I heard Ann Romney speaking the other day. I cannot quote her now, but she seemed to imply that "real" women cared about "real" issues, like jobs and the budget deficit., not contraception and women's health. Those, she suggested were "a political distraction." Shades of spinning sophistry!
Yes,Ann, REAL women do care about jobs and the budget deficit. We also care about contraception and women's health. Women who are working when their husbands are not are concerned about the impact of being the breadwinner on their marriage, their children, their health, and their family's future. Since women, generally, still earn less than men, we are concerned not only about our husbands finding work, but about being paid equally for equal work and having access to the same promotional ladders
Real women know that an unplanned pregnancy can lead to the loss of their job, depending on what that job is. If you were a widow with five sons in school and college, without your husband's wealth, you might be concerned if you found out you were pregnant a few weeks after your husband's death. You might think about abortion, or you might just worry that you could die in childbirth, or be crippled, or that this sixth child might be handicapped and need resources far beyond your ability to provide them. If you were a young woman, you might, even after marriage and before any children were born, look at the economic situation and desire birth control in order to have only as many children as you can provide for. This might be true even if your husband had a good job. You might even decide that zero children are what you can afford.
I am not assaulting your choice to have five children and be a stay-at-home mom. It is your husband's political party which is assaulting the choices women with fewer financial resources are ALLOWED to make. It is the Republican party which is talking about raising retirement age, reducing SS & Medicare benefits. Real women, like my mother widowed at 41 with two children 10-13, are more likely to end up impoverished in old age than men. My mother did, after working from 1963 until 1996. Without Medicare, she would have died well before age 89. In fact, she did die, of heart failure, and was revived in the operating room and went on to have triple bypass and heart valve replacement.
I went to college because I was able to live on and attend the University of Texas on SS Survivor's benefits, small grants and loans. It is your party which is talking about eliminating the grants and loans that put me through college.
I am delighted for you that your MS and cancer have been resolved. At the same time, I am an uninsured SLE patient who is going without the proper medical care because there simply is not enough money. My brother is graciously supporting my husband and myself, and paying for what medical care I do get. The problem is that I now need a medication which costs around $2000-$3000 a month. I am not asking for pity, or even sympathy. It would be nice if you and your husband, and your political party could develop some empathy. Some true Christian compassion might also be nice. For the record, I have been denied SSDI, SSI, and we could only get food stamps for about three months in Texas, since we have no children. It's frankly not enough of a stipend to make it worth the humiliating application process. Instead we are shopping sales, clipping coupons, going without, selling scrap metal, and growing many of our own vegetables and fruits. We are also both looking for employment or ways to earn money.
Your own husband said "Government does not create jobs. The private sector creates jobs." Then he turned around and blamed Obama for the unemployment. Mrs. Romney, if tax cuts created jobs, why didn't Bush's tax cuts create jobs? Real women understand that our husbands' jobs were outsourced, that there is a wealth redistribution from our income brackets to yours, and that jobs are being held hostage until corporations get the tax breaks (0%) that they want.
Yes,Ann, REAL women do care about jobs and the budget deficit. We also care about contraception and women's health. Women who are working when their husbands are not are concerned about the impact of being the breadwinner on their marriage, their children, their health, and their family's future. Since women, generally, still earn less than men, we are concerned not only about our husbands finding work, but about being paid equally for equal work and having access to the same promotional ladders
Real women know that an unplanned pregnancy can lead to the loss of their job, depending on what that job is. If you were a widow with five sons in school and college, without your husband's wealth, you might be concerned if you found out you were pregnant a few weeks after your husband's death. You might think about abortion, or you might just worry that you could die in childbirth, or be crippled, or that this sixth child might be handicapped and need resources far beyond your ability to provide them. If you were a young woman, you might, even after marriage and before any children were born, look at the economic situation and desire birth control in order to have only as many children as you can provide for. This might be true even if your husband had a good job. You might even decide that zero children are what you can afford.
I am not assaulting your choice to have five children and be a stay-at-home mom. It is your husband's political party which is assaulting the choices women with fewer financial resources are ALLOWED to make. It is the Republican party which is talking about raising retirement age, reducing SS & Medicare benefits. Real women, like my mother widowed at 41 with two children 10-13, are more likely to end up impoverished in old age than men. My mother did, after working from 1963 until 1996. Without Medicare, she would have died well before age 89. In fact, she did die, of heart failure, and was revived in the operating room and went on to have triple bypass and heart valve replacement.
I went to college because I was able to live on and attend the University of Texas on SS Survivor's benefits, small grants and loans. It is your party which is talking about eliminating the grants and loans that put me through college.
I am delighted for you that your MS and cancer have been resolved. At the same time, I am an uninsured SLE patient who is going without the proper medical care because there simply is not enough money. My brother is graciously supporting my husband and myself, and paying for what medical care I do get. The problem is that I now need a medication which costs around $2000-$3000 a month. I am not asking for pity, or even sympathy. It would be nice if you and your husband, and your political party could develop some empathy. Some true Christian compassion might also be nice. For the record, I have been denied SSDI, SSI, and we could only get food stamps for about three months in Texas, since we have no children. It's frankly not enough of a stipend to make it worth the humiliating application process. Instead we are shopping sales, clipping coupons, going without, selling scrap metal, and growing many of our own vegetables and fruits. We are also both looking for employment or ways to earn money.
Your own husband said "Government does not create jobs. The private sector creates jobs." Then he turned around and blamed Obama for the unemployment. Mrs. Romney, if tax cuts created jobs, why didn't Bush's tax cuts create jobs? Real women understand that our husbands' jobs were outsourced, that there is a wealth redistribution from our income brackets to yours, and that jobs are being held hostage until corporations get the tax breaks (0%) that they want.
As for the federal deficit, I propose that should your husband achieve the office of the President, he accept only an annual salary of $1, and urge the millionaires in Congress to do the same. I make the same suggestion about Obama, so this is a non-partisan suggestion.
Above, Mrs. Romney, your recent remarks on what women think about and focus on came across as a rather condescending implication that women cannot think for themselves and need to be told what to think. Women are 51% of the population of the USA, in case you haven't noticed. Perhaps you need to get out among us real women a bit more if you want to help your husband's campaign. You're an attractive woman, but, frankly, my dear, you connect with most of us about as well as Sarah Palin did.
So here's my offer, bring your camera crews and come to Houston for a week. Spend the week in a cheap motel. I'd invite you to my house, but frankly it's not in any condition for company. I'll take you to school on what living on less than $30,000 (as I have all my life) is like. You can go shopping with me, spend hours doing comparison shopping online for every purchase, help me in the garden. I can teach you about the quality of healthcare in our county hospital system, about trying to get insurance with SLE or my husband's high blood pressure. you can watch as I take food to the food bank for those less fortunate than I (and they do exist), deliver school supplies to the public schools which provided me with an excellent education,. Do you know that there is not a single item of clothing in my wardrobe which cost over $20? and most of them cost $10 or less. After a week, you may have something to tell real women about what their concerns are. If you're interested, there's a place to submit contact information on this website. I'm going to assume you're intelligent enough to find it. ::nodding my head in the stereotypical female communication mannerism you use to obtain agreement from one's audience::
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