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Feminist Nonsense
By William T. Barrante, Watertown
Gabrielle Bernard is unhappy again. And I suppose that bodes well for those of us who cherish freedom. In her December 14 article [It Was Predictable] she rants about President George W. Bush's handling of the war against terrorism, accusing him of Napoleonic tendencies such as having himself crowned "emperor." She is unhappy that Al Gore did not become president because "all the votes" were not counted in Florida. Well, if "all the votes" had been counted in other states, there is no guarantee that Mr. Gore would have won. She claims Gore won the election because he won the popular vote, apparently ignoring the constitutional fact that we do not choose our president by popular vote but through the Electoral College. If we did the election the way Ms. Bernard apparently wanted it done, there would have been recounts in every state, and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert might be acting president today.
She accuses "the Republican Party, a remnant of the old WASP entitlement," of going "reactionary" and leading us down the path to tyranny. Let's see, this party of "the old WASP entitlement" has a black man, Colin Powell, as Secretary of State, and a black woman, Condoleeza Rice, as perhaps President Bush's closest adviser. Remember what Dr. Rice said at the 2000 GOP convention: her father became a Republican because the Democrats down South refused to register him. But it's not only Southern Democrats who have fought so hard against this "old WASP entitlement." Among the biggest blocks to the advancement of black people in this country were the northern labor unions, which a century ago made sure that blacks coming north from the south did not get jobs that were being given to Italian and Polish immigrants. These labor unions formed the base of the Northern urban Democratic machines.
And for the icing on the Democratic equality cake, our most racist president was Woodrow Wilson, who brought us into World War I to "save the world for democracy" and then had our black National Guard troops serve with the French Army because he and his advisers thought white American troops would not serve with them. Ms. Bernard compares the current rounding up of Arab-American citizens and Arab aliens to the Red Scare of World War I and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, both of which were products of Democratic administrations. Eugene V. Debs, head of the American Socialist Party, was jailed during World War I because he opposed the war. He was pardoned by President Warren G. Harding, a Republican, who invited him to the White House. A liberal Supreme Court approved the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. This was basically the same Supreme Court that a few years earlier had upheld the fining of a farmer who grew too much wheat on his farm.
Ms. Bernard does not think that George Bush is doing enough to oppose "the oppression of women." Well, this country just toppled a group in Afghanistan that treated women lower than house pets. As a libertarian, I share Gabrielle Bernard's concern about the actions the Attorney General has been taking against Arabs. And, to be fair, it was a Republican, Abraham Lincoln, who violated the civil rights of many Americans during the Civil War, actions that find no support with this writer. The people who opposed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 are the source of my political philosophy. But to compare the present Bush administration with the Federalist attempt to suppress dissent, the Red Scare, and the Japanese-American internment only confirms my belief that the brains of most feminists are missing a few gears.
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