Feminism and the Election

The following is written by Eve Ensler, author of the Vagina Monologues.

Drill, Drill, Drill

I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

From White Castle to the Campaign Trail

Anuj Gupta, Border State Director for Barack Obama's Campaign for Change in Virginia, spoke to American University students today. His speech concerned the importance of Virginia as a "defining state," and deatailed his experiences on the campaign trail.

In a Question and Answer session, Gupta responded to a question about the impact of celeberity supporters on Obama's campaign. Gupta stated that, while celeberity endorsments often cast a bad light onto the canidates they support, there is such a thing as "good celebrity support."

He listed the example of Kal Penn, of the Harold and Kumar movie series, as being one such positive supporter. Gupta stated that Penn is working with the Obama's campaign. He goes door- to - door, informing potential voters about their options, and speaking at campaign rallies.



This is true.

It is also true that some celberties, in their haste to help out, do not always present themselves with as much composure as the Obama Campaign would hope. For example, view this video featuring actress Scarlett Johansson talking about her love for Obama.

Bristol's Pregnant.... So What?

The political world was rocked when Sarah Palin announced that her 17-year-old daughter Bristol, was 5 months pregnant.

“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family,” the statement said. “We ask the media, respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates,” Sarah Palin stated.

When asked if his campaign had helped add fuel to the fire, Obama responded with frustration. “Our people were not involved in any way in this and they will not be,” Obama said. “And if I ever thought there was somebody in my campaign that was involved in something like that, they’d be fired, O.K.?” He went on to add that this “has no relevance to Governor Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. My mother had me when she was 18. How a family deals with issues and teen-age children — that shouldn’t be the topic of our politics.I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories.”

Yet, the press, especially the bloggers, refuse to do anything of the sort.

Monica Guzman, an on-line reporter for seattlepi.com, wrote: "The debate about Bristol Palin isn't really about Bristol Palin. It isn't even about teenage pregnancy. The most angry exchanges in this conversation are about political consistency."

"Liberals are mad that social conservatives, who have so often linked teenage pregnancy with social decay, are giving their blessing to the Palin family. And conservatives are mad that liberals, who have so often linked conservatism with intolerance, are not praising the Palin family for supporting their daughter," laments Guzman.

Yet, still others raise another issue: "How can Governor Palin preach abstinence when her own daughter gets pregnant so young, obviously an unplanned pregnancy," asks "William" on an on-line fourm.

Megahn McCain "supports Bristol" in a emotional blog post. "The first political convention I ever attended was when my mom was pregnant with me in 1984 and the Republican Party nominated Ronald Reagan for a second term as President. I have been on political stages and in campaigns since before I could walk or talk. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that it is difficult to establish your identity and independence as the son or daughter of a politician. When I was 14 years old, a reporter questioned my father about me having a hypothetical abortion, had I been pregnant at 14. This reporter's question single-handedly changed my life. This story comes up in almost every profile written about me and in almost every interview. It's a rough go being the son or daughter of a politician. I have not known Bristol Palin very long, but there is a certain kinship I feel to her as I do other political daughters such as Chelsea Clinton, Jenna and Barbara Bush and Mary Cheney. You can't fully understand it unless you have lived it. So I just wanted to let it be known that I support Bristol and the entire Palin family."

Still others are disgruntled that McCain "chose Sarah Palin in order to lure in women voters." The New York Times on-line asks: "Can you cross out 'Hillary' and write 'Sarah?'"

Of course not.

On the battles rage. Tonight, Palin will speak at the RCN. Good luck, Palin. You have a lot ahead of you.

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Potential President Palin?

John McCain's Vice President Pick: Sarah Palin.



Age: 44

Education: BA in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho (1987.)

Years of Political Experience: 5

Views on...

Gay Marriage and Abortion:

"I am pro-life and I believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman."

Education:

"Victor Hugo said, "He who opens a school door, closes a prison." It's a privileged obligation we have to "open education doors." Every child, of every ability, is to be cherished and loved and taught. Every child provides this world hope. They are the most beautiful ingredient in our sometimes muddied up world. I am committed to our children and their education. Stepping through "the door" is about more than passing a standardized test. We need kids prepared to pass life's tests--like getting a job and valuing a strong work ethic."

Oil:

"The people of Alaska understand that Alaska has so much to contribute in terms of energy sources to the rest of the US. Folks up here want ANWR to be unlocked by the federal government so that we can drill. We've got a tremendous amount of resource up here, and we're ready, willing and able to contribute. I think Washington doesn't understand that we're at a real critical crossroads: We are either going to become more and more dependent on foreign sources of energy, or we're going to be able to secure our nation and drill domestically for safe, stable, clean supplies of energy that we have here. We have them in Alaska."

