What do you believe is the end goal in the war against women?

[Digit]

I am mystified as to why the republicans have waged this war against us and what their ultimate goal is.
Are we a threat? Why? Do they wish to relegate us to property status? Again, why?

All I read involves the insane things they are trying to do but I never hear the reasons behind it. I realize there
can't be a rational explanation...

Can anyone enlighten me please?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. a continuation of the divide and conquer theory.

[Edim]

63. Agree.

divide at impera, divide and rule, teile und hersche, Königsmechanismus. Works like a charm.

[Marrah_G]

2. I just don't get it, what does all the dividing gain them?

men against women
straight against gay
white against black


I have an awful feeling that its going to continue to get worse.

[cyglet]

38. Union members against non, middle class against poor

This is NOT new, and not exclusive to women. The local NPR affiliate the other day reported that the GOP in Maine (in their own internal documents) were trying to pit black people and latino people against gay people.

They do it because it's been very effective for them (I guess it also keeps the GOP demographic where they want it to be -- angry, disillusioned white men). Divide and conquer.

[Marrah_G]

43. It seems to be intensifying

[cyglet]

44. It's the Tea Partiers, I think.

I've always considered them to be extremists. And once they were elected they started rolling out this crap (because the fact that they won a few offices meant they had a stinking mandate).

Who's behind the Tea Party? Koch. What interest do they have in doing this? It keeps the Tea Party demographic angry and thus voting against their own interests (doesn't matter, really, who's pitted against whom...pick your flavor of the month). Emotion beats logic, I guess.

[Raven]

3. Complete subjugation. They believe that

women are a lesser form of life.

[Lars39]

4. Another land grab....property ownership.

Still have quits a ways to go, though. Just my 2 cents.

[southernyankeebelle]

5. They want to turn the clock back so women will be home again taking care of them

and the family. They won't be satisfied until we are in the kitchen carrying babies in our bellies.

[HiPointDem]

47. Doubtful. That would tighten the labor market and that's the last thing they want.

[southernyankeebelle]

74. I don't know. These people are nuts.

[The Straight Story]

6. Same goal others have, remove your body/your choice and have others control your choices

Something it seems folks in both parties are for.

[longship]

7. This is ALL about religion

If people don't understand that the Republican party has been taken over by a fundamentalist religious cabal, than they will scratch their heads and wonder where all this is coming from.

[Motown_Johnny]

8. Driving up the vote of the Christian Conservatives

who are the only ones that agree with any of these bat shit crazy policies.


Rove went "deeper not wider" to get Shrub elected. Now they can't run back to the center without losing those who turned out in 2000 and 2004. They need to keep playing the same card simply because they have no other card to play. If they can't get those same voters to turn out again in the same numbers then they just don't have a shot and they know it.

[PotatoChip]

65. Good assessment.

I hadn't thought of it that way before, but it makes sense.

[KG]

9. goal? this is just reactionist shit from a demographic that is on the edge of extinction.

[Swede]

10. The teaparty lunatics have taken over the asylum.

[Brickbat]

11. There isn't one. They just want to see how far they can go.

Between that and making as much money as they possibly can, that about sums up their aspirations.

[Warpy]

12. Women out of the labor force and stripped of all rights

including their vote with marriage the only route to survival, cranking out a (male) baby every year until the husband finds a mistress and gives her a break.

This is their idea of heaven on earth.

[justabob]

70. yup

It is about concentrating wealth and power into as few (white) male hands as possible.

[seattleblah]

13. A return to the middle ages

Their "religion" is stuck there. I don't understand why white conservatives just can't move past the year 1500 CE.

[Jack Rabbit]

14. I can't come up with a good answer

Divisive politics and blaming the victim have worked so well for them that they (Congressman Issa, Rush Limbaugh and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Rick Santorum, whom it is impossible to take seriously as a viable candidate) probably figured they could just keep doing it and win an election. Yet when you stop and think about it, what possessed them to think that it would work with women being the minority group? Unlike blacks, latinos and gays, even taken together, women are all by themselves half the voters. Calling a woman a slut because she uses contraception is good way to dig yourself a deep hole before the election. The last time the Republicans did anything like this was in 1992 when they went after working women and tried to use Hillary Clinton as the poster girl for the kind of evil woman who has a career outside the home. It didn't work too well for them.

