July 8, 2011 – EzKool

For Bachmann, Children Born Into Slavery Were Happier

Call her crazy, call her insane, call her deranged. But no matter what you call her, just don’t call Michele Bachmann a woman of intelligence. Michele Bachmann has stepped up to the plate, and signed a pledge claiming that children born under slavery, were better off than children born under President Obama’s Administration.

Yes, “dumb” and “stupid” also accurately describe this Republican contender for the 2012 Presidential election.

The pledge that caught Mrs. Bachmann’s attention was written by Bob Vander Plaats of Ohio and is called, “The Marriage Vow: A Declaration of Dependence upon MARRIAGE and FAMILY.” In it, the signee agrees to some very outlandish positions. All Republican candidates for President in 2012 are expected to sign the pledge – a pledge that calls for, among other things;

Reinstating Don’t Ask Don’t Tell – the military policy that requires military personal to keep their sexual orientation a secret. After a 17 year run in the military, this policy came to an end in December of 2010 when Congress voted and got it overturned.

Rejecting Sharia Islam and all other anti-woman, anti-human rights forms of totalitarian control. – Republicans, for whatever reasoning, seems to be under the impression that Sharia Law is coming to America, and the U.S Constitution, (which is what the laws of this nation are governed by) will be shredded to pieces.

“Recognition that robust childbearing and reproduction is beneficial to U.S. demographic, economic, strategic and actuarial health and security.” – Another attempt to ban abortion, and with the word “robust,” the implication is made that no matter how the pregnancy occurs, whether its through rape or incest, “childbearing and reproduction is beneficial to U.S demographic.”

A Federal Amendment to the U.S Constitution, defining marriage as an act between a man and a woman.

These are just some of the positions the signees of this pledge will be asked to uphold. But what really stands in the “Declaration of Dependence upon MARRIAGE and FAMILY” pledge, is the section that says this;

“Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.”

Cheryl Contee from Jack and Jill Politics said it best:

Given that families were broken up regularly for sales during slavery and that rape by masters was pretty common, this could not be more offensive. I mean, putting aside the statistics on this, which are likely off-base, I could not be more angry.

When will Republicans inquire with actual Black people whether or not we’re ok with invoking slavery to score cheap political points? It has to stop. It is the opposite of persuasive and is another reason Republicans repel us. It’s hard to believe that Michele Bachmann would be foolish enough to sign this pledge.

The Desmoines Register reports that Michele Bachmann is the first Republican presidential hopeful to sign the pledge.

Oh Michele, just when we think we’ve seen how low you can go, you somehow manage to surprise us – proving once again that we should never underestimate your infinite stupidity.

Republicans And Their Jim Crow Ways

Former President Bill Clinton just figured out what the Republicans are doing. In a speech to a liberal group at the Campus Progress’s annual conference in Washington on Wednesday, Mr. Clinton broke the news – the Republicans are trying to disenfranchise minority voters.

“I can’t help thinking since we just celebrated the Fourth of July and we’re supposed to be a country dedicated to liberty that one of the most pervasive political movements going on outside Washington today is the disciplined, passionate, determined effort of Republican governors and legislators to keep most of you from voting next time.

“There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today.

“They [Republicans] are trying to make the 2012 electorate look more like the 2010 electorate than the 2008 electorate,” Clinton added, referencing the dip in youth voter turnout in the 2010 elections. “Are you fighting? You should be fighting it.”

Jim Crow laws were enacted in the United States for almost 100 years, from 1876 to 1965. The laws were responsible for what was called, “separate but equal,” – a doctrine that demanded separate facilities be set up for blacks and whites, from restaurants to restrooms to drinking fountains to schools and other public places. Jim Crow laws also implemented stiff fines and fees, designed to keep blacks from voting.

So far, 13 Republican governed states have changed their voter registration laws, including Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida and Texas. And although these Republican governors wouldn’t admit to it, the reasoning for making voting more difficult in these states is to discourage the minority vote.

But Clinton is not the first to call out the Republicans on their Jim Crow-like efforts to keep the minority vote away from the polls. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic Committee Chairman told CNN back in June that Republicans “want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws.”

Mrs. Schultz eventually apologize for using the words “Jim Crow,” what she called, ” the wrong analogy to use,” but the fact still remains the same – trying to make voting more difficult for a particular group of people, whether its 1911 or 2011, whether it’s through fines or changing voting laws to disenfranchise this group, the words Jim Crow in my view, are very appropriate.