By Rick Stanton
Pub. Note: This was written before Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris as his running mate. A good start on Rick’s idea…
Warning: This column features sweeping generalities.
Let’s look at sweeping generality No. 1, which has a rather robust sample size. As I’ve said before, I grew up in Longview, which is precariously close to Kelso, in southwest Washington.
Those two communities largely were made up of longshoremen, mill workers and lumberjacks when I was growing up there. This is a formula for violence if ever there was one. Add in the animus created by high school sports rivalries, like say in football, and Longviewites’ view that Kelsonians were akin to cro-magnons—and you have conflict.
We used to go to the Owl Tavern in Kelso on Friday paydays and bet the over/under on when the first fight would break out. I witnessed a lot of fights. Add in my research from playing softball for Miller Beer for well over 10 years and drinking in taverns all over the Northwest. I witnessed a lot of fights.
There is one absolutely stunning fact that arose from all this research: none of the fights ever was started by a woman! Some certainly were started over a woman, which is stupid, but I never saw a woman once glare at someone and ask, “You got a problem with me?”
Here is sweeping generality No. 2: Men are warmongering, knuckle-dragging morons. Name an actual war any time in history that was started by a woman.
I’m waiting.
Today, what do we have brewing? Warmongering, knuckle-dragging men “in charge” of a world gone mad. Oh, and then there’s that pandemic thing. But according to Trump, that’s going away soon. Hopefully, so is he.
My serious point in all of this is simple: It’s time for men to step aside and for women to take control of politics and power. I realize it’s a difficult task, but it’s way past time.
The number of women who have decided to run for election encourages me—as did their gains in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2016 election. And the article linked below states that, at present, 575 women are running for the House, the Senate or governor.
Virtually every time I turn on the TV to see how insane the world is that day, I’m embarrassed that most of the insanity is coming out of the mouths of men. What we need isn’t chest-thumping, threatening political bravado and boorish behavior. What we need is thoughtfulness, patience, responsibility and a sense for the greater good.
If there’s anything good about Donald Trump, and there isn’t, it’s maybe that he represents the last vestige of out-of-touch “men in charge.” He also represents everything that is wrong with having unqualified men put into leadership positions.
Gentlemen (and I assume there are a few of us left), we need women to save us from ourselves. And I hope they’ll accept our apology for being war-mongering, knuckle-dragging morons and come to our rescue. Really soon.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/08/women-rule-mid