There goal was to win an election by using a wedge issue. Somehow they expected the religious right to outweigh modern women. The numbers don't support their hypothesis.

They know very well that forcing women back into subservience is just not going to happen. So, that leaves us with no rational explanation at all. You're right about that.

Ideologues are like lemmings marching off a cliff into the sea. When they thought they saw a wedge issue, they started marching to the cliff in double time. Just enjoy watching the lemmings drown. It's been a long time coming.

[Occulus]

15. A Handmaid's Tale.

That's the goal.

[XemaSab]

16. Don't you worry your pretty little head about it

Just you go in the kitchen and get me a beer.

[rgbecker]

40. LOL!

[Zalatix]

17. They're "Taking America Back."

And if they fail to do that, their consolation prize will be for women to be pissed off at men and to do stupid things like withholding sex from men in general (http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002420163) *, and other divisive retaliations, thus keeping men and women divided against each other so the GOP can skate by relatively unscathed.


* Mind you: I cheer women who withhold sex from Republicans.
http://wonkette.com/464837/gop-delegate%E2%80%99s-wife-withholds-sex-because-of-transvaginal-ultrasound-bill

Just not from men in general... not all of us... not even HALF of us... support the GOP on this.

[Summer Hathaway]

18. It seems glaringly obvious

that Republicans are completely out-of-touch with the citizenry as a whole.

I suspect they thought that their male voters would rally behind a concerted effort to "put women in their place", fully supported by the conservative/Fundie little ladies who believe in the obedience and subservience as found in Scripture.

They are now finding out that the Michele Bachman and Phyllis Schafly types are far from being representative of the 2012 Republican female voter.

It was a very bad call - but once out there, it was impossible to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

And I, for one, couldn't be happier.

[MichiganVote]

19. Subjugation and a lower wage scale

[ohheckyeah]

20. To put us back in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant. Why?

In the 2007 census white women made up 33.6% of the population while white males made up 32%. 2

If those statistics surprise you, consider these statistics from Mauricio Velasquez, President DTG:3

Women in the U.S. spend more than $3.3 trillion annually (Source: Women and Diversity, WOW Facts 2001 – Business Women’s Network)
Women business owners employ 35% more people than all the Fortune 500 companies combined (Source: Women and Diversity, WOW Facts 2001 – Business Women’s Network)
95% of family financial decisions are made by women (Source: Women and Diversity, WOW Facts 2001 – Business Women’s Network)
Women own more than 47% of the stocks (Source: Peter Hart and NASD and the Investment Institute)
Today there are 9.1 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., representing nearly 40% of all businesses (Sources: NFWBO and SBA)
They employ 27.5 million people and generate more than $3.6 trillion in sales (Sources: NFWBO and SBA)
Women are starting new firms at twice the rate of all other businesses (Sources: NFWBO and SBA)
SOURCE

[provis99]

21. the end game is something like this:

with this when they're not in public:

[cr8tvlde]

22. Women don't fall in line and automatically know their place

in a pecking order as they often have to crash their way in. Men don't trust women (unless they are "under them&quot to naturally line up behind them or cover their behinds automatically and collectively as a good ol' boy will do. Whistle blowers tend to be female, at least in my experience. (excuse the generalities)

Men clearly see their own interests as defined by maleness and the "natural" supremacy of patriarchy...long history. Women by definition, have to be able to see both and maneuver themselves and their attributes accordingly to enter whatever arena presents itself. In many ways, that gives them an edge when they do "get there" that is unnerving. Whether Entertainment/Movies, the Corporate Boardroom, the Ministry, Politics, the Legal System ... the road to inclusion and/or recognition is not the same for women...still.

This is conservatism and by default, Republicans...keeping what has always been.....intact. Democrats are not immune, however, and some are a bit more advanced. The contraception fiasco and social media has changed at least some of The Rules and I believe is instructive for greater understanding...for both men and women.

To most men, it's not a war. It's not even malefic. Kind of like as to a young child, it's just having to exercise the control necessary in order to keep women in their place.

That being said, some of my best friends are males.

