The Long Bending Arc

Remember that quote Martin Luther King used: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” We may be watching that arc.

This past week marked 45 years since the badly botched Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. And there was another March for Life on Friday at the nation’s capital.

President Trump spoke at the rally. I remember when he casually leaned toward pro-abortion, back when he was a Democrat and not a politician, so even less inclined than today to think through issues. So it’s a little surprising to hear pro-life language from him now, but I’ll take it. Repentance is a good thing.

Pres. Trump speaks at March for Life 2018
Image from here

Here’s some of what he said:

The March for Life is a movement born out of love. You love your families, you love your neighbors, you love our nation and you love every child—born and unborn—because you believe every life is sacred, that every child is a precious gift from God.

He added, "Americans are more and more pro-life, you see that all the time,” which I’ll talk about more today. He also said,

Under my administration, we will always defend the very first right in the Declaration of Independence, and that is the right to life.

Well done.

So about that bend in the right direction. I think he’s right. Science is with the right to life; the more we know about the baby in the womb, the more we verify each one is a human baby, growing, with a heartbeat, feeling pain, and experiencing other senses. That is so clearly not simply a clump of cells, like a tumor. Truth leads in the direction of life.

I came across a story at The Daily Signal, verifying that young, teenage pro-life activists are pretty formidable. Three reasons: 1) They’re surprisingly upbeat and joyful—not angry. 2) They’ve already “learned to deal with incessant opposition.” Because “Pro-life people of any demographic live in a world where everyone from their boss to their favorite Hollywood star blatantly abhors them and their beliefs.” And 3) Opposition makes them stronger. “Those displays of mean-spirited opposition only knit them closer together, harden their conviction that they are fighting against true evil, and give them a sense of heroism. (A little secret: Teenagers love to feel like heroes.)”

Another story, from last week, was good news out of Tennessee. Back in 2014, Tennessee voters, a 53% to 47% majority, added this amendment to their state constitution: “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.” It has been making its way through court challenges—since Planned Parenthood filed a challenge just days after the vote. The vote was upheld April 2016 in a Circuit Court, and went from there to federal appeals court. Then, on January 9, 2018, the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Planned Parenthood’s efforts to overturn the will of Tennessee voters.

Image from here

Senior Judge David McKeague (appointed in 2005 by George W. Bush) wrote,

Although the subject of abortion rights will continue to be controversial in Tennessee and across our nation, it is time for uncertainty surrounding the people’s 2014 approval and ratification of Amendment 1 to be put to rest.

I don’t know the full ramifications of the amendment, but it does mean one state has successfully defied the SCOTUS decision claiming the right to kill a baby in the womb is a fundamental right. Hurray!

Now, back to the evidence that public will is changing.

Michael Knowles, in today’s podcast, which he titled “Lying, Shrieking Harpies: Women’s March 2018,” discussed the second annual Women’s March, in various cities this weekend. I wrote about this confusing event last year. It’s those people with knitted vagina caps on their heads again. Knowles had gone to the official website, WomensMarch.com, to get their purpose—because women actually at the march were pretty unclear on what they were doing there: you know, women’s rights, and equality, and, and, you know, stuff.

marchers on a New York subway,
wearing those things on their heads,
image from here

So, I’ve transcribed the whole 5-minute segment (I think it’s about 17 minutes into the full podcast—he pulled out this segment on Facebook), which I’ve divided up by issue. The section on Reproductive Rights is what ties in directly with our topic today. But I’ve included the rest for your interest. The part on Equal Pay ties in with last Thursday’s topic. Anyway, here’s Michael Knowles sharing WomensMarch.com’s stated mission, and then comparing it to real life facts:

Here is the mission statement from Women’s March.com: “The mission of Women’s March is to harness the political power of diverse women in their communities to create transformative social change. Women’s March is a women-led movement providing intersectional education on a diverse range of issues and creating entry points for new grassroots activists and organizers to engage in their local communities through trainings, outreach programs and events. Women’s March is committed to dismantling systems of oppression through nonviolent resistance and building inclusive structures guided by self-determination, dignity, and respect.”

What? What? What does any of that mean? They get a bit more specific later on, but this shows you just how out of touch they are.

VIOLENCE

The first principle that they list is ending violence. They write: “Women deserve to live full and healthy lives free of all forms of violence against our bodies.” Just to correct the record here, women live significantly longer than men on average. By the end of the 20^th Century, male life expectancy was 73.4 years, compared to 80.1 years for women.

Unlike men, when women register to vote, they don’t simultaneously have to register for the military draft. Men are far more likely to be the victims of violent crime than women. 76.8% of murder victims are male. Boys and men are more likely than women to be victims of assault, and robbery as well. Additionally, according to the Gallup World Poll, women report being happier with their lives than their male counterparts.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Women’sMarch.com goes on to the euphemistically titled “reproductive rights.” They say, “We believe in reproductive freedom. We do not accept any federal, state, or local rollback cuts or restrictions on our ability to access quality reproductive health care services—birth control, HIV/AIDS prevention, or medically accurate sexuality education. This means open access to safe, legal, affordable abortion and birth control for all people.” So it’s just about abortion. They put all that other stuff there, but it’s really about abortion.

