How Easily We Forget...So I Will Remind You

 In 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention was convened by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The reason for the Convention? To discuss the "condition of women" broadly, and specifically, to begin to organize and fight for a woman's right to vote.
That was in 1848. The 19th Amendment (giving women the right to vote) was ratified in 1920. I know you can do math, but I will tell you it took
 SEVENTY-TWO YEARS for women to win this basic right. 72 long, stressful years, in which women like Susan B. Anthony gave their whole adult lives (58 years) just to work for a woman's right to vote. Anthony worked for that right every day, and never saw it come to pass. She traveled extensively, through terrible weather, on all forms of ancient transportation (buggies, wagons, trains) and was harassed, spit on, and arrested.
Imagine how she would feel to read this:
"In last year’s national election, Indiana achieved the dubious distinction of having America’s lowest voter turnout, with 30 percent. In LaPorte County, where I live, turnout was abysmal: 18 percent. But this was called an improvement, since just over 13 percent voted in May’s primary."
  
During the SEVENTY-TWO YEARS they fought to secure the right for women to vote, women went to jail. Yes, to jail. The arguably most horrific period in which this occurred began in January 1917, when the "Silent Sentinels" first appeared in front of the White House. The women were peaceably assembling, but by September, when it was apparent they would not leave, and violence against them had not deterred them, the arrests started. The arrested women were sentenced to 30 days in the workhouse. Thirty days in the workhouse, just for asking for the right to vote.
Imagine how they would feel to read this: 
"In sheer vote totals, the downward trend over the past decade-plus is evident. On Tuesday, 8,558 people voted in Lafayette, West Lafayette, Dayton and Battle Ground. In 2011, that number was 11,816. In 2007, just under 16,000 people voted. In 2003, there were 19,641 voters. Tuesday represented a 27.6 percent drop-off in voters from the weakest turnout of the previous three municipal elections."

In the book, Jailed for Freedom, Doris Stevens talks about the experience of suffragists in the workhouse: "The building to which they took us was lighted up as we came to it...We were rushed into a large room that opened on a large hall with stone cells on each side...I saw Dorothy Day brought in. She is a frail girl. The two men handling her were twisting her arms above her head. Then suddenly they lifted her up and banged her down over the arm of an iron bench--twice..."
 Imagine how Dorothy Day would feel when reading this:
"The median age of voters this year: 62. That might be no secret. Older voters tend to be more invested in the community and tend to vote. Still, it’s striking. This week, 41.9 percent of the turnout was from those 65 and older; that same group accounts for 18 percent of the registered voters. Those under 35 accounted for 10.8 percent of the vote, despite making up 37 percent of the voter rolls."  

Again from the book:  "Alice Paul and Rose Winslow, the first two suffragists to undertake the hunger strike, went through the operation of forcible feeding three times a day until their release....[the following was written on scraps of paper and smuggled out of the jail] 'One feels so forsaken when one lies prone and people shove a pipe down one's stomach. Yesterday was a bad day for me in feeding. I was vomiting continually during the process. The tube has developed an irritation somewhere that is painful.'"
Imagine that these women, who gave so much for the likes of us, read this:

"Just 12.9 percent of voters showed up for elections in Lafayette, West Lafayette, Battle Ground and Dayton."

I know how I feel. Are you fucking kidding me?? Just 12.9% of us bothered to vote on Tuesday??!!! There are just no words for that utterly despicable lack of caring about the rest of us. 

Do you feel ashamed? You should.