[niyad]

25. welcome to DU

[cr8tvlde]

28. Thank You. n/t

[Cobalt Violet]

23. Death

I truly believe that our deaths is what they want. The more of us whom die, the better for them. They want to cull us.

[niyad]

26. they are the grown-up version of "no girls allowed" clubs from childhood, only they never grew up-

mentally and socially, at any rate. pure, blind hatred is what they offer.

[RainDog]

24. Their views of woman are that freaking hateful

Of course they make exceptions for a few women who will provide them cover -

They don't think they're hateful, of course not. They justify all their "concerns" - however, the reality of their policy views reveals some seriously fucked up views of women. They're so concerned about a dividing clump of cells, they want to force a woman who is raped to bear a child.

The only sort of person who would have this view of the sanctity of life is one that devalues the lives of women.

[Maraya1969]

27. Well as long as those groups are wealthy and powerful

it is good and necessary to keep other groups under their power. Men never had a problem with women when they stayed home and took care of the kids. Keeping contraception away from them is a way to keep them home too. I don't know if they go that far in thinking but it doesn't make sense to block contraception and abortion. Any idiot knows that the end result of keeping those two things away from women is going to be babies. And babies means women are going to leave the work force.

So maybe they indeed have it in the back of their minds something like, "those damn women need to go back into the kitchen where they belong", and maybe that is why they are trying to block contraception. I know it makes no sense whatsoever but then again look at so much of what the GOP does and how much of that makes no sense. I mean this is a group of people who think Jesus had a pet dinosaur. They really truly are stooopid.

[GeorgeGist]

29. My mind isn't twisted enough to tell you how ...

but knowing their character, it must be money.

[Tsiyu]

53. Oh, it's about money

It's a War they can't win, but SHHHHH, don't tell their donors this....


(If the Repukes keep 'em outraged, they send them money to fight teh devil and kenyan muslim anarchist atheistic feministic socialists and other undesirables.)

[Drew Richards]

30. It is quite simple really...but you must wade through the muck that is called republican mindset...

To begin...

Fallacy 1. If we disenfranchise the women then they will be more women that have to be our sexual slaves and will do anything for a little money.

Fallacy 2. If we disenfranchise the women there will be more jobs for men so that we can control the male level of anger from unemployment.

Fallacy 3. If we can get away with making women second class citizens again we can then do the same to any minority and give job preference to whites only.

Fallacy 4. If we can get away with disenfranchisement of women then we can then get rid of minimum wage, medicare and social security.

Fallacy 5. We are better (not smarter) than anyone else and have been given the right to rule all others through oppression from our GOD.

And there you have it...Most of the current Republicans are basically Sociopaths.

[randome]

31. 'End goal'?

That presupposes a conspiracy of some sort. The current crop of Republicans don't think, they simply vomit out whatever poison happens to be nearest their mouths at the moment.

[Cleita]

32. Another distraction because they wore out the abortion one and they

have nothing solid to run on. They think women are easy to pick on like they pick on welfare queens and immigrant labor. They may be surprised in November.

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. Cancel the 19th Ammendment

With the rest of the 20th century. Many conservatives blame our "moral drift" on women voting and being able to go to school. Work and yes vote.

[Initech]

34. The definite goal that I can see is to overturn Roe V. Wade.

-

[JoePhilly]

35. Every minute they spend on this is time not spent fixing the economy.

In their world view, the government has 2 jobs ... military defense, and controlling the social lives of the citizens, particularly the women.

Dad is the sole head of the house. Dad goes off to work, makes money in an environment in which there are no regulations. Mom runs the home and makes sure the kids are polite at church.

Being in charge means never having to answer questions. Work late, take a mistress, no problem.

As the patriarch, everyone has to look up to you, even when you are wrong, which never happens.

Now go get me a sandwich!!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

36. They want to DOMINATE us.

They don't want us competing with them, these old rich white men.

I believe that this is the basic reason.

[HiPointDem]

48. Women as a group don't compete with old rich white men. They compete with their spouses, partners,

boyfriends, black, white, whatever.

[Curmudgeoness]

37. This is their solution to the unemployment problem.

Send women back to the kitchen and raising the little ones, and all those jobs will be open for men.

Or it could be all about the war on abortion.

