Equal Rights Amendment

Betty Ford: One Of The Greatest First Ladies In American History, Dead at 93!

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First Lady Betty Ford, widow of President Gerald R. Ford, who died four and a half years ago at 93, tonight passed away at the same age of 93!

With her death, the nation has lost one of its greatest First Ladies, and one who never sought the title or the position!

Betty Ford was a shy person who never looked for the limelight, and was far from thrilled when her husband suddenly became President on August 9, 1974, upon the resignation of President Richard Nixon due to the Watergate scandal.

But she was a loyal wife who took it upon herself to speak up in a modern way not seen since Eleanor Roosevelt was First Lady in the administration of her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Betty Ford spoke up for the Equal Rights Amendment for women; supported abortion rights; was courageous to expose and champion the issue of breast cancer after she had surgery as First Lady because of having that medical problem; and made public as well her addiction to pain pills due to depression, and promoted the Betty Ford Center in California for people who had drug or alcohol problems as she had.

Betty Ford was a woman of courage and conviction; a feminist when it was not popular in many circles, particularly Republican, to be so; and in every sense a MODERN lady, who helped to humanize her husband, who while considered a conservative at the time of his Presidency, today would come across as a moderate to liberal Republican, probably likely to be read out of the party with its right wing extremist trend in recent years!

The author always admired Betty Ford, and the nation will mourn the death of this elegant, classy lady, who added to the office of First Lady of the United States, as one of its greatest representatives!

Why Not The Equal Rights Amendment For Women 40 Years After Its Origin?

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The Republican Party has actively been promoting amendment after amendment to the Constitution in the past two years, and the thought has emerged that it is time to re-introduce the failed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, passed through Congress in 1972, reaching 35 states ratification by 1976, and then collapsing, with no more support, and failing of ratification by 1982, three states short of adoption.

Women have seen their fortunes change amazingly these past four decades, and are now the majority of the work force, attending universities at a higher percentage than men, and entering all of the professions in tremendous numbers, with them being the majority in more and more occupations.

Women have been “liberated” from the old controls that religion and conservative values put on them, and there are even many Republican women in the House of Representatives and a few in the US Senate.

So why not promote the adoption of the amendment which would put women into the Constitution directly, for only the second time, after the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote after a 72 year battle in 1920?

Even the arguments used by evangelist Jerry Falwell and conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, among others, no longer have any validity, as if they had justification at the time of the ERA!

These and other critics argued that passage of the ERA would:

1. Promote Lesbian marriage–which now exists in six states and Washington, DC.
2. Advocate Unisex public toilets–which now exist all over the nation in shopping malls and many hotels and other public restroom locations.
3. Allow the involvement in combat situations of women in the military–which now occurs on a regular basis.

With all of the great advancements of woman in the past two generations, this is the time to institutionalize what has happened by laws and by natural evolving over that time!

We should put Republicans on the line for a modern Equal Rights Amendment, make them stand up for human rights for women, at a time when Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin are potential future Presidents! They, the other women in the Republican party in Congress, and the men of the party, need to show that they believe in true EQUALITY for women and have no problem making it a permanent part of the US Constitution, that they claim they revere!