For Moderately-Conservative Friends and Family at the 11th Hour

[PeaceNikki]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/soraya-chemaly/women-gop-2012_b_2045902.html

An interesting thing happened this weekend: I heard from many, many Democratic men and women whose fathers, brothers and sometimes mothers, are devoted Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan supporters. So, I thought, what could I say to my father, also a conservative, at this 11th hour that might make him understand why I think Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are not just terrible options, but genuinely dangerous to me and his grandchildren?

There is the economy. And, national security. And education. And poverty. And the environment. And war. And, of course, the economy. But, what about fundamental rights? I happen to think those are, well, the foundation for everything else. Without those what becomes of the rest? Why do some of us think those are important and others don't? Why do some of us think they are at risk and others not? I know that it may seem like a luxury to consider rights. But there is nothing distant or abstract about what we, women and men, will face if Mitt Romney becomes president.
...

Today's Republican Party illustrates their inability to trust women to make decisions by themselves. Women are morally competent, autonomous human beings and, while they may always seek guidance and opinion, do not guidance from men -- be they spouses, fathers, judges, doctors, brothers, legislators. It's not that complicated. (And, please, if this were about "life" the Republican Party would be defunding the military, pumping birth control through the water system, and lobbying to change the national anthem to Kumbaya.)

That's why the single issue has never been abortion. It's equal protection under the law in defense of my fundamental rights. What we're doing is negotiating who controls women. I didn't write "women's bodies." I'm not separate from my body and my reproductive rights aren't separate from my fundamental rights. They are my fundamental rights. It's just that my human body is not the "norm" supported legally and judicially and constitutionally. Every wonder why we call "reproductive rights" "reproductive rights"? Why aren't they just "rights"? I mean they are for men -- privacy, bodily autonomy, equal protections, freedom, life.

Much more at link

[smccarter]

1. What I've been saying...

I can't, of good conscience, vote for any person who has profited from the firing/laying off/termination of any American worker.

While there are many other reasons not to vote for Mitt Romney, this should be enough NOT to vote for him. Anyone who does either has plenty enough money not to have to worry about the repercussion, or doesn't understand just what that administration means to the future of the middle class.