National Security: I could not find any quotes by Sarah Palin concerning National Security.

Religious Views: In a Time Magazine interview on 8/14/08, she identified herself as a “bible-believing Christian” who attends a “non-denominational Bible Church.”

Early Opinion About Being a Potential Pick for Vice President:

"But as for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question."

Current Views About Being McCain's Pick:

“It is a great privilege to be John McCain's running mate and to be considered by the American people for the Vice Presidency. This honor is a testament to the reforms and progress we have made together in Alaska. Now is the time to take that spirit of reform to Washington.”

Where I Got My Information: http://gov.state.ak.us/

http://www.ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm

Delegates in Demand

As the "battle" between Obama and McCain intensifies, and the democratic national convention plunges into the pages of history books, much attention has been focused upon the delegates. Interestingly enough, all three newspapers that my college provides free of charge to its students have featured lengthy, if not excessive, biographies and profiles of the delegates in concern.

The obsession with delegates has me concerned.

Yes, delegates certainly are influential and dedicated people, who will, in fact, help determine the next President of these United States. But why do we need to know personal information about each delegate? I understand that the political opinions and views of such people are valuable to understand... but is it necessary that I also know the age, religion, and preferred soft drink of each delegate as well?

It is important to consider the importance of knowing all about a delegate, versus knowing what is relevant about this delegate to the current election, and how their opinions relate to current political issues. For example, it is good to learn which delegates are passionate about education, which delegates support the war in Iraq, or even how delegates have voted on past issues. Knowing the name of delegate Bob's purebred pet poodle, perhaps, is not as crucial to retain.

Front Side Seat to the Election

I am writing this from Tenley Campus, of American University. I live in downtown Washington, D.C. Recently, I have become familiar with the Metro System, the humidity, and, of course, the constant paranoia radiating from nearby police. With the elections coming up, security is tighter than ever (or so I have been told.) This is truly a fascinating time to be in Washington, and I am honored to be here. As political events unfold, I will keep updating this blog with my thoughts and insights.

Today, after Obama announced his choice for vice president, Joe Biden (by text message) the campus was in an uproar. Some students were pleased, noting that Biden does, indeed, have experience in the senate, and with politics, which Obama lacks. Yet, others were frustrated by his choice, saying that Bill Richardson would have been a far better candidate. Not only does he have experience, say Richardson supporters, but his proclaimed political values closely coincide with that of Obama's.

Of course, Clinton supporters were disappointed as well, but, interestingly enough, many students have stated "I knew she wouldn't be his choice... but it would have been nice." Why not? I, for one, am curious how they "knew" Hilary would not be selected.

In other news.....

Bubbles are everywhere.

An aerial view of my hometown.

Apologies to all who may read this blog. Since the end of my sophomore year at Beloit, I have been living in Smalltown, Minnesota. This bubble is proving to be equally hard, if not harder, to pop than that of the famed Beloit Bubble.

My hometown has one local newspaper, which focuses on community issues: the recent storm, the state of old buildings, and the upcoming events around "town." A nearby town provides a larger newspaper containing more regional news, and some national coverage, but little, if any, world news.

Most people in my hometown rely on the local town newspaper for all their news, and know little about the world beyond the city limits. Several people (myself included)have limited access to the Internet and cable television. I have accepted a summer job as a reporter for the local newspaper, and am trying to broaden the scope of articles we print. This, however, is no small feat.

In the fall, I will be studying journalism at American University, in Washington D.C. I will write about my experiences here as often as possible, and I expect that they will be quite interesting indeed. I am excited to live in a large city, have cable and Internet access, and to have a plethora of national newspapers to read.

It is important to consider the quantity (and quality) of the news that is accessible to you. How many local newspapers can you subscribe to? What kind of stories are featured? Local, regional, or world? What about your access to televised news coverage? Do you have cable? And the Internet. Do you have the Internet? Do you read on-line news venues? What websites do you visit? Do you read on-line newspapers, which feature stories from around the world... or do you prefer Facebook/Myspace, which shows you only what is going on within your social circle?

When speaking to people who have different opinions than that of your own, consider where they get their information. This may explain a great deal about that person's beliefs. If you know little about the world, it is hard to make educated decisions concerning world affairs.

It will be interesting to see what happens in my hometown this November. How many will vote? Who will they vote for... and what will they base their decisions upon?