And yet, according to a 2016 Marist poll, despite constant Democrat euphemisms, renaming abortion as “women’s issues” or “reproductive health,” nationally the vast majority of women—77%—support restricting abortion to at most the first trimester. Far fewer, just 71% of men, support restrictions on abortion. The women are clearer. The majority of women—59%—say abortion is morally wrong. 52% of women believe that abortion should at most—at MOST—be permitted in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. But, nevertheless, according to the Women’s March, women want abortion on demand, anytime, anyplace, and it just isn’t backed up by reality.

EQUAL PAY

On workers’ rights, Women’sMarch.com declares, “We believe in an economy powered by transparency, accountability, security, and equity. All women should be paid equitably.” And you hear this constantly, this popular disinformation that there’s a gender pay gap: women make 77 cents on the dollar; no equal pay for equal work. But that gender pay gap disappears once you control for factors like education, time in the industry, and hours worked.

Actually, single childless women in metropolitan areas—they don’t earn less than their male counterparts; they earn more than their male counterparts by 8% on average. Nationally, women also graduate from college at significantly higher rates than men. In 2015 39% of women 25-29 had earned a bachelor’s degree, compared to just 32% of men.

VOTING RIGHTS

On Civil Rights, Women’sMarch.com explains, “We believe civil rights are our birthright, including voting rights.” This is odd to pick a fight on voting rights, as, according to the Center for American Women and Politics, since 1980 women have voted at higher rates in every single presidential election than men. So, by 2016, that gap widened to 63.3% of women voting compared to just 59.3% of men. Additionally, the number of female voters has exceeded the number of male voters in every presidential election since 1964. Despite constituting a majority of the US population—50.2% to 49.8%—women also benefit from affirmative action policies on campus and in the workplace, that give them a competitive advantage over men.

DISABILITY RIGHTS

There’s a section on disability rights. Women’sMarch.com proclaims, “We believe that all women’s issues are issues faced by women with disabilities and deaf women.” I guess that one’s right. Deaf women are still women. I don’t know what the point of that is, but sure. That’s the one thing that the Women’s March got right: deaf women are women.

IMMIGRANT RIGHTS

On immigrant rights, Women’sMarch.com insists, “Rooted in the promise of America’s call for huddled masses yearning to breathe free, we believe in immigrant and refugee rights regardless of status or country of origin. We believe migration is a human right, and that no human being is illegal.”

So, putting aside for a moment the illogic of a national policy to do away with national borders, even on the numbers the Women’s March doesn’t seem to represent women. Even among illegal aliens brought to the United States as children and teenagers—even the Dreamers, the most sympathetic and relentlessly demagogued group of illegal aliens—a November survey from Morning Consult and Politico shows that fewer than 30% of Americans support amnesty. Even among Democrats, support for granting amnesty to the most sympathetic group of illegal aliens is just 44%.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Finally, last segment, on environmental justice, Women’sMarch.com observes, “We believe that every person and every community in our nation has the right to clean water, clean air, and access to and enjoyment of public lands.” Lucky for them, federal law has protected all of those things, to say nothing of state and local management, for at least the past five decades.

The Women’s March is the most frivolous protest in the history of the world.

Usually, people whose heads are filled with vapidity masquerading as thought either figure it out and change, or they get found out and ignored.

Anyway, there was one march last weekend that affirmed women and life, and the connection between sexuality and women and new life. There was a lot of love there, which clearly relates to and supports women.

I really think that long arc will keep bending toward justice, because love is more persuasive than hate, and truth is more persuasive than demagoguery. 

March and Meaning

The media told us there was a historic event across the country and around the world this past Saturday. Women came out, in extraordinary numbers, to march about….   I’m not sure.

As a strong woman friend, who didn’t attend, said on Facebook, “The whole point of a protest is to educate those who don't know anything about what it is about. I was left completely clueless.”

A confusing poster from the Women's March
found on a friend's Facebook,
original source unknown

I know a few women who participated. Young, educated, successful women. Women who have made their career choices, or are staying home with beautiful children while their husband pursues career goals that support the whole family. That’s anecdotal, I know. I just don’t happen to know any downtrodden, marginalized women who participated. But I assume in crowds that big, there were some.

But I’m confused about their message. Women around the world were protesting the election of a US President they don’t like? When the alternative was a catastrophically bad choice? That seems unlikely.

So, if we broaden out the purpose(s) for this solidarity march, maybe it’s about pushing a progressive (tyrannist), social justice (fascist) agenda that happens to be led by people who identify as female for now.

