There Are Bears; There Are Elephant Shrews

            Men exist with all sorts of brain chemistry and behavioral patterns with respect to how they decide to regard women.  I believe these tendencies can be explained by looking at other examples in the animal kingdom.  Namely, I feel the most extreme examples that relate to men are bears and elephant shrews.

            The way male bears interact with female bears in mating is quite distressing.  When mating season rolls around, the male bear basically “does his business” and leaves the female to birth and raise the cubs on her own.  In certain species of bear, it gets worse.  Male polar bears will eat polar bear cubs because of the scarcity of food in the arctic regions.  The ways of the bear remind me of the father who will “do his business” with multiple women and then not take responsibility for the born children unless he is proven the father by paternity. (The Maury show comes to mind.)  The ways of the bear also remind me of the working father who does not have time for his children and leaves his wife at home to raise them without his emotional support.  Lastly, the ways of the bear remind me of how some fathers abandon their children and leave the single mother to handle the situation by herself.

            At the other end of the spectrum is the elephant shrew.  Elephant shrews mate for life.  The male elephant shrew protects the habitat from other elephant shrews and from predators.  The female elephant shrew is not fussy over her young and she can have multiple litters in a breeding season.  (Octomom comes to mind.)  The ways of the elephant shrew remind me of the father who protects his family, keeping a baseball bat in an easily accessible location at night in case an intruder should threaten the sanctity of the home.  In another respect, this end of the spectrum also includes some fish species.  With many fish species, the males take a more active role in parenting.  Some male fish will carry around fish eggs in their mouths for an extended period of time before they hatch.  Male seahorses are the pregnant species after the seahorse mating interaction.  Furthermore, seahorses are monogamous with one partner per mating season.  This reminds me of the man who will have a serious relationship with one woman after another in an honorable fashion.  This also reminds me of the man who has had multiple wives and has children from multiple marriages.

            There are so many different animal species out there with varying gender interactions.  The acknowledgement of diversity in the animal kingdom and the similarities that can be seen between other animals and the human species makes me rethink existing human stereotypes.  It seems like a lot of people get squeamish about non-stereotypical lifestyles, when the rest of the animal kingdom does not judge or try to change the lifestyles of other species.  There is an unspoken acceptance or possibly even indifference as long as it does not affect predatory strategy.

About The Story I Just Posted: Victoria's Adventure in the Land of the Purple Queen

I submitted this story to a short fiction story contest in December 2010.  When I submitted it, I wasn't sure what genre it fell under.  It was definitely fiction, but I felt it might have fallen under a subcategory of fantasy, feminism, or even science fiction.  They announced the winner of the contest and it wasn't me, so I figure I'll post it on my blog.  Partly, I'm posting it because I love it.  And in another respect, since I'm sketchy on the genre it falls under, I'm not sure where to submit it.

I also will say that it was written to disturb the reader into paying attention.  I am a feminist at heart.  I feel like this story is very honest and personal to me.  This story is partially derived from a dream I had and remembered.  I altered the story a bit when I wrote it because quite frankly dreams are often fragmented and I wanted the story to make a statement.  I didn't even tell my closest friends about the entire plot, so I'm sure they will be very interested to read this gem I held so tightly to my chest.

Victoria’s Adventure in the Land of the Purple Queen (Nature Knows Best: A Wise Nameless Tree)

             The force was unbelievable.  She was desperately trying to resist, to pull herself away.  You see, Victoria was stuck to a tree.  It wasn’t that her clothing was stuck to a branch, or that she was glued to the tree by sap.  By some force beyond her control, like magnetism, her hands and feet were attached to the tree.  This might not have disturbed her as much had she been the only woman attached to this tree.  But, in fact, there were about thirty other women experiencing the same predicament.

            There were all sorts of weird aspects to this situation.  These other women were not resisting their situation.  They had accepted it and were not concerned.  Victoria just could not fathom how content these women were being bound by invisible chains to this tree.  Who in their right mind wants to be grouped together in an unflattering category or even an ordinary category when each person can be extraordinary?

            Victoria was also concerned because all these other women on this tree were in black and white.  It looked like female characters from black and white movies had been captured and instead of being tied to railroad tracks, they had been attached to this tree.  Victoria wondered to herself, “If I stay attached to this tree, will I lose my color, my identity as an individual?”

            Spurred by the panic associated with losing her identity, Victoria pulls strength from within her that she did not know she had and starts to slowly and robotically slide her body down the tree.  She tried to focus her first moves in her feet.  She shifted her feet one after another towards the ground.  Once she got her body as stretched out it could be, she then shifted her hands lower along the tree.  She continued this process with a hopeful heart and the strength of a lioness.

            There was the sound of church bells that Victoria heard in the distance.  She wondered for a second what the bells were for, but she quickly got her focus back on the task at hand.  It didn’t take long before Victoria saw an unusual sight.  There were men in black and white walking in a procession holding bouquets of flowers heading towards the tree.  Victoria was a little apprehensive, wondering what these men were up to.  Her jaw dropped when she watched these men, one at a time, pull a woman off the tree.  What was truly horrifying about this process was that it wasn’t a quick procession.  These men would stand appraising the women, analyzing their curves groping the women to check their physical attributes.  Some of the men even lifted up skirts and looked down shirts before they chose a woman.

            Victoria felt so offended for these women, but she was astonished by all these apathetic faces these women maintained through the process.  One or two women would look down their noses at the men during this process, but they would say nothing.  Victoria was beside herself watching this.  Deep within her soul, she was silently screaming for justice.  These women were being picked off trees like fruit.  These women didn’t have a choice.  Men made the choice and to Victoria, that was wrong.

            Even though these women were successfully pulled off the tree, the tree would draw them back to it.  As such, the men would keep trying to take women, but they’d be unsuccessful.  Once all the men had a turn, the procession would do a u-turn in the road near the tree and head back toward the sound of the church bells.

            The base of the tree was approaching and Victoria was relieved.  She thought to herself, “Finally, I’ll make it out of this nightmare.”  What Victoria didn’t know was that Tonya, the Purple Queen of this world, had been watching her and was planning to unleash more nightmares upon her.  Tonya was irritated because until this time, she was the only inhabitant in this world who had color to her.  Since she was different from everyone else, the inhabitants agreed that she could be queen.  Furthermore, these people worshipped her.  Granted, it was an indifferent kind of worship, one of obedience, but Tonya didn’t like the idea of someone new showing up who might take any part of that away from her.

            The only surefire way to end this nonsense would be for Tonya to send in a squad of people to bring this strange newcomer to her castle.  Tonya figured that once she had this woman in her grasp, she could choose to keep her hidden away in the castle for entertainment purposes or have her executed in a creative way.  Surely, this colorful speck of dust would be no match for the great Tonya, the Purple Queen.

            Victoria had finally detached all of her limbs from the tree.  The last yank of her hand from the tree caused her to lose her balance, causing her to stumble and fall hard on her butt.  She said, “Ow!” and proceeded to stroke her behind trying to comfort