Zeroes Don’t Count: Politics 101
Posted: January 8, 2012 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, Barack Obama, U.S. Politics, Women's Rights 28 CommentsWhoever wins the vote in 2012, as Dak points out women have lost. The only thing politicians are arguing about is who can barter away more of women’s fundamental rights. It’s become a given that rights for female people are an optional frill, to be indulged only if there’s really nothing else that needs doing. They’re a “pet rock.”
Among the many brilliant discoveries by Douglas Adams, perhaps the most insightful is the one showing how to make anything invisible. It’s really easy. You just surround it with the Somebody Else’s Problem field. Something as vast as the inalienable rights of half the entire country can disappear almost overnight. Men are convinced it’s women’s problem. Women are convinced it’s poor women’s problem. Or teenagers’. Or somebody else’s. Anybody else’s. It doesn’t matter. That’s all it takes for invisibility.
The only way to destroy the field is to make it their problem, which, in this particular case, means making politicians pay a price when they try to turn women into fungible incubators.
Well, the only hold we voters have over politicians is our vote. Nothing else.
They’re convinced, and with good reason, that everything else can be bought. Advertising to try to get votes depends on money. Cushy post-government jobs depend on networking. Voters can’t influence any of that. The actual vote is the only thing a voter controls.
So it’s our one and only tool, our one and only leverage. Nor is it a minor thing. As madamab notes, “The bottom line is this: Women. Win. Elections. Not only do we make up the majority of volunteers for political campaigns in general, not only do we donate in droves, but we also vote. A lot. And wherever we go en masse, is wherever the winning candidate goes.”
But if you can’t withhold your vote from a politician, you have zero leverage. You don’t count.
If something else is more important, dead wedding guests to take Ian Welsh’s example, then you have to ask yourself a couple of things.
As a matter of practical fact, have the dead innocents stopped piling up under Obama? No. The talk is prettier, but the walk is the same.
The other question is whether ignoring your own rights actually solves anybody else’s problems. Does trampling women’s human rights result in a better world? Does it end war? Stop poverty? Eradicate ignorance? Stop global warming? Transition us all to sustainable energy? Provide prosperity and military supremacy? No. No, no, no, and no. So, by putting yourself second, nobody else gets a better life and everybody loses.
Trampling women’s human rights makes no sense in any universe. Not in principle, where compromising those inalienable rights leads only to greater compromises because trampling rights is habit-forming. Not in practical politics, where the extortioners take your vote but don’t have the honesty of a common criminal and don’t even hand over whatever mess of pottage your vote was supposed to buy.
So vote for Obama if you feel you have to because the other Republicans talk like bigger sociopaths, but do it without illusions. Things will continue to get worse. Your rights will continue to vaporize. However, otherwise things might become as bad sooner.
Or they might not. Some people might make feeble cries of protest when Republicans impoverished and killed people. 
Or, maybe, the 2%-less-evil-Republicans (aka “Democrats”) will be the difference that saves us from the apocalypse. I can’t say that I see that last possibility myself. All I see is that voting for Obama means active participation in our own destruction. That’s worse than refusing to help. It’s worse even when the end is the same.
There is another choice. Own your vote. Refuse coercion, extortion, and hostage-taking. Vote third party or write someone in. Sure, we’ll lose this time. But if enough of us lose together, it’s the first step to not losing.
Crossposted from Acid Test
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
I can no longer voter for the least evil/corrupt/narcissistic/sociopath candidate.
The other choice — find a third party candidate who has a history of respecting and working for women’s rights or write in someone’s name. in my state we can write in candidates.
Zero aka 0 — made it clear four years ago that he wasn’t going to support anything that remotely put forward women’s rights as human rights. In fact he will go down in history as helping the enemy gain ground.
No matter what he does and no matter who runs on the other legacy party ticket — I will never ever vote for 0bama. No good can come out of 4 more years of ozone-bambam. In fact we will lose more ground.
The anti-war efforts/groups have been shut down — in fact they have been harassed by the no-bell piece price/prize can-did-ate. Environment is still going down the toilet.
0bowma is the best Republican prez ever.
At this point I really have no idea if my vote even counts or is counted. The whole election may have already been decided.
The GOP can continue to put on their idiot shows — but it is all a waste of time and money. The votes been taken and the candidates have been bought. We the people don’t count — literally we do not get to count the vote.
