In Regard to Ratifying the ERA

When the Equal Rights Amendment was put into formal context of both language and legal status in 1972, it was in the form of a new amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In the original vote count, by 1977, the legislatures of 35 states had approved the amendment. Since then, two more states, Nevada in 2017 and Illinois in 2018, have voted to ratify the Amendment.

Only one more state is needed to pass the US Equal Rights Amendment. This article from NYT tells us that since Illinois voted to approve the Equal Rights Amendment at the federal level in May this year, there is only one more state needed to complete the process of full ratification, making the ERA a federal law.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/us/equal-rights-amendment-illinois.html

Phyllis Schlafly’s arguments included everyone using a common public restroom, and women being drafted. Well, okay, the unisex restroom thing has already been addressed and in regard to women being drafted, she forgot that the draft ended in 1973, which meant that men were only required to register with Selective Service to qualify for federal college loans.

I see nothing wrong with requiring the same thing of women, because from World War I  (and the Civil War) right up to the present, millions of women have been putting in their time voluntarily because they thought it was the right thing to do, and they still think that way.

So what is the issue again? Just what is wrong with being asked to put in some of your precious time serving your country? There are thousands of us girls doing it right now, some on the front lines, and many who went before, so get over whatever that nonsense is about ‘it’s a man’s world’ thing. Grow up.

There are 13 states left to make up a 38^th state to ratify the ERA. Yes, it is well past the deadline, but there was one Amendment to the US Constitution that took 200 years to be ratified.  Something unexpected happened with a different amendment in 1992.

First, some history: Six months after the Constitution went into effect, James Madison offered 17 amendments to the founding document. Congress ultimately approved 12. By 1791, the states had ratified the first 10, which became known as the Bill of Rights.

One of Madison’s amendments continued to slowly work its way through the states more than 200 years after congressional approval. In May 1992, Michigan became the 38th state to ratify, making it the 27th Amendment, which says that salary increases for members of Congress do not go into effect until the term after they were approved.  – Article.

If it took 200 years for that salary increase amendment to become an Amendment to the US Constitution, then why shouldn’t this one have that approbation, as well? After all, it simply confirms what has already happened, mostly at the state levels, and requires only one more state to pass the ERA. There are 13 states from which to choose: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.

Once a 38^th state has passed the Amendment, perhaps, per a 2013 report by Congressional Research Service, Congress could simply change the deadline. Congress could also replace the old ERA with a new, updated version and ask the states to ratify the newer version.

Whatever happens, it’s kind of a lame duck thing anyway, because so many moves forward have taken place since 1972. It would be symbolic that we do support the Law of the Land, the language of the U.S. Constitution, and we don’t just give lip service to it.

Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Politics