexperienced”. His cabinet is nothing more than a reflection of this as well. I find this hard to reconcile with the fact that our immediate past-president hadn’t ever run anything, nor had most of his cabinet.
I get it. You fear that “Women’s Rights”, which conspicuously center on “reproductive rights” (which means the unrestricted right to subsidized abortion for the more militant feminists) are threatened. Others are worried that US Immigration laws will actually be enforced. Some worry that all the “progress” surrounding “man-made climate change” will be reversed. Others lament that government action to advance LGBQT issues will be halted. Some worry that this administration will interpret “Shall not be infringed” actually means what it says, and citizens will be able to go about armed in more places.
I get your concerns. I am not trivializing or dismissing them one bit. You should be concerned. These issues and threats to them are real to you, just as mine were to me. I won’t tell you it’s “all in your head”, or “you are being paranoid” as I didn’t like it when the previous administration, and its supporters told me I was just being a “paranoid, racist, Christian, xenophobe”.
Been there. Done that. Was chastised on this blog for acknowledging how badly these next years will absolutely suck. Some found this description “offensive” or “childish” or “vulgar”, completely dismissing what I was saying.
You ask me how, as a man of principle who loves his wife and daughter, I could possibly tolerate a “misogynist” in the Whitehouse? Bill Clinton was a “misogynist” in MY opinion…he actually “grabbed”. If this President get’s to grabbing, I’ll be the first to call him on it.
If I am dismissive of anything, it is the efficacy of the approach. Each one of these issues was front-and-center on the ballot, and was decided last November. Maybe this movement catches fire, the Left’s “P-Party” to the Right’s TEA Party. Pink hats vs. tri-corner hats. Maybe they will do more than make risqué signs or say things intended to evoke a visceral response. We’ll see.
Our respective bubbles aren’t Venn diagramming too well.
I simply don’t find the things you feel about Obama to be valid, for the most part. You probably don’t relate to how I feel about George Bush. BUT…and I think this is a critical but…while I didnt agree with most of Bush’s policies, I thought he was a decent man. I think he conducted himself with dignity and he personally was scandal-free. (Obama never said he was scandal free, the media did)
Did Bush or Obama ever lie? If you want to call it that. I believe both men spoke in error from time to time. That is different from being a serial liar. As for the grab remark, that just encapsulates, a snapshot as it were, a persona. Trump has just led a life of one vulgarity after another. That’s why I ask how you can accept him.
George Bush is not a pig. Obama isn’t a pig. Mike Pence isn’t a pig. Trump is.
@MoonHowler
I certainly thought Obama is, by all appearances, an honorable husband and a devoted father. Beyond that, you and I will have to disagree.
I will not deny Trump has engaged in boorish behavior and uttered vulgar statements. But why I am arguing this with someone who overlooked, excused, or minimized all of WJC’s offenses, I am not sure.
I can say this with 100% certainty: What turned me from a guy who voted for his party’s nominee, same I had with McCain and Romney, to a President Trump supporter has more to do with the reactions of the Left, than it does with his actual positions. What matters to me is how he performs as President, his conforming to the Constitution and the results he achieves. As far as I am concerned, so far, so good. No chance we’ll agree on this, I suspect. This is Trump’s GOP now, just as the DNC transferred from WJC to BHO. If Trump:
-Gets the economy moving again (ie growing north of 3% annually, something Obama couldn’t do)
-Rebuilds our military and returns it to the “Warfighters” rather than “Social Engineers”
-Keeps our foreign entanglements to a bare minimum
-Ends the same suicidal immigration polices Obama enacted that have brought chaos to Western Europe
-Protects the 2A and expands it closer to my understanding of what the framers intended
-Appoints a strict constructionist to the SCOTUS
-Enforces our immigration laws
-Rolls back all these regulations
-Honors his marriage vows and oath of office
He’ll keep my support.
And I’ll respect your right to oppose this President. Your house. Your rules. Just don’t expect me to take a woman dressed in giant pink female genitalia costume seriously, ok? People who are seeking a reaction, shouldn’t be surprised when they get one.
I didnt see the woman in a giant pink female genitalia costume. I sure am glad. I don’t take Ted Nugget seriously either, probably ssor similar reasons.
I don’t think anyone has ever heard me try to justify Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. How do you defend the indefensible? I do feel it was between him and his wife and he shouldn’t have been asked, but that’s me. Of course he (and the rest of the world) would lie.
I am actually pretty pleased with Obama and the economy. I hope it continues under Trump. I am not sure it will.
. I am not
I am not sure Obama owns the entire social engineers problem. I seem to remember having a feeling of dread when I first heard about the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. On the other hand, Obama authorized bombing ISIS as he left Washington. Not sure he is any more guilty of social engineering than any other modern president.
