By Carol Frenier
Through the callous political game-playing of the U.S. Senate Democrats, our entire nation has been thrown into an unnecessarily hurtful debate that pits men against women and liberals against conservatives. I condemn these despicable tactics and encourage women and men of every political persuasion to reject them. These tactics are not new in American politics: They were used to target black men in the Jim Crow South. In the 1930s, for example, nine Scottsboro boys were falsely accused and convicted of rape in Alabama. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a fictionalized account of that all too common practice.
Now the targets are men, especially conservative men. We have already seen the devastating effects of this trend nationwide in the over-zealous prosecution of Duke lacrosse players and the false Rolling Stone expose of fraternity men at the University of Virginia. Now some senators who oppose Kavanaugh have publicly stated that Kavanaugh has the burden of proving his innocence, reversing centuries old due process requirements of our common law. Several senators stated that they believed Kavanaugh’s accusers even before hearing the evidence. Even worse, the charges are almost four decades old, making it virtually impossible for Judge Kavanaugh to prove he did not commit the alleged offenses.
Regardless of what you believe occurred 36 years ago, the standard of evidence has not been met to support a verdict of guilty against Judge Kavanaugh. The female prosecutor, Rachel Mitchell, reported after the hearing that she would not have prosecuted the case.
Remove the personalities and the politics and this is the bottom line. A liberal woman was given a national stage to make unsubstantiated charges of sexual assault against a conservative man. Neither the accused nor his attorney was allowed to directly cross-examine the accuser, despite centuries of legal tradition that the accused has the right to face the accuser. Why? Because we have decided that women who are “survivors” (and they are all survivers if they say so) are too fragile to be expected to defend their own claims. We can serve in the military, even in combat, but we must be excused from the responsibility of facing a person we accuse of an abominable crime.
I cannot stress how dangerous this is — to women as well as to men. The vast majority of us have loved ones who are male — fathers, husbands, partners, friends and sons.
Try to imagine one of those enduring what Judge Kavanaugh has endured this past week? Try to imagine yourself standing by your son as he endures it. Try to imagine having your son accused of something you believe he did not do and than hearing your neighbor say, “Well, he is man and she is a woman, so…” Think about how that alone would break your heart.
Furthermore, it is clear to most of us that those who are stoking the fires here are using this argument — that women should be believed simply because they are women — as a political weapon. If claims of sexual assault are repeatedly used in this way, sooner or later it will be easier for people to dismiss women’s legitimate claims of abuse as crying wolf.
Therefore I call on our congressional delegation, Sen. Leahy, Sen. Sanders, and Congressman Welch, to show the courage of their Vermont congressional forbears, and condemn these McCarthyite tactics. If you agree, post this article on Facebook and share it with your friends.
Carol Frenier is a business owner living in Chelsea, Vermont, and the chair of the Orange County Republican Committee.
Well written and I agree 100% but don’t ask our liberal representatives to change their agenda.
They have one thing in mind and that’s to stop any Conservative nominee-period………..
This charade is a total travesty to our political process and deserves to be call out for what it
is. The Kavanaugh hearing was nothing short of a circus and both Dr. Ford and Judge Cavanaugh
were political pawns and became damaged as a result. The struggle for power has certainly reared its ugly head in this nomination process and can we recover from this as a nation. The desire to be in control has cost the nation so much and yet we have also gained so much. Our nation has had and is still on the track to much success and every day we hear good news from the nations capital. That
news is often smothered in the the noise of hatred and negativism from those out of power.
Clear thinking people know that Judge Kavanaugh is a great choice and the smoke and mirror show of our Democrats in DC is over. Call the question and count the votes.
The Progressives and Dems have buckets full of monkey-wrenches. Look at this judicial thing they got an FBI review and 3 days later they want 24 more people interviewed. Twice a week, another monkey wrench to throw into the works. Been going on for many years. Disgusting. Their only loyalty is to Dem/Prog power.
Carol, Good Article, but you mention to call on our congressional delegation, Sen. Leahy, Sen. Sanders, Congressman Welch, to show the “courage” of their Vermont congressional forbears, and condemn these “McCarthyite Tactic.” They are the Problem, not the Solution. They had Judge Kavanaugh guilty as soon as the story broke without hearing anything and why? They were going to vote No as soon he was nominated
per there marching orders from Schumer. Disgraceful.
Because it’s the Leftist Agenda, they will do and promote anything to stop the Presidents nominee because he’s a Conservative Constitutionist!! They can’t have that. So they had him Guilty until he proved himself innocent, I watched the hearings Dr. Ford had a good story but no corroborating evidence or witnesses, then the roaches came out with all sorts of allegations again no evidence all but “Hearsay.” This is dangerous precedent. Leahy and Sanders are a problem for our state and our Nation. They don’t care about the Country they just want airtime.
Chenry,
Schumer controls the purse strings. If any member wants some $millions for a Vermont government socialist do gooding project, Schumer determines when and how much money. So if he wants the Kavanaugh nomination to fail, he demands party loyalty, he demands they vote NO.
“Follow the money” is always good advice. Shameful how one schmaltzy schlep like Chuckie can continue to hold sway over the spineless ones.