Posted on 09/28/2001 4:13:57 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
OLATHE, Kan. -- A female state senator says if women's suffrage were being voted on today she would not support it, because the 19th Amendment was the start of a decades-long erosion of family values.
"I'm an old-fashioned woman," Sen. Kay O'Connor told The Kansas City Star. "Men should take care of women, and if men were taking care of women (today) we wouldn't have to vote."
Delores Furtado, co-president of the Johnson County League of Women Voters, had asked the 59-year-old Republican to the league's "Celebrate the Right to Vote" luncheon, and O'Connor responded: "You probably wouldn't want me there because of what I would have to say."
Furtado said she was shocked by O'Connor's view. As a state senator, Furtado said, "she is the beneficiary of a system she doesn't support."
O'Connor said she does vote. But she said she believes that if men had been protecting the best interests of women, then women would not be forced to cast ballots and serve in the Legislature. Instead, they could stay home, raise families and tend to domestic duties, she said.
The 19th amendment giving all U.S. women the right to vote was ratified in 1920. O'Connor said the amendment began a societal shift that eventually encouraged women to trade homemaker roles for careers.
She said she entered the workplace only because of her daughter was ill and medical bills were mounting.
O'Connor, of Olathe, was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1992 and won a Senate seat last year. She isn't worried if voters don't like her views.
"If I don't get re-elected, my only punishment is to go home to my husband and my roses and my children and my grandchildren," she said. "And if the trips to Topeka get to be too much and my husband asks me to quit, I would."
(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
It's single women, or at least 2/3rds of them.
Married women supported Dole over Clinton, while single women supported Clinton by a 2:1 margin.
I agree totally. Owning property is a sign that someone has a 'stake' in the well-being of a nation, other than just trying to bleed it dry like a parasite.
Owning property is also a good indicator of an individuals level of intelligence and responsbility.
Before anyone complains about this 'not being fair', they should be reminded that America is not about fairness. It's about freedom.
I heard her interviewed on KMBZ radio in Kansas City this morning trying to clarify her comments. She was very calm and articulate in the process of being slammed by a local talk-show host.
All that she said is that is was unfortunate that men had abandoned their responsibilities to their families, making the 19th Amendment necessary.
She did NOT say the 19th Amendment was the start of any decline.
She did NOT say women should not have the right to vote.
The 19th amendment giving all U.S. women the right to vote was ratified in 1920. O'Connor said the amendment began a societal shift that eventually encouraged women to trade homemaker roles for careers.
I agree. Men who won't lead, and women who won't follow. The primary responsibility (and blame), however, lies with the men.
I agree with her. Not that I don't want to vote, but too many men (none of them Freepers) do not hold up their end of the bargain -- whether it be with the family or with the government. They take the easy way out -- never go to a public meeting, never want to get involved. You see it in the churches too. People think that women want too much say in churches, but that is because too many men have abdicated their responsibilities.
No flames now. This is just my humble opinion.
Another generalization ... Married women have already found someone to take care of, and someone to take care of them, having someone else in that contract would be detrimental to it. Single women want someone to take care of them, government can be an adequate substitute.
Amen. No flames here.
That is almost exactly what she was trying to explain this morning.
Unfortunately, the 400lb, never married talk-show host kept interrupting her and piling on insults.
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