Republicans do not support "equal pay for equal work." All those female Republican governors, senators, and House members would not belong to a party that opposed equal pay for women. The fact is that equal pay for equal work has been federal law for decades; the Lilly Ledbetter Act and the proposed Paycheck Fairness Act change the burden of proof to benefit trial lawyers and hurt small businesses. Thirty percent of all businesses are owned by women—and Republicans sided with them, not trial lawyers.
Republican cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will hurt women. On the contrary, most women would prefer to see entitlements put back on solid footing for their own retirement years. Social Security is projected to exhaust its reserves in 2033, the year I turn 70. "Ending Medicare as we know it" by enacting reasonable changes to occur 20 years from now to keep it financially sound is just fine with me. Women make 80 percent of the healthcare decisions in America; many of us are depending on Medicare and Social Security to stay solvent as we make those decisions for our families. Romney and Ryan have a plan for entitlement reform; it's painfully clear Obama does not.
I and most women I know want to be empowered to pursue our own opportunities and, unlike the character in Obama's "Julia" campaign, live our lives free of too much bureaucracy. We want to leave our children free of debt and deficits, with a smarter, smaller government. Republicans may still have a way to go to win women's votes, but when it comes to a "war on women," in the words of Gertrude Stein, there is no there there.
- Read the U.S. News Debate: Will the New Focus on Abortion Help Democrats in the 2012 Election?
- Read Rober Schlesinger: Media, Romney Adviser Spar About Welfare, Truth, and Race Baiting
- Check out U.S. News Weekly: an insider's guide to politics and policy.
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