Fwd: Laura Nader on Feminists and Nader

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It's pre-election, but it's interesting.--mjs

November 4, 2000
MISPLACED ENERGIES 
Statement by Laura Nader 
http://www.votenader.com/issues/misplaced_energies.html 

Why are the feminists sitting at the feet of Al Gore? What has he done for 
them? Why are these frightened feminists attacking Ralph Nader?

How has it come to be that a woman's right to choose is equated with the 
women's movement? How can intelligent women fall for an obvious and 
manipulating scare tactic? What should they be doing?

Eight years of Clinton/Gore brought us welfare reform that is bad for poor 
women, especially poor moms. It took them seven-and-a-half years to bring us 
RU486. In eight years, their justice department has not provided adequate 
protection and law enforcement for abortion clinics and has not provided 
federal aid adequate to the needs for women's reproductive health.

In 1969, Nixon nominated two men to the Supreme Court (Hanesworth and 
Carswell). They were not confirmed because Nader and civil rights lawyers 
beat their nomination. The third nominee from Nixon was Justice Blackmun; he 
wrote Roe v. Wade. Nader also fought against the nominations of Bork, Scalia 
and later Thomas. What did the Democrats, including Gore, do? They voted for 
Scalia. Thomas was confirmed under a Democratically controlled Senate. Eleven 
Democrats voted for Thomas. The Democrats have no credibility on the Supreme 
Court. Nader has said time and time again that it is a woman's right to 
choose, a statement that has moved Gore from prolife and prochoice and Bush 
to state that Roe v.  Wade is not going to change unless a lot of Americans 
change their minds on abortion.

What is tragic is that a vision of the women's movement as a social movement, 
so well articulated in the 19th Century women's movement, has come down to 
one issue * a woman's right to have an abortion. We need to recapture that 
broader vision, which would include pesticides in mother's breast milk and 
larger environmental issues, nuclear war and the peace movement that was 
fueled by women's energies, reproductive rights and health care more 
generally, real welfare reform, housing, schools not jails, and social 
security.

That some intelligent feminists have fallen for the Gore people's scare 
tactics could happen to any of us if we get trapped in a diminished reality. 
For starters, Gloria Steinem and her colleagues might walk around the city at 
dusk and talk to homeless and desperate women. We can be comfortable without 
being complacent.

What women like Steinem might be doing if their energies were not so 
misplaced is helping progressive Democrats to recapture the Congress.  There 
are several close races in Washington State, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, 
Minnesota. If they knew how to add, they might also use their influence on 
young women. The young will vote for Nader, and if not Nader, more will go to 
Bush than Gore. What they are teaching younger women is not leadership, but 
fear and hysteria.

Laura Nader is a professor of anthropology at the University of California, 
Berkeley, a specialist in Controlling Processes.

--- Begin Message ---

• To: lbo-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Subject: Laura Nader on Feminists and Nader
• From: Stannard67@xxxxxxx
• Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 20:11:35 EST

It's pre-election, but it's interesting.--mjs

November 4, 2000
MISPLACED ENERGIES 
Statement by Laura Nader 
http://www.votenader.com/issues/misplaced_energies.html

Why are the feminists sitting at the feet of Al Gore? What has he done for 
them? Why are these frightened feminists attacking Ralph Nader?

How has it come to be that a womanâs right to choose is equated with the 
womenâs movement? How can intelligent women fall for an obvious and 
manipulating scare tactic? What should they be doing?

Eight years of Clinton/Gore brought us welfare reform that is bad for poor 
women, especially poor moms. It took them seven-and-a-half years to bring us 
RU486. In eight years, their justice department has not provided adequate 
protection and law enforcement for abortion clinics and has not provided 
federal aid adequate to the needs for womenâs reproductive health.

In 1969, Nixon nominated two men to the Supreme Court (Hanesworth and 
Carswell). They were not confirmed because Nader and civil rights lawyers 
beat their nomination. The third nominee from Nixon was Justice Blackmun; he 
wrote Roe v. Wade. Nader also fought against the nominations of Bork, Scalia 
and later Thomas. What did the Democrats, including Gore, do? They voted for 
Scalia. Thomas was confirmed under a Democratically controlled Senate. Eleven 
Democrats voted for Thomas. The Democrats have no credibility on the Supreme 
Court. Nader has said time and time again that it is a womanâs right to 
choose, a statement that has moved Gore from prolife and prochoice and Bush 
to state that Roe v.  Wade is not going to change unless a lot of Americans 
change their minds on abortion.

What is tragic is that a vision of the womenâs movement as a social movement, 
so well articulated in the 19th Century womenâs movement, has come down to 
one issue â a womanâs right to have an abortion. We need to recapture that 
broader vision, which would include pesticides in motherâs breast milk and 
larger environmental issues, nuclear war and the peace movement that was 
fueled by womenâs energies, reproductive rights and health care more 
generally, real welfare reform, housing, schools not jails, and social 
security.

That some intelligent feminists have fallen for the Gore peopleâs scare 
tactics could happen to any of us if we get trapped in a diminished reality. 
For starters, Gloria Steinem and her colleagues might walk around the city at 
dusk and talk to homeless and desperate women. We can be comfortable without 
being complacent.

What women like Steinem might be doing if their energies were not so 
misplaced is helping progressive Democrats to recapture the Congress.  There 
are several close races in Washington State, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, 
Minnesota. If they knew how to add, they might also use their influence on 
young women. The young will vote for Nader, and if not Nader, more will go to 
Bush than Gore. What they are teaching younger women is not leadership, but 
fear and hysteria.

Laura Nader is a professor of anthropology at the University of California, 
Berkeley, a specialist in Controlling Processes.

--- End Message ---