Women Against Sarah Palin.

Women Against Sarah Palin is a project collecting letters and testimonials from American women, explaining why we are not supporting her candidacy. John McCain’s advisors seem to have told him that he will get “The Female Vote” by slipping a woman onto his ticket. The truth is, there is no elusive Female Vote. There are only female voters.

Feminism is not the translation of a male patriarchy to a female matriarchy. Feminism is a philosophy of equality. As such, it is inherently anti-feminist to vote for a woman because she is a woman. It is demeaning to vote for a woman based solely on her gender. The implication is that she cannot stand on politics and experience alone. The implication is that a woman can only survive in politics (or in the workplace in general, or in society at large), if she is granted special consideration. To support a female candidate based upon her gender is to define womanhood as a handicap.

I will no more vote for Sarah Palin because of her gender than I would defend Not voting for her on the basis of gender.

I am not a supporter of Sarah Palin because her politics are backward thinking, anti-progressive, destructive and demeaning.

Sarah Palin supports drilling in the Alaskan wilderness. She believes in the permanent destruction of the environment in order to eek out a few more years of consumption of a dying resource. It’s a fact. We will run out of oil. And there are alternative power sources available and in development. With more incentives to use alternative fuels, we can stretch the oil we do have, as we perfect the emerging technologies that will propel us into the future. There is no reason to permanently destroy the planet in order to prolong the inevitable movement to alternative fuels.

Sarah Palin is destructive to animals. She has fought to keep the Polar Bear from being protected as an endangered species. She is a hunter. She supports the practice of shooting large game from airplanes. Both humans and animals are harmed by blood lust as sport.

Sarah Palin believes in teaching Christian Creationism in science classrooms. Our constitution separates church from state in order to leave our citizens free to practice their own beliefs – the original reason for this separation was to protect puritanical Christians…but now that Christians feel less oppressed, they would like to reverse this core value in order to promote their own views. The goal of science is not to overturn religion, but to determine how the universe works. Science and religion are neither mutually exclusive, nor equitable forces. Contrary to common belief, Creationism is addressed in American public schools. In Literature, History, and Philisophy classes, where it belongs. It is a school of thought, not a branch of science. Parents are free to continue their child’s education outside of school, and delve more deeply into their own personal beliefs. What Sarah Palin is hoping to accomplish is the profession of her belief system as fact.

Sarah Palin is against homosexuality. Not only does she oppose gay marriage, and support bills to block partner rights; Sarah Palin attends a church that promotes the conversion of homosexuals into socially acceptable heteronormative people.

Sarah Palin believes in overturning Roe v. Wade and revoking a woman’s right to control her own body. Before abortion was legalized, abortions already took place. Upper Class women would travel overseas to a safe and legal abortion in another country. Middle Class women would travel to big cities for back alley abortions at a steep price – including permanent reproductive damage and rape by supposed “doctors.” Those who can find a way to have an abortion will always do it if they deem it necessary. Which means only the lowest income bracket are left unable. There is a direct corrolation between legalized abortion and crime statistics. In essence, 18 years after abortion became legalized, crime dropped in proportion to the number of abortions performed. …Rescending Roe v. Wade will mean tens of thousands of unwanted children born to women who can’t or won’t take care of them. Let’s respect the women who find themselves in situations in which abortion is the necessary and responsible decision – for themself, for their unborn baby, and for the wellbeing of the community into which the child would be born.

I respect Sarah Palin’s intelligence and success. I respect her integrity and her consistency. But I have no respect for her politics, and I absolutely do not support her candidacy.

I will not vote for John McCain, just because he has added a woman to his ticket. I would not vote for Sarah Palin if she were in the presidential slot. And my reasons for disavowing support for Sarah Palin are exactly the same as the reasons I don’t support John McCain. She is a bloodthirsty social conservative who would happilly brainwash the gay population and American children, revoke my reproductive rights, and physically destroy the world.

I say no to Sarah Palin, and I say no to John McCain.