Yet again, the the Equal Rights Amendment failed to pass in the Arkansas General Assembly reports David Goins of Fox 16 (via Twitter). This one didn’t even make it out of committee. Says Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times, “Stone age politics continues to prevail here.” Another banner day at the Ledge.
And because I know The West Wing clips aren’t getting old, here’s how the show addressed this issue.
UPDATE: A Think Tank reader passes this information along regarding a sunset clause for the ERA. He writes, ” If it didn’t get enacted within 7 years of passing Congress, it died. It’s dead. Some people have tried to argue that because the 28th amendment was passed 210 years after it was passed by Congress, the ERA should be allowed to go forward. But the 28th Amendment didn’t have a sunset provision in it. So even if 3 more states passed the ERA, it wouldn’t matter, and this whole discussion means about as much as the resolution honoring Obama.”
UPDATE II: John Williams‘ Legislative Beat blog dives into lots of detail about the matter. It’s worth a read.
[...] UPDATE: Blake Rutherford has linked a West Wing clip that contains, in just one painless minute, an argument against the ERA more convincing than [...]
So you pulled up and flaunted the so obviously incorrect argument against the ERA using the 14th Amendment! How dumb.
Doesn’t anybody actually READ the 14th Amendment? IT’S AN AMENDMENT FOR EQUALITY FOR MEN ONLY!! Did you read the Second Section which makes that oh, so clear? Leaving out women as equals in that Amendment of 1868 was done deliberately because in the horrid context of the time, women were classed with slaves and children and NOT citizens because they were “POSSESSIONS OF MEN”. Yes, folks, the 14th Amendment is sure not a rock solid defense against sex discrimination for women. IT IS FOR MEN ONLY. Get it? Just like most organized bureaucracies. Just like America.
Did you know, too, that “All nations since WWII now do have an ERA?” (Supreme Ct Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg). Do you know that classes America with undeveloped countries such as Lestho and Swaziland!
Does the legislature READ or study issues before voting against them? Shouldn’t we be electing ADULTS?