Friday, August 2, 2013
Commentary on Phyllis Schlafy
My collegue, Arno Natapradja, writes in his
blog, Lone
Star Gazer, about an article that references Phyllis Schlafly, founder of
the conservative group, Eagle Forum, and the advice she gives to the Republican
Party. As Natapradja summarizes in his blog, Shlafly’s radio
interview on Focus Today advises the Republican party to stop reaching out
to Hispanic voters and focus on reaching out to white people. I agree with the view that Ms Shlafly
projects racist views and will only hurt the Republican Party in the long
run.
I find it alarming that Ms Schlafly would have support for her ideologies;
however, she has a history of success to implement her policies. Back in the
1970’s, she organized a movement called STOP ERA and almost single-handedly
stopped the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment that feminists had long
fought to ratify. Her campaign created
fears that were based on misinformation, such as suggesting that women would be
subject to the draft and that alimony protection would be eliminated. At the
last minute, five states that had voted to ratify the ERA amendment rescinded and
the amendment did not pass. She
currently tries to use the same tactic of using misinformation to mischaracterize
Hispanics. My point is that Ms Shlafly may still have her supporters, maybe not
in the same numbers as the 1970’s, but enough to cause further rift in the
Republican Party and further contribute to split their Party with differing
ideologies. Instead, the Republican
Party should focus on how to include a population that is increasingly more
racially diverse.
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