I know what it boils down to for you is A2. What it boils down to with me is reproductive freedom because when women don’t have reproductive freedom they don’t have economic freedom. That’s where it all starts. No, it isn’t all about abortion without restrictions. But that’s a story for another day…or perhaps argument.
I obviously feel the Constitution is a living document and must change with the times. I seriously doubt if we would appoint the same person. Immigration laws–ha! I am all in favor of enforcing immigration laws if everyone had a fair shot at immigrating. I am against deportations of law abiding people. I also support the Dream Bill.
I don’t think Trump is emotionally fit to be president. He obsesses over numbers and doesn’t understand why people hate him. If I had behaved as he behaved during the campaign, it sure wouldn’t take much imagination to figure the hate out.
I have never felt this way about any other president. The visceral dislike makes it impossible to even watch him on TV. His behavior has been deplorable, for sure.
Does this mean you will be supporting Mr. Stewart for governor?
I forgot to mention the lying….I simply can’t abide the obvious, delusional lying.
Signs are always fun and show just how smart and creative activists are:
https://twitter.com/i/moments/822850898820898816
Too many conservatives have fallen for the bright shiny object: Madonna dropping F bombs, Ashley Judd dropping P bombs. The real take away from this march was the millions of energized people who are going home with the belief that they can truly make a difference.
@MoonHowler
I think you may have missed my point. I chronic weakness of Republican voters is they get active for an election, but then disengage or go to sleep. I’ve always admired how the left-side of the spectrum stays active. I see something different here. As long as the progressive left is protesting, the right will stay active and engaged. The press will cover this “resistance”.
Look, I get it. Trump won, and there’s a bunch of folks who aren’t happy about it, for a whole bunch of reasons. What have these “movements” accomplished? Occupy? BLM? What can they do, lacking any political power?
The TEA Party was effective for a time, when it focused on fiscal issues. This translated to victories in the 2010 mid-terms. As they broadened their scope to social issues, the movement fizzled. This woman’s movement is trying to be it all, just like Occupy.
You also aren’t considering the fact that Trump’s campaign is a movement. You keep saying the women are a “sleeping giant”. They weren’t sleeping when HRC lost…they just couldn’t stop the other sleeping giant…Middle America. You think Trump’s supporters are just going to lay down?
I will have to be honest—I always saw progressives as fizzling and conservatives were the ones who stuck with it. I think that it is too soon to analyze the Trump movement. I think there is a lot more to it than middle America. I am just not sure what, yet.
The mistake I think you are making is assuming that this march was all liberal women. Far from it. You might be surprised to learn of some people we both know who attended. There are a lot of women out there who just viscerally cannot stand Trump. He offends every ounce of their being. Saturday was not a gathering of liberal. In fact, many of the people I know who went aren’t Democrats. I would probably classify them as moderates. Some I might even classify as conservative. Not far right conservative but traditional conservative with conservative family values.
All I know is that it was freaking huge with NYC, Los Angeles, and Boston rivaling DC’s numbers. Probably many small initiatives will grow out of the larger movement or perhaps the large march grew out of many smaller movements. They energized and will go home with new ideas.
I have been to a couple of marches that were just feel good. Nothing grew out of them. That isn’t going to happen with this one.
I think that the Republicans probably need to figure out how all this happened to their party. How did he end up the front runner for a party? How did he beat 16 other people out? The Democrats had an heir apparent. I just think it was bad Karma. History will study this situation a long time. I think there are also going to be events uncovered that we don’t know about.
The Demos moving forward—or lets say moderates and progressives…
Hopefully, these energized women (and men) will go back to their own communities nationwide with a more progressive way of thinking (little p not big P) and start reshaping a new party from the grassroots level. Prince William County is a wonderful example of this dire need. Leadership needs to lead, not be embarrassing and humiliating.
There are excellent Democrats in PWC, don’t get me wrong. However, the ones in positions of leadership often get hung up on baseball issues and pissing contests. Local Democrats don’t do the best job of highlighting their candidates. I still can’t remember the name of the woman who ran for clerk of court and lost. She lost because no one had ever heard of her. I have heard she would have been excellent by those who know her.
Local Democrats also fail to match candidates with their electability…..more on that. Great people aren’t always electable. Think about some good Dems who have run for office but sort of failed the electability part for one reason or another.
Enough. My friends aren’t going to be speaking to me after that one.
Hint: PWC–clean up that school board situation before you couldn’t elect a Democrat to the position of dog catcher!!!
Haven’t been on here for a long time since I generally don’t care for what many of the commentators have to say. However, after seeing a comment from you elsewhere I had to take a peek. Did you really expect anything different from people like Steve Thomas? Or others who surely will have snarky things to say about the march or anything critical of Herr Trump and his “alternative facts” minions. I find it appalling that the “biggest” thing Trump et al have to talk about is the size of the inaugural crowds but I suppose that’s better than talking about the size of his hands and other equipment.