Reason to Find Time to Vote

A short history lesson for anyone on the privilege of voting...

How Women Got To Vote

The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and with their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic."

They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the "Night of Terror" on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow  Wilson's White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse.  Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: "Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity."

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie "Iron Jawed Angels."  It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry - and she was, with herself. "One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie," she said. "What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn." The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her "all over again."  HBO will run the movie periodically before releasing it on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunko night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

Ed note: The attribution for this writing has been lost thanks to the selfless act of the writer in turning it over to the public domain.  Wherever she is, she should know that we are all grateful for her thoughts and will spread the lesson not only to all women non-voters but to everyone who is eligible to vote.  The cost of spreading suffrage was too great to ignore.

Note: Presidential fundraising reports for March were due at midnight on April 20. OpenSecrets.org will be updated as data becomes available from the FEC. Congressional candidates' 1st Quarter campaign finance reports were due April 15. Congressional data is being updated as it is processed.

Loose Lips Can Win Elections

Click here to read an excellent article, showing the importance of talking up our candidates wherever we go, and how that can be more effective than TV ads. Thanks to Vickie Vogel, Senate District 18 (SD18) Committeewoman of the State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC), for providing the link.

VOTEXAS Program

Ever wonder about what your rights are as a voter in the polling place?  The Honorable Secretary of State, Phil Wilson, has posted a voter's rights poster on the S. O. S. website.  Please click here to see them on the S. O. S.  VOTEXAS.org webpage. Aquí para información de votar en español.

Match your views to a Presidential Candidate

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/select_a_candidate/

  Presidential Candidates on Health Care

WebMD presents thorough coverage of each candidate's position on providing health care to Americans.  Just click here for access.

Remember our Gals & Guys

Take a little time out of your daily activities to spend a few minutes thinking of our guys and gals in faraway places who need a lift, not only during this holiday, but everyday.  Click on the USO logo above and consider participating in the USO  programs that are providing our special heroes with links to their loved ones when most needed.  You'll be glad you did.  Thanks.

U. S. National Debt  is now over

9,000,000,000,000

the largest it has ever been!

Just who are the tax and spend members of Congress?

Since 1938 the Democrats have held the White house for 35 years, the Republicans for 34. Over that time the national debt has increased at an average annual rate of 8.7%. In years Democrats were in the White House there was an average increase of 8.3%. In years the Republicans ran the White House the debt increased an average 9.7% per year.

Ed. note: If you must worry about who are the biggest spenders, looks like Republicans win hands down.

Click this link to get the fiscal facts.

Iraq War

IRAQ WAR CASUALTIES

Fact or Fiction

Ever wonder how you can check claims - political and otherwise - against facts?  Try Factcheck.org and Snopes.com.  FactCheck.org is a non-partisan group who checks political claims.  Snopes.com keeps a database of urban myths that float around, sometimes arising again after years like a phoenix.  For example, have you read the email about how the new dollar coin was designed to omit the phrase, "In God We Trust"?  See what Snopes.com has to say about that by clicking here.  Both organizations are very helpful in dispelling misinformation from various sources, including cyber sources.  Check them out!

 

   “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”  Thomas Jefferson

 

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Historic Democratic Party Accomplishments

	8-hour day
	Social Security
	Minimum Wage Law
	G. I. Bill of Rights
	Marshall Plan
	NATO
	Peace Corps
	Medicare
	Medicaid
	Operation Head Start
	Civil Rights Act of 1964
	Voting Rights Act of 1965
	Water Quality Act
	Clean Air Act
	First Man on the Moon
	Women's Suffrage Amendment
	Workers Compensation Act
	Unemployment Compensation Act
	Rural Electrification Act
	Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
	Federal Home Loan Program
	Securities $ Exchange Act
	Guaranteed Student Loan Program
	Family and Medical Leave Act
	School Lunch Program
	Motor Voter Act
	100,000 new police on U. S. Streets
	Balanced budget in 1998 as a result of the Balanced Act of 1993
	Davis-Bacon Act

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We welcome your comments, questions, volunteer efforts and donations.  Contact us for more information through the following links:

 

Bastrop County Democratic Party Office  (by appointment only)

  1106 College Street, E8, Bastrop, Texas 78602

  512 581 0499 (Please leave a message)

Our Mailing Address:

  Bastrop County Democratic Party

  P. O. Box 755

  Bastrop, TX 78602

BCDP Executive Committee - Click Here

Mitzi VanSant, Chair    

    partychair@bastropcountydemocraticparty.com

Ed Skarnulis, Secretary

    partysec@bastropcountydemocraticparty.com

Dorothy Skarnulis, Treasurer

    partytreasurer@bastropcountydemocraticparty.com

Lana Tangum, Website Manager

    web@bastropcountydemocraticparty.com

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© 2007-2008 Bastrop County Democratic Party

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