Sunday, April 01, 2007

There Will Never Be A Time When It Is More Needed

Posted by olvlzl.
Now it is clear that all civil rights and protections will be under attack, when it is clear that the Supreme Court is just about certain to undermine the rights of everyone, but especially those already at disadvantage, at a time when women are in danger of having their most basic rights stripped from them, the Equal Rights Amendment is more relevant than ever.

It can't be an accident that it is when the enemies of the amendment have had power that all peoples' rights have been most in danger of being lost. The ascendency of the radical right has been a long game of weakening even those gains made in the 19th century. There has never been a time in our lives that pushing forward instead of retreating made more sense. It's time to attack the enemies of personal liberty and dignity and the ERA is a weapon eminently suited to that purpose. It is an amendment that protects all of us. But don't make the mistake of thinking it's going to be easy, it will have all the old enemies and some new ones. When it was killed by a campaign of lies the cabloids and hate talk radio were in their infancy. This is going to be a long, hard struggle but that struggle can make us stronger. We have to be prepared and fight a smarter media battle than they do.