Virginia Passes ERA, 38 years too late….

In Other news, the Virginia State Legislature has finally passed the ERA or Equal Rights Amendment. If you are scratching your head and trying to figure out what the heck I’m taking about get in line. Me Too! To be clear, I fully and completely support equal rights for all people. Regardless of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. This was one of the biggest mistakes our founding fathers made when writing the constitution and was a tragic part of this nations history. The thing is, today we do have equal rights, don’t we?

Brief history on the ERA. This Amendment to the Constitution was first proposed back in 1923 and was designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex . Women had no rights at the time, property rights, voting rights, divorce, nothing. It is a horrible part of our national history. Over the years many laws were changed to bring about equality but the movement for a constitutional amendment didn’t really get traction until the civil rights marches in the 50’s and 60’s. In 1975 it was finally passed by congress and needed to be ratified by 3/4 of the states to amend the constitution. That would mean 38 states had to approve it to make it happen. They got 35. The deadline was 1979. When it was clear they would not make it the deadline was moved to 1982. Still did not make it and the amendment was ruled to have failed. Laws were written guaranteeing equal protection and equal pay that made the whole point of the amendment largely moot and the issue was pretty much dropped 38 years ago. Since then 5 states has since rescinded their approval of the amendment bringing the number down to 30 that still have a yes vote on the books. Two others have had symbolic votes approving it since then too. On Wednesday Jan 15th, 2020 Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA. The photos of the event are amazing. People crying and celebrating this historic day when women will finally have their full rights. It is a sight to behold.

Now I know you have so many questions right now. That’s good. It means you were paying attention. First, how does math work again? Second, how does time work? 35-5 = 30. 30+3 = 33. 33=38? Huh? Yup, they are not counting the 5 states that rescinded their votes because the law clearly states “no backsies”. Seriously, that is the argument here. The other question I have is about the time thing. 38 years after it was officially declared to have failed (yes, that is part of the parliamentary process and everything) these fine people are declaring victory for the ERA. That is not how any of this works and they should know that. These are the same people that thought Impeachment meant that the President was officially removed from office. Did you know that 31% of the people really thought that? Seriously, not a made up number. What has happened to our educational system?

So, why was I writing about all this on a gun rights news site? Why should you care? Why is this news? Simply because these are the people running Virginia now. These are the “reasonable and rational” lawmakers who will decide the fate of the fine folks in Virginia. If this is the type of thing you can expect from these people then be afraid, be very afraid. Logic and reason are not a given here. You can’t have a discussion with a person who refuses to accept reality. Like my Mother used to always tell me, “Never argue with a crazy person”. Where does that leave the citizens of Virginia? Seriously, I’d take a look at that offer from West Virginia again. Seems like a good deal at this point……