Or does it?
Does the POTUS steer our ship? Are they the rudder by which the country turns? Sure the position comes with very important, fundamentally crucial responsibilities that will affect our future. But do they actually drive the country? Weren’t we a country founded on self-management and freedom? Aren’t we a self-governing people? Consider this.
The first gathering devoted to women’s rights in the United States was held July 19–20, 1848 and was led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was not founded in the halls of Congress nor was it born in legislation and discourse from our leaders. It started on the street. It was a wrong that had been overlooked and was changed, not because of our leadership, but despite it. In 1911, 63 years after the first women’s rights gathering, J. B. Sanford, Senator 4th District and Chairman of the Democratic Caucus wrote this;
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But despite the long battle it was a fight forged and won by people, not by the elected.
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“Suffrage is not a right. It is a privilege that may or may not be granted. Politics is no place for a women consequently the privilege should not be granted to her.”  It took 8 more years, a total of 71 trips around the sun for us as a nation to officially give women the right to vote. But despite the long battle it was a fight forged and won by people, not by the elected.
Here are a list of Presidents who did not give women the right to vote after Elizabeth Cady Stanton held her gathering in 1848.
| James K. Polk (1845-1849) | |
| Zachary Taylor (1849-1850) | |
| Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) | |
| Â Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) | |
| Â James Buchanan (1857-1861) | |
| Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) | |
| Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) | |
| Â Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) | |
| Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) | |
| Â James A. Garfield (1881) | |
| Â Chester Arthur (1881-1885) | |
| Â Grover Cleveland (1885-1889) | |
| Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) | |
| Â Grover Cleveland (1893-1897) | |
| Â William McKinley (1897-1901) | |
| Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) | |
| Do some of those names shock you? Don’t we hold men like Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln in high regard? Of course we do, but they were not perfect leaders and they did not solve every problem facing this nation. It took countless women working and living for the cause to make the change. Some women we barely know and most we have never heard of made change happen. They led this nation to where it is now in regards to women’s suffrage.
Civil rights, slavery and taxation without representation were not issues that our President brought forward and righted. They were problems that were raised, argued and fought for by common people, with common goals, just like you.
Our President, and for that matter all of our “leadership” are nothing without us. Our country is to be led “by the people and for the people,” and yet we bicker. We bicker about her emails and his tax returns. We fight about his hair and her clothes. And while we do, they jump into the gaps that we create amongst ourselves and push us farther and farther apart. We have forgotten that we are what is great about this country. The Christian and the homosexual, Bill Maher and Rush Limbaugh, your grandma and my nephew all have the amazing opportunities we have because of the actions of free people, not because of the “leaders” who observed those actions and followed the trend. Our nation was not founded on hopes that we would always pick good presidents. Our nation was founded on the aspiration that we would be good people, that we would consider our collective good and empower people to be our voice. But it is our voice. The people who have really initiated change, who have caused a ruckus and who gave up their today for our tomorrow were not people who were given the permission to make change. They took it. As we approach the upcoming difficult choice many of us face in November, we have to remember that we are not turning over the country to a party or a person. We aren’t waiting anxiously for the appointment of a king or queen who will do with us as they please. We are allowing someone to speak for us. We are allowing someone to represent who we are. Because that is true, the question then is not “For whom will you vote?” The question is “Who will you become?”
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Photo: Getty Images |
It sounds like those men had the right idea. And they were certainly not the uneducated, backwoods rednecks of their day.
Voting in general is not a good idea. Female voting is even worse. The irrationality of male voters is an exception, whereas the irrationality of female voters is the norm. This is why democratic party politics is almost entirely based on compassion for victim groups. It’s the same reason “racism” and “sexism” are considered accusatory. Those issues are not serious problems for political consideration.