Scenario # 1

The year is 2026.  It's an off-election year, and President Rand Paul knows the GOP face very little opposition in these elections from the dispirited and decimated Democratic Party.  In fact, he sees this off-year election as an opportunity to showcase his Vice President, Rick Perry, and to add numbers to the 47 out of 50 GOP-controlled state legislatures--as if they need any help!  On the national level, control of the Senate is not a "given", as the Democrats learned in 2014-2024.  All it takes is being complacent, and a turn of 2-5 seats.  The House is pretty secure, as you can count on voters to bitch but vote for the same darn guy every time.
But to be fair, the legislatures of those 47 GOP-controlled states are pretty much staffed with figure heads--everyone knows the real power rests in the hands of ALEC .  ALEC has always been 2 steps ahead of everyone, all the time.  Back in 2010, the GOP put all their resources into state elections, and it paid off--districts were gerrymandered to ensure safe seats, and then ALEC went to work, drawing up legislation to be passed in states--Voting Right laws and Anti-Abortion Laws were their crowning achievements, and by the time the average American adult woke up, it was all over.  Now, President Paul is not only secure in his re-election, but has to spend very little money to get there.  There are such deep, grateful GOP pockets out there--ha ha!!!  The rich just keep getting richer, and once the Koch brothers learned how to sign on to Facebook, the ballgame was over. 
Not that any "average" American has time to "surf the net".....
The turning point was definitely Texas, in 2013.  Women's health clinics were closed throughout the state, and abortions after 20 weeks were banned.  Oh sure, women (and some men) were angry, just as they had been in Wisconsin, South Dakota, Kansas, Iowa, Virginia, and other states, but the GOP (and ALEC) knew the attention span of an average voter was about 2 days, and then they were distracted by something on television, or the internet....Add to this the fact that young voters, once they feel defeated by something, just stop voting, and it was the beginning of a GOP cakewalk.
Soon, Americans just forgot, because it was the law, and it really wasn't so bad, and well......it seemed like it was just the poor it really affected.  And, it's hard to be angry clear until the next election....
2014 was a really good election year for the GOP.
And 2016?  The GOP was ready for that sucker that got elected president--they had learned much from the previous eight years--distract the voters, keep the "riff raff" from voting, and bury the elected president under with "scandals".  Then there was their media--Fox and other "friends"--they kept the GOP base riled up and voting, and it worked!  By 2018, the Democratic Party never knew what hit them, and now?  It's like people don't care any more...
The GOP knew it had it made when Obamacare was repealed.
So, what's life like for Americans in 2026?
It depends.  If you're wealthy, things never change--they just keep getting better.  If your wife, daughter, or girlfriend gets into "trouble", there are plenty of other countries to fly them to, countries where abortions and birth control are safe and legal.
But here, in the good ol' US of A?

1. Women's clinics are a thing of the past.  With the GOP landslide wins, and the Supreme Court increasingly conservative, Roe v Wade was overturned in 2021.  The citizens of the US rapidly learned that the GOP and ALEC were not just aiming to prevent abortions--they were aiming to prevent ALL forms of birth control.  One by one, states are successfully passing "Personhood Amendments" (stating life begins at conception), and the Supreme Court is upholding them.  
2. There is not one organization left to fight for reproductive rights, or to actually fight for women and their families.  People became complacent, thought Planned Parenthood would always be there, forgot to mail them a check once in a while.  Same with all those other organizations fighting for social justice for all people. 
3. There are far fewer women in the workforce.  There is no maternity leave anymore, and with families getting larger and larger, most women decide it's less expensive to stay home.  Most families could use the extra income though; 5-8 kids are a lot to feed.  The average man has to work 2 jobs to support his family.
4. Less than 30% of women go to college or a trade school.  There's just no money to send them, or the money is spent on their brothers' education.  College is extremely expensive, and why would a woman want to go to college anyway?  She's just going to get pregnant and have to give up her job.
5. Most students are not qualified to go to college anyway.  Back in 2008-2014, after the financial crisis's hit, most states decided it was a good idea to 1) Cut education funding, and 2) Keep women from making their own reproductive choices.  So now, with so many extra kids in schools, states are woefully unprepared, there are teacher shortages, and class sizes of 40-45 are the norm.  Unless, of course, you can afford to send your kids to private school...
6. Prisons are overflowing.  Poverty rates are sky-high, so kids are not ready for school (Head Start and free early childhood education is a thing of the past).  Kids drop out early--to help support their families, because they can't learn anything anyway, or because the local drug dealer has made them an offer they can't refuse.  It's a vicious cycle:  poverty--->low education attainment---->prison...And to think we almost had a handle on it in 2014...Add to this the women and doctors who have been imprisoned for trying to end a pregnancy--dwindling every year, but still trying to get away with it.
7. Women are dying at a rate not seen since the 1800's.  Clinics are closed, the Affordable Care Act was overturned...women can't afford prenatal care, so there are far more complications during childbirth.  Women who used birth control to prevent pregnancy for health reasons do not have access now.  There are no exceptions for rape and incest, so the rate of children (10, 11, 12-year olds) giving birth is at a rate never seen before, and the death rate of these "mothers" is so very, very high.  Women who wish to end a pregnancy for whatever reason are resorting to the methods women used prior to 1970--coat hangers, "potions" sold by quacks (now available on the internet!), knitting needles, "back alley" doctors.  And many of them are dying.  Horrible, painful deaths.
8. Tuberculosis and other communicable diseases, once thought "extinct", are spreading so very rapidly through cities and suburbs in the US.  Larger families, a shortage of affordable housing, rising poverty rates, no affordable heathcare--contagious diseases are epidemic.    
9. There are just too many people on this planet, and far too few resources.  When women and men could decide when to have children, or even whether to have children at all, our planet stood a chance.  But not anymore. Clean water, clean air?  Ha!  The GOP deregulated industry as fast as it could, once it could.  Other countries followed suit.  Not that it really mattered--more people need more resources; resources that are not always in infinite supply.  And all those extra people, using all those things that heated up our environment?  The planet got warmer.  The drought of 2012 and the flooding of 2013 paled in comparison to what's happening in 2026!  Crops are failing at alarming rates, just as the population is exploding.  There are food shortages, and food riots, across the United States.   Animals and plants that were once abundant are extinct--eaten.     
10. Canada has closed its borders to Americans, and they are constructing a fence.  There are just too many Americans, desperate for affordable health care, desperate for birth control, desperate for jobs, for a better future for their children, just desperate--they are streaming over the border, and the Canadian economy just cannot support any more.

