THE MAKING OF A DEMOCRAT THE BEGGININGS OF MY POLITICAL BELIEFS

When I was a child I can remember my father being a voice for the Laborer. He belonged to the Teamsters Union in California and ran to be president of a local office in the Union. Workers were being exploited and wealthy business owners were doing the exploiting. My father won the election and fought for the rights of the Blue Collar worker; so maybe there is a little blue in my blood. He fought for the laborers rights even when wealthy business owners threaten his life and that of his family. I lost my father at age eight, but I can still hear his campaign slogan, “If you vote for me I’ll vote for YOU”. When I was a child I did not know that the Democratic Party fought for the rights of the Laborer and brought about Laws that would help them. That is one of the reasons why the Labor Unions give their support to the Democratic Party. My early years I was not interested in Politics, but I did have strong opinions of what was "Just and fair". I tended to stick up for the under dog. I did vote when I was 18 and was rather opinionated, however, I did take the lead of who to vote for from my grandfather. I remember in the early 70’s the Equal Rights Amendment for women was singing in the air. In the 1940’s both Republicans and Democrats added support to the Equal Rights Amendment. Alice Paul, a suffragette leader in 1923, in Seneca Falls, for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the 1848 Woman’s Rights Convention, she introduced the "Lucretia Mott Amendment," which read: "Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction." The amendment was introduced in every session of Congress until it passed in reworded form in 1972.” I was in elementary school. Yet I remember in the later 70’s this issue coming about again. It never became law and this is the clincher that stopped it: They needed 38 state ratifications to make it a law and add it to the constitution. They had a 7 year deadline on the ratification process. They got an extension and the last state Indiana who ratified it became the 35 state in 1977, the year I graduated from High School. The Amendment was 3 states short and did not meet the deadline. In 1980 the Republican Party removed Equal Rights Amendment support from its platform. The congress gave an extension after bowing to public pressure until 1982. I can remember people and the Republicans saying if you vote for equal rights for women, women will be drafted into the military. That put fear into many women (We now have women who volunteer for the military and serve in combat.) I recall this being said from memory and yet when I go to look it up I find other ridiculous statements that were made. I have listed some other fear tactics that were used by the conservative party that were inaccurate. “Phyllis Schlafly, right-wing leader of the Eagle Forum/STOP ERA, played on the same fears that had generated female opposition to woman suffrage. Anti-ERA organizers claimed that the ERA would deny woman’s right to be supported by her husband, privacy rights would be overturned, women would be sent into combat, and abortion rights and homosexual marriages would be upheld. Opponents surfaced from other traditional sectors as well. States’-rights advocates said the ERA was a federal power grab, and business interests such as the insurance industry opposed a measure they believed would cost them money. Opposition to the ERA was also organized by fundamentalist religious groups.” Does this sound familiar? Utah was one of the states that did not ratify it. It's hard for me to believe that in a modern day we could not pass a law that simply says Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification. Why would anyone be against this? I understood that because a woman wanted to have the same opportunities, get the same pay, and be treated fairly did not mean they were saying they were the same as men. I mean there is a physical difference. Nor did it mean they no longer wanted to be mothers or wives. Nor did it mean they did not want men to continue using manners. That would be a personal choice of each person. Women had been discriminated against for years. It wasn’t until on August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution became law, and women could vote in the fall elections, including in the Presidential election. I am grateful to the women of the suffrage that they persevered from 1848 when Votes for women were first seriously proposed in the United States in July, 1848, at the Seneca Falls, Woman's Rights Convention organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Charlotte Woodward was the only participant in the 1848 Convention who was still alive to be able to vote, though she was apparently too ill to actually cast a ballot. I’ve read many details of what women had to go through to achieve something many of us today take for granted. One name which comes to mind is Susan B. Anthony, whom played a pivotal role with the Women’s Rights Movement, working to get women the right to vote. A Quote from her, which I must continue to remind myself of as I go through this journey, “Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences For many years” I have put this quote above to keep the reminder on the blog. I understand that extremists from any walk of life can twist and pervert any law to suit any particular perversion to serve any perverted purpose, but I know that Equal Rights Amendment is plain and simple 1. I BELIEVE NO ONE SHOULD BE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST...ESPECIALLY OUR DEAR SISTERS; As the Law simply reads "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." Susan B once said, "Men - their rights and nothing more; Women - their rights and nothing less. " and I say, "Anything less would be positively medieval." In my time the Democratic Party Supported the amendment and the Republican Party did not; so it became one step into the Making of a Democrat.