To anonymously quote one of my Facebook friends who attended in her city:

My earlier post only mentioned it was a reaction to a misogynistic president (which it definitely was), but it also was a pro-immigrant, pro-racial equality, pro-LGBTQIA rights, pro-environment, and pro-healthcare accessibility demonstration as well. Everyone marched for their own reasons, but it did expand beyond just feminism yesterday.

She linked to this Reuters article, which claims the activists were “outraged by Trump's campaign rhetoric and behavior they found to be especially misogynistic.” This is the very next day after the inauguration, and the event was in planning stages for some time, so it is not about either his rhetoric or behavior as president. Their timing, therefore, is a bit off; the campaign is over.

Another clever person made a comparison to NFL football following yesterday’s games:

I refuse to accept the results of the AFC & NFC Championship games. Tomorrow I’ll be protesting, picketing, looting, rioting, and forming support groups. Contact me privately for details.

#NotMySuperBowl     NFLMemes on Facebook

So, there’s the timing problem. Then, it is difficult to believe people are outraged about distasteful, disgusting things the now-president has said or done in the past when they show up costumed as their own genitalia. Signs they carry are some combination of vile, offensive, profane, or just stupid.

Video here, if you care to see; I’d rather not reproduce those images on my blog. But here's a photo of the leftover detritus.

The leftover detritus
photo credit Ben Ferguson

Then there’s the irony related to solidarity.

This Occupy-Wall-Street-sponsored, Planned-Parenthood-funded march attempted to exclude pro-life women.

A piece on Lifesite News, by Kelsey Kurtinitis, two days ahead of the march, starts out, “I am a woman, and yet the Women’s March on Washington does not represent me.” Later in the piece Kurtinitis explains,

According to their mission statement, they aim to “join in diversity” while sending “a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights.”…

All of these well-intentioned statements might have at least maintained consistency if they had not then immediately violated their very own mission statement.

Yesterday, the Women’s March organization made headlines by removing New Wave Feminists, a pro-life women’s group, as an official event sponsor. The Women’s March released a statement to defend their decision, apologizing for “the error” of having previously listed an “anti-choice” group as a partner. They also made it clear that they only wish to march on behalf of those who share the pro-abortion mindset.

So, women who “choose” life for children are not “woman” enough to qualify for the Women’s March. Hmm. Given pressure, organizers backtracked and decided to grudgingly allow participation from women who believe in giving birth to babies rather than killing them in the womb. For some reason that doesn’t win me over.

There has been some pushback. Some women explain why they didn’t join the march, while others respond with why they were wrong not to join. Some claim the definition of feminism has been hijacked, and others say the definition means anything and everything.

Conservative Review had a piece last September about the failure of modern feminism:

Like most progressive movements, modern feminism purports to laud equality, tolerance, and freedom of expression as its primary goals. The truth, however, is that feminism promotes two unappealing visions of equality, neither of which could be considered “tolerant.”

Some feminists have attempted to reach equality by disarming and devaluing men. For these women, equality demands that the status and intrinsic worth of men be lowered for the sake of female liberation, independence, and “leveling the playing field.” This is the “fight the patriarchy” and “the future is female” group.

An alternative and more radical form of modern feminism asserts that equality demands total transcendence of sexual and all other differences—complete uniformity in role, in pay, and, consequently, in perceived value. This view not only attacks men, but any person whose beliefs or values challenge the progressive feminist agenda. I call this camp the “feminist fascists.”

I have good friends who are willing to use the term feminism, and then define it themselves. They usually mean they want equal pay for equal work—usually unaware that women already have this, because they hear soundbites rather than look at data. [Pew Research points out that nearly all pay differences can be traced to women’s choices.] Sometimes they mean they want women to have the opportunity to pursue whatever work they want to do, as long as they are capable—again, unaware that women are more likely to graduate from high school, more likely to go to college [52% since 2010, according to UN statistics], and are more likely to be hired over a man to avoid accusations of sexism.

These sisters mean well. I don’t really have a quarrel with them. But I’ve been around long enough to know how the word has been used for many decades to mean anti-female. Women don’t gain more rights as women by denying their womanhood and acting like uncivilized men.

So I don’t ever describe myself as a feminist. And it never occurred to me to join in this meaningless march.

What did I do instead? I attended a funeral to celebrate the life of a beautiful, energetic, humanity-serving woman I had the privilege to know during the last few of her 78 years. Then I spoke at our local Tea Party meeting, outlining our legislative priorities during the session that just got underway here in Texas. (No one at the meeting talked about the march, or even mentioned the inauguration; we’re on to doing what we need to do next.) Then I went and played some music with friends. And then I went home to share a quiet evening watching a movie with Mr. Spherical Model, because sometimes being a woman living a very full life is  not only enough, it's exhausting.