In 2026, there are a couple of bright spots, as President Paul is quick to point out.

1. "Illegal immigration" is no longer an issue.  Nobody has crossed INTO America in years.  
2. Marriage equality for all.  You see, with mothers dying in childbirth, and orphanages filling with kids whose parents have died from disease, or who just can't afford to keep them, it's "every couple on deck"--even those lesbians and gays have to be counted on to take a kid...or 4...
3. And, "God Bless America"!  The 1% have finally killed the last union--with all those extra citizens, corporations don't need to put up with any backtalk from anyone; you complain, you're fired.  And your family is out on the street.   

Think about it....my scenario is not too far off the mark, is it?

Transvaginal. Ultrasound. Yes, Transvaginal.

Sometimes it's best to have a visual.  I'm not apologizing for the image above.  I hope it shocks you, makes you gasp, look away, get mad....all of the above.  I hope you're pissed as hell, and I hope THIS is the kick in the ass you need to get involved.
Because THAT--up there--is now allowed to happen to women who who are seeking reproductive health services in the state of Virginia.  The Republican governor has promised to sign this bill as soon as it reaches his desk.  Yes, in the United States of America.  In 2012. 
In case you haven't heard, from now on, if a woman in Virginia wants an abortion, the doctor will be REQUIRED to do a transvaginal ultrasound.  For no other reason than the legislature told the doctor to--there is no medical reason why this is necessary.  It's just that men in suits in March 2012 decided that they would love to rape a woman without getting their hands dirty.  They would love to rape a woman because they can.
Let me let that sink in.
Rape--a sexual assault initiated without a person's consent.  This is what the legislature voted to have done to women who don't consent.  Girls who are abused, pregnant, and need an abortion.  They have to be "probed".  Women who are raped, need a abortion--a legal medical procedure, are required to be "probed". Again.  I could go on, but this just makes me sick.
What the hell?  Have men in the United States lost their minds?  Yes, you can remind me that women are legislators too, but they are not a majority of the legislator in any state in the United States.  This is proposed by men, and approved by men.   
I thought it was our economy that sucked, that we needed jobs and infrastructure, and good education; clean air and clean water and safe food.
Turns out that, according to a lot of Republicans, a lot of male legislators, what we really need is to fuck our women any way we can.  Some call it a transvaginal probe, some call it rape.  I call it frightening.
And don't get me started on the "Personhood at Conception" bill that was also passed, most recently in Virginia. 

Please....get mad.  Get involved.  Draw the line in the sand NOW.
At the very least, donate.  To NARAL.  To Planned Parenthood.  To the Democratic Party.  Because the Republicans have just proved all they want to do is fuck you and your women.  Literally.