How/when can we get the ERA ?

There is an organization whose name I cannot recall (I think it is ERAmerica)that has been working on a 3 state strategy (whereby we get the remaining 3 states required for ratification) or, failing that, a start over strategy. I haven't heard from this group for a while.

I have 2 daughters and 3 granddaughters so this matters a lot to me.

DUers: opinions, please?

2 reasons the Moral majority came into existance in the late '70's were the ERA and the Rove vs. Wade decision.

Nothing has changed the determination of the rr's on this. Although their moral majority no longer exists they are still active in pushing these issues.

We have to push these bills and bring more women into their cirle of power and show them the importance of becoming involved in their own legislative lives and support other fellow women.

Of course it is not simply about women. Its about supporting all individuals. That is the key.

We have had an imbalance for a significant period of time that has created the problems we have today. The classism, the elitism, the prejudice, the racism, misogeny. It has been created by a notion of superiority that has been driven by a racist, divisive mentality.

I think women and certainly most men who are not primarily White and overly privileged, have had much if not most of their history and dignity taken away from them. It is important that we regain what has been taken away from all of us who have had our ancestry ignored and overlooked and erased from the history books.

we might be able to beat the righties back. They are an embattled minority now, the only strand of support Bush has left. Yes, they are hard line and single minded, but think about how this kind of issue could rejuvenate our side, bring in many more to our camp, and get a whole new generation involved politically!

Perhaps not the actual Red States of the USA, but just those with a red state of mind.

It seems that a few years back Congress considered an amendment to the Constitution that had once been passed by all but a few states required. That had happened in the 1790s. Evidently, the amendment was then quietly passed by the requisite number of state legislatures and went up to Congress and Congress ratified it! I cannot remember the substance of the amendment, but it was obscure and not controversial. Because of this, some ERA supporters said "Hey, we can try that too!" That's how this renewed push got started.

At the time of the last ERA fight I was living and working in Washington, DC for the national League of Women Voters. This was in 1980 or so. At that time the ERA was defeated primarily because of two factors: the possibility of draft reinstatement and the 14th amendment. Women were just gaining some equity in the armed services, were considered a novelty in the war colleges. The pubic's image of war was still the jungles of Vietnam. People feared the reinstatemnet of the draft and sending our daughters over to die in a jungle type war. The 14th amendment arguement was that women made all these gains under the 14th amendmwent so we really didn't need the ERA. Which was true to some extent. However, it was pointed out that the original suffragists had tried the 14th amendment strategy to no avail to get the vote.

When I think back to those days, I marvel at how naive we were then. If you pointed out to women today that they are NOT in the Constitution and asked if they should be I think you'd get "HELL, yes!" as an answer. Which is why we should take another look at the ERA, especially if we win back Congress in 2006.

I don't think I've ever read it

and it didn't say "woman" anywhere in it. It said something to the effect that their couldn't be discrimination based on gender. I'll research it and post it.

It sounds good to me; the best thing about it is gender discrimination (to me anyway) could be construed to be pro-gay rights--because telling a man he can't marry a man just because of his gender, or likewise for women, is gender discrimination

because gay rights were simply not as big an issue (at all) in the national discussion of the ERA in 1980. We should all be aware and ready to fight on this issue. It is important because the issues of gay issues are so often the issues of women. Solidarity is key to our winning. It always has been; always will be.

Thank you for bringing this important view to the forefront. We must remember and be vigilant.

There seems to be a group of people in this country who seem dead set on taking us back to reconstruction. With such biggotry and hatred, I am reminded of a film called Joe. The men who wish to run the world are oafish fossils of a by-gone era, but they refuse to allow us to move forward.

WASPS of the old guard are afraid of losing ground to the actual majority, which would be everybody else. I agree unity is key, but how do we start beating the drum and rallying support? This country has not been known for its tolerance lately. DU is an oasis of progressivism that is a welcome glimpse of how things could be, but how can we move toward changing the ugly world we live in?