[tsuki]

39. They have no ideas, so they hide in the "culture wars". nt

[slackmaster]

41. It's all about ratings

Just like every other theme being pushed by the MSM.

[bemildred]

42. Power nt

[Starry Messenger]

45. To assert their privilege and self-perceived superiority.

It's not just women getting the knock, it's an all-out war against the 99%. Every possible angle is being attacked. The progressive forces united to oust the reactionary wing, and this is their way of punishing us all.

[fascisthunter]

46. Women's Rights are just part of the Right Wing's Objective

You are all watching the hostile take over of our democracy by right wing fascists.

[HiPointDem]

49. Nobody in this thread really has a good answer.

[Tsiyu]

54. It raises campaign funds

They can't win. But they can make out by convincing the rabid misogynists they CAN win. Then the rabid spend money. It's an election year

See my post above.

[HiPointDem]

60. That actually makes more sense than anything else in the thread.

[Tsiyu]

77. The ConMen and Women of the Right

Do not look or think about longterm cause and effect. It's always about immediate gratification.

Look at "successful" Newtie going bankrupt in April. If only he could have found just the right wedge issue, he could have filled his coffers. But little kids pushing mops just wasn't the right theme for his gala fundraising tour.

They don't even want to live in the world they spin for the stupid. They just want the stupid to give them money (to stomp on girls and gays and undesirables) so they pretend they can create this world.

Only problem is, the stupid pool is rapidly shrinking. The laws will be struck down by the smarter people who take over.

[Shankapotomus]

62. What about this one?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=532431

[HiPointDem]

64. To the extent that it means a lot of these controversies are just spectacle, maybe it's a good

answer.

I don't think the republican party is dying, however. i think we'll see that in 2016.

[LadyHawkAZ]

50. It's not just one single end goal.

It's a lot of separate goals, all beneficial to the rich and powerful. Attacking women created distrust and suspicion between the sexes. Attacking controversial rights like abortion keeps a divide among women themselves. Making absurd, highly publicized attacks on things like contraception creates a smokescreen behind which other civil rights attacks- that might otherwise be unifying to the working class- can slip by with little notice. Attacks on woman-specific health services ensures a cheap, plentiful labor force down the road (also, it can help take out of circulation women who are non-fertile or otherwise non-productive). Attacking wage equality helps discourage women from competing in the workforce and reinforces the divide between the genders. See the pattern? Just follow the money, and you'll find all the reasons you need.

[TheKentuckian]

55. Pretty much

[Herlong]

51. It's about how to coalesce a voter block

Namely old white guys.

[fascisthunter]

52. the "war against women" is only a part of the grand agenda

it's all about hierarchy in the yes of the right wing.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

56. I think it is mostly trying to keep the rabid dog they spawned from digging out of their back yard

The tea baggers have demonstrated they are not easily controlled and their loyalties are fickle, the misogyny, race baiting and incendiary rhetoric is just a tool to try and stop the monster they have unleashed from coalescing into a force that would undermine the republicans.

[Zax2me]

57. Is this like that phony war on Christmas thing we hear every year?

Or did something actually happen, outside the always present abortion debate that has been going on for 200 years?

[barbtries]

66. a lot has been happening, especially in the states

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0301/Blunt-amendment-brings-culture-wars-to-Congress

http://www.shakesville.com/2012/02/texas-rejects-federal-funding-for.html

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/02/requiring-counselling-ultrasound-abortion.html

rachel maddow did a really good piece on the phenomenon. it's no joke.

[LetTimmySmoke]

58. Rousing up the religious right crowd.

[barbtries]

59. total subjugation.

the people waging this war imo don't really perceive women as people. note how fundamentalist religions are all highly sexist. it's been going on for all of the ages.

i admit i'm surprised that the republicans are pouring it on at this point in history. almost as if they're conceding the election and just want to make sure they inflict all possible pain in the meantime. or maybe they really believe they can turn back the clock. i don't know - it mystifies me too.

[Shankapotomus]

61. See my take on why

Republicans are rolling back, not only women's rights, but civil rights, worker's rights, voting rights, etc here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002436153

In short, if they force democrats to keep refighting these same old battles, instead of fixing them, they buy the dying Republican party more survival time.