I certainly share the anger & frustration along with the pessimism. I was determined to vote but not for president. That was until I started watching the The American Taliban debates. I really don’t disagree that women are f***ked, either way & all ways. I have another concern, however, and that’s the environment. Yes, Obama is weak on the environment but he’s at least 50% better than any of the dicks on the other side. These idiots, except for possibly Huntsman, believe god has everything under control. So, whether or not the world is coming to an end – AH, THE RAPTURE – or not, they are going to grab as much money and power as they can. The planet & the rabble be damned. No, they don’t care about women, but they don’t care about children, people of color or other ethnicities – they are equal opportunity discriminators.
Bear in mind, I do bring a modicum of guilt to this discussion. I live in Florida & I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000. I was pissed at Al Gore for not making the environment a bigger priority as VP and in his campaign. I protested by voting for Nader – and I love Ralph Nader to boot. Did my vote for Nader cause King George II to win in Florida? NO! Jeb Bush, our governor at the time helped cook the books, and the Supremes made it so. Of course, I was naive enough at the time that I couldn’t imagine a large enough number of people were stupid enough to vote for a mentally handicapped person for president of the U.S. Gosh was I wrong. They not only did it once, they did it twice. Forrest Gump’s mom was right – stupid is as stupid does. So, I’m going to hold my nose and, once again, vote for Obama. I hope you won’t hate me or ban me because of it.
I don’t think anyone has ever been banned other than trolls, and I’ve been lurking since the blog started. I’ve found that as long as one is respectful of the front pagers and states their case intelligently without hyperbole, all opinions have been welcome. Just my 2cents.
I feel for you. You’re obviously struggling with this choice as I’m sure many others are as well. Caught between a rock and a hard place, as my mom used to say.
I call it Between Barack and a Rand place.
Good one Wonk – thanks for the chuckle.
Great saying Wonk.
Nope, I don’t hate you or want to ban you. I know you’re eyes are wide open and you’re not taking a huge hit off the hopey/changey bong. Many of us may choose to do the same out of sheer fear of the Republicans. I hate it when there’s nothing to vote for and there is only something dreadful to vote against. Also and unlike many of us, your vote will count in Florida. My vote doesn’t mean anything any more since they shipped so many people out of New Orleans. Louisiana has gone red and is no longer a toss up state.
Owning your vote is owning your vote. Don’t let anyone guilt you, Connie. Not even me 😉 I write with a strong editorial viewpoint because I’m just not able to vote for Ds or Rs anymore and am convinced long-term, it’s voting for the same thing. However, I do understand people’s votes at the individual level–it’s a very personal thing. And, there’s no judgment here. Just empathy for a lack of meaningful alternatives. And, yes, the GOP is abominable on the environment. I hope you continue posting! I look forward to your comments.
I’ll be voting for Obama, too. The right-wing extremism of the GOP candidates has brought me to this decision. I live in a swing state that may help decide the GE. I believe four more years of the devil we know ( Obama ) is better than four or possibly eight years of the devil we don’t know ( probably Romney ). Am I happy about this decision? No, but I can live with it. I know far too many people, myself included, who may not be able to literally survive a GOP administration. That is not hyperbole; it is reality in my world. I live in poverty and am disabled. The GOP want to totally destroy the programs people like me depend on to live. We have nothing else. We don’t have the luxury of thinking long-term. I am not so naive as to believe that Obama cares about the poor but an Obama administration that is even a small percentage better than a GOP administration is good enough for me. Obama may make cuts in social programs but he will not obliterate them. Neither will a Democratic-controlled Congress.
Excellent, quixote. Couldn’t have said it better.
quixote, excellent essay, as was Madamab’s. Funny, I watched 9 to 5 today just for a hoot, and lo and behold, although the movie was made in 1980, we have not progressed one inch from that horrid place today. It’s hidden more effectively, yet the underlying rot is still in place – with one exception. Today, a lot more women have joined in and are gleefully participating in the patriarchal bullsh@t along with the boyz. To quote an old song:
“Clowns to the left of me!
Jokers to the right!
Here I am stuck in the middle with you.”
Funny thing is that we’re not longer just fighting for abortion rights. I could’ve hit Willard over the head when he had no idea what the Griswold case was and followed it by repeating that no state wants to outlaw contraception. Boy, is he stupid …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-walker/santorum-contraception-conservatives_b_1192644.html
ACLU ACLU National
Pharmacy refuses to sell emergency contraception to a man, despite FDA guidelines that specify men & women may purchase
http://www.aclu.org/blog/reproductive-freedom/another-pharmacy-refuses-sell-emergency-contraception-man
Happened again in Texas …
(Sheesh. Now I’m late to my own party. What can I say?)
