Women who tell me their husbands make the "political" decisions, ie voting

[undeterred]

MAKE MY HEAD HURT!

[YellowRubberDuckie]

1. I have heard that...

My dad used to tell my mother how to vote, but she'd just let him think that's how she voted, and refuses to tell anyone how she's voted...EVER...
What is wrong with these women? Don't they have a backbone?
Duckie

[undeterred]

2. Intellectual laziness

Our suffragette foremothers would be dismayed.

[marzipanni]

3. I am glad that my husband and I can discuss politics

and not get angry since we are on the same side. It would give me a brain aneurysm to be married to a republican!

[mark414]

4. i did some door to door canvassing before the '04 election

and this 40-something woman answered the door and soon her husband was behind her listening.

after a little while he said something like "i'll tell you what, i'm voting for bush and she is too" and walked back into the house...but his wife stayed and when he was gone said "that's what he thinks"

it made me smile but at the same time it made me sad...

i had another woman home alone in basically the same scenario, "if my husband was home he'd tell you i'm voting for bush"

[tjwmason]

6. I've seen that too.

I can imagine a fair few husbands telling their wives how to vote...but when it comes down to it, there's a secret ballot and so sweet f.a. that they can do about it.

It's terrible that women would feel obliged to keep it quiet rather than tell their husbands to go and boil their heads...but at least there is no way that husbands can check-up.

I remember my younger sister asking my which way she should vote (this just after she'd turned 18) - I flatly refused to, but rather told her what the various candidates stood for, which candidate I'd vote for, and told her to make up her own mind. Nobody should ever tell anybody else how to vote.

[bumblebee1]

5. That is sad.

I can't understand women like that.

[calico1]

7. My Dad would try that with my mom

but didn't have any luck. After JFK he went Republican. My Mom always voted Democratic. I remember one time my Dad fighting with her. He said all his brothers wives voted for whomever they voted for! My mother said it wasn't her problem if they were stupid enough to do that, she would vote for whoever she damn well pleased. Hehhe.

[billyskank]

8. But how do their husbands KNOW that their wife votes the way

he tells her to? That being the point of a secret ballot and all. :shrug:

[philosophie_en_rose]

12. With New Absentee Ballots, he can fill out two and make her sign.

:(

[crim son]

9. My ex-neighbor who adhered to a really freaky

brand of Catholocism, believed there should be only one vote per family, the husband's. However she didn't practice what she preached... apparently she was the exception to her own rule.

[undeterred]

10. I never saw the husbands, just the wives, so I don't know

if they were being dominated or just didn't want to think about it. I can see saying "my husband makes all the car repair decisions" being a division of labor, but the right to vote should be indivisible.

[NewWaveChick1981]

11. That is incredibly sad.

I thought this was 2006. :eyes: I think for myself and know my own political mind. If my husband EVER tried to tell me how to vote, I'd divorce him. (He wouldn't, because that's not how he is, but I'm just sayin'...)

A fundie canvasser came to our door just before the 2000 election, and she asked if my husband was home. I said, "So what if he is? Whose opinion do you need?" She asked who made the political decisions in our household, and I said, "That's a non-issue. I make my decisions and he makes his." She asked who I planned to vote for, and I said, "Al Gore, of course." I reminded her that her church was in danger of losing its tax-exempt status for engaging in political activities such as what she was doing. She thanked me for my time and got back in the church van that dropped her off. I made note of which church it was, too. :)

[MrCoffee]

13. MrsCoffee makes me vote Natural Law Party or she'll kick my ass

she's littler than me, but she's scrappy as all get out.

[ThomCat]

14. A lot of people make my head hurt.

My sister constantly says, "Well, Sean Hannity said..." :puke:

I know many people who don't vote at all because "there's no difference between the candidates. They're all the same." :grr:

The same people who can talk for days about shopping or parties they've gone to (like my sister) can't think an original thought about politics?

The same people who can quote sports scores from 50 years ago, or talk about the fine points of photography can't handle even the basic details of politics?

Oy. :banghead:

[calico1]

16. I worked with a gal who is exactly that way

and she made my head hurt badly. On the one hand she is a strong believer in women's abortion rights and other progressive issues. And she is a single mother. But then she never would read the news or do any kind of investigating candidates on her own. And she would also say they were all the same. She didn't know who our Congressman is and when I would point stuff out like this to her and tell her she should care she would just say they are all the same. Last presidential election another coworker and I were talking about the Supreme Court and how Roe could be endangered if enough right wing judges were seated. She just made a face and said "but abortion is legal. That will NEVER change." She had thought about voting for Gore in 2000 but then voted for Bush because the men in her department laughed and made fun of her and she didn't want to feel stupid. The last time around she had started to get pissed off with Bush from what little she was educating herself but then decided to vote for him again because Kerry "looked like Herman Munster." Again, this was from being influenced by the men in her department. Talk about my head hurting. Politics was boring to her. But she could tell you the best places to shop and the best deals and best restaurants!:banghead:

[ThomCat]

17. And then people like her will blame the politicians

when we loose our freedoms. She won't accept for a moment that it's partly her fault. :grr:

[El Fuego]

15. Tell me about it.

I know someone who went through very bitter divorce, actually had to get a restraining order against her ex, and yet while all this was happening I asked her who she was voting for and she told me "Steve said I should vote for bush."

:banghead:

[undeterred]

18. I know someone who was liberal and married to a crazy abusive guy

who was also a liberal.

After the divorce she had to do everything the opposite. So she married a right winger (who is verbally but not physically abusive like the first husband) and she took up right wing politics. I guess she's punishing him? First husband was smart about politics but mentally ill. Second guy is not smart about anything and a jerk but not mentally ill.

It makes my head hurt.