[quaker bill]

67. A hail mary pass

They are trying to get the fundy churches to load the busses and head to the polls. It worked in 2004 with Gay marriage amendments posted everywhere they could get one on the ballot.

The miscalculation is that:

1) Reading the news, the Megachurches are going belly up, one after another. Attendance and contributions have fallen with the economy and their salaries and mortgage payments are just too big to weather it. As the critical point approaches the demands for contributions become much more strident, driving attendance lower, causing them to fail even faster. In short, there just aren't as many church busses anymore.

2) The number of women using contraception and reproductive health services of all sorts is vastly larger than the number of Gays that might want to marry. Since not that many Gays ever voted republican, angering them came at little cost. Most women who vote republican also use contraception and reproductive health services of various sorts. However between 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010, they have used up virtually every place that they can get a Gay marriage amendment on the ballot, so they have to come up with a different trick. Abortions and contraception seems to be what they have left.

In short, they are doing what they can to whip the rapidly dwindling base into a lather in hope of pulling this one out.

[99Forever]

68. One word.

CONTROL.

[jp11]

69. I wonder if it is just one part to rally people against big guberment

so it can get gutted. Take away our rights, force other people's beliefs on you and ultimately get the people to rally not against those pulling the strings, the rich/corrupt politicians but the faceless government. So it can be stripped down to what they want just defense and meanwhile they've been conditioning a generation or more into their religious beliefs turned to law.

The more obvious answer to me is it pushes forth the aging agenda of sad old men who yearn for a fictional past where women were their inferiors staying at home taking care of their house etc. Then I wonder if it just serves to mask their financial agendas of deregulation etc while they have the public spotlight on the fight for human rights.

[treestar]

71. To gain back the old fashioned way

Women don't compete with men in the work force. They support men in men's endeavor's. They are home to take care of the children and the housework. They put up with whatever the husband wants them to, because they have no alternatives. Their lack of economic power gives the husbands control over them.

Conservative men often love the military, too. They love the idea of authority - not having to argue with people - people in the under positions just do what they are told. They love the idea of a home that is like the military with a wife who simply has to do things as he says without arguing.

[Ship of Fools]

72. Kicking women out of the workforce of the future ...

They're determined to use the "austerity" excuse to up their overlords' wealth
for the great resource grab of the coming decades, especially WATER.
Minimum wage and less for an all male workforce, without women in the
mix to compete for fewer and fewer jobs.

Just one woman's opinion.

[mainer]

73. It's too bad we can't all our sisters to stop procreating with these men

That would leave them nothing but a bunch of toothless old bachelors with no one to cook for them.

[mulsh]

75. I believe the goal is to create another perpetual motion issue.

Like gun control, the race card, terrorism, and their consistent actions around those issues I doubt the proponents are concerned about winning any argument or convincing all that many people.

I believe political and media forces are creating another issue which can never be completely resolved. Got to keep the rubes agitated, got to "catapult the propaganda", as one of their finer messengers once said.

That said I think it is vitally important that we shut down these issues as quickly and overwhelmingly as we are able to. I use these issues as a good example of what one gets when one fails to vote.

[mrmpa]

76. I truly think it's about having more white children born........

I have said to many people in the past 20 years, that I think anti-choice advocates are racist. I don't know numbers or "statistics", but these anti-choice advocates are afraid of the rising growth of the African-American, Latino, and Hispanic population. If they disallow choice to women, then perhaps the growth of the "white" population may increase.

[Mopar151]

80. The availability of white babies for adoption

Is used as another tie to bind women to the church.

[varelse]

78. I'm not sure they have a goal

but judging from the results to date, they don't mind losing the 2012 presidential election. That appears to be the likely outcome of continuing this war.

[lunatica]

79. When you take away people's rights you control them

It's not that hard to figure out. It's all a matter of control and the ultimate power that it gives you. Are you having a harder time getting a job because some uppity woman or minority is getting what you used to be guaranteed? Well take away their power by controlling them and you will benefit on all levels. Life will be the way it's supposed to be, with you, white male, at the top of the heap.

[Herlong]

81. And when the media decides there is no war

Liberals are left to pick up all the pieces and define the war in the wake.