Although I’m ranting in that post, I actually really mean it about vote for B0 if you have to. I mean, who knows, 2% less evil may make some kind of difference. So far, it seems to be along the lines of Vastleft’s cartoon: “Would you rather have Gingrich denying us Plan B?” But I don’t know what’s the best path. I just can’t vote for betrayal.
Priceless.
The indefinite detention clause was the final straw for me. I rocked back and forth on ‘could I vote for Obama/Dems’ on the possible SCOTUS decisions? Could I vote 3rd party if Hillary Clinton was brought on board as Obama’s VP?
Well, short of a dramatic, startling upheaval, I’ve decided–I will vote against both legacy parties because I no longer believe either the Democratic Party or the Republicans are honest or working for the interests of the public. That being said, I live in a Red State. My vote is somewhat moot [a vote of conscious or not]. Obama will never win down here.
I have to say, I thought Ian’s comment was unfair on that earlier thread. No one is suggesting that bombing willy-nilly overseas [brown skin people turned to a red mist] is less important than a woman controlling her own biological destiny. But I resent that the first thing regarded secondary are women’s rights. Can we not put human, civil rights on the same level as the right to life?
As I’ve said elsewhere, I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. And frankly, it’s easy for a person whose ox is not being gored personally to say–well, you should give up ‘your’ rights for the greater good. Would anyone suggest that to the AA community, actually say it aloud. How about Latinos? Native Americans? The disabled? The elderly?
I don’t think so.
But women are automatically expected to bow their heads and say, oh yes, yes, feed me last.
There’s no question that a Ron Paul is talking about issues that other candidates skirt. But does he stand for the right things? Again, I don’t think so. Sorry, I don’t believe in social Darwinism or a return to the Wild, Wild West. As far as I’m concerned, libertarianism is just a philosophy where rich assholes get to plunder the planet at will and feel good about themselves while they’re doing it. Screaming liberty is the extra bonus.
I hate these wars. I’ve not supported one of them. I’ve never been a one-issue voter. But I’m not about to shoot myself in the head, thinking that will make a difference. If the argument is that women’s rights are already dwindling then the answer is to fight harder, not to simply give up or to put the rights of women on the ladder’s bottom rung.
I voted for McCain in 2008 as a protest vote and the fact I was afraid Obama was ill-equipped and compromised. Unfortunately, I was right. But I won’t repeat the mistake in 2008. It’s either 3rd party. Or no vote at all.
It drives me nuts when people pretend you can sacrifice one right for the good of another one. Justice is like pregnancy. You can’t be partially pregnant, and you can’t be a little bit just. Either everyone is treated fairly, or nobody is. You may argue most lucidly for your own group, but you’re clear that we’re all in this together.
The people who pretend otherwise are really just arguing for their own privileges.
Which is why when women’s rights are ignored, it’s usually only a matter of days before it turns out the rest of the pretty speeches were just a chimera, too.
Ayup. To me if women’s rights are being squandered, it’s a big red flag that all the rest of the house of cards on human rights is about to fall apart too. Same thing with LGBT rights.
And, Lard, is the evidence ever conclusive on that!
the thing that makes me shake my head is – women are AA’s, they are Latinos, they are Native Americans, they are disabled, elderly, you name it, women are there, so why are women treated as a separate breed. It’s a perverted kind of apartheid. If one has those scary lady parts, they are separate.
Well said, HT.
Exactly.
Ditto, HT!!!
Same for me Peggy, only being in a Red state like Georgia, and the fact that we can’t write anyone in…I plan on staying home. Like Dak said to Connie, for some of us…there is no option, but in places like FLA your vote does matter.
The Plan B situation is really morphing into Plan BS, isn’t it? I wonder how the guys feel, getting the female you-have-no-rights runaround?
I never got the memo about perverts rarin’ to purchase Plan B. Who came up with that idea? What’s the rationale? I mean, huh? Rapists are not exactly worrying about the woman’s welfare at any point, so what would make them suddenly charge around to pharmacies, desperately looking for Plan B? ???
Just one more excuse to impose their religious extremism on others IMHO. Reminds me of the days when we had to walk into a dingy storefront with just a counter, fill out an order sheet and hand it over to a clerk, who then went into the back room to pull the bottle off the shelf – That’s the way they used to sell alcohol here because, you know, people could not be trusted to shop for the demon rum without overly indulging themselves.
One wonders where this will all lead.
BTW, I never got the memo about perverts rushing in to purchase anything other than duct tape, nylon rope, balaclavas and plastic restraints. As far as I know, hardware stores do not question their customers on why they required these items.
Oh, and I should add that I’m in California, which is sewn up in a parcel for You-Know-Who, so my vote is an academic exercise anyway.
here in TX, mine’s always been pretty academic too.