Are Grandmas condemned to always being the babysitter?

First. we were in the backseat.  Before 1972, we lived a second-class life.  We couldn’t get a credit card on our own.  We couldn’t be promoted to the top positions in most companies — those were for the men!   The excuse was that we could get pregnant and thus could not be relied upon.

We were only allowed to aspire to be mothers, teachers, nurses, secretaries, or service workers—not much else. Then, along came Roe v. Wade.

Now, we face Trump’s packed Court and the fight for choosing our own health care—AGAIN!   Plus, JD Vance’s genius solution to families needing childcare is to make Grandma the chief (free) babysitter.

This fight is not singularly about women choosing their health care. If we don’t win it, we’ll be pushed back with the same old excuses—a woman might get pregnant, so her income isn’t reliable. And there goes better jobs and career choices.  As JD Vance has said most eloquently, families need the Moms to stay home and/or the Grandmas to be the babysitters.  Never mind, it often takes two to pay the mortgage these days.

How he expects single parents — both Moms and Dads, to manage without affordable healthcare is beyond me.  Admittedly, Vance tried to soften his position on abortion, but that failed; he only focused on making having children easier.

So, Tuesday night’s debate didn’t solve much.

The most crucial point was likely when Governor Tim Walz asked about January 6th.  Senator JD Vance did not answer the questions — excuses, EXCUSES!   Vance’s worst “best” excuse was, “I am focused on the future.”

A future where we cannot tell a dangerous attempt to steal an election by a loser now ex-president is, indeed, a dangerous future for us all.

Jan. 6th was not peaceful.  As it happens, I live five blocks from the U.S. Capitol.  I saw the damage — broken windows, dropped weapons on the part of the attackers, and even inside the Capitol, multi-damage to the historic interior of the Capitol. One Alabama attacker/insurrectionist tried to steal a historical painting (hanging on the wall, complete with a heavy golden frame); he got the painting off the wall, but this guy died when the heavy painting crashed into him and caused him to have a heart attack.

Police trying to protect the Capitol died, too.  I have friends who worked inside the Capitol.   During the Jan. 6th attack, they were desperately trying to protect their elected Members of Congress and themselves, pushing desks in front of doors and barricading offices in any way they could as the insurrectionists took control of the halls and various offices.  We all remember the guy who sat at Pelosi’s desk, boots on the desk, wrote her a note and stole her laptop.

Most importantly, indeed, we all remember the two sets of gallows where the insurrectionists intended to hang both Speaker Pelosi and VP Pence.

Pence would be running for president now (instead of Trump/Vance) if not for this attack and his bravery in standing for an honest election.

Walz nailed Vance that his refusal to answer the question about a stolen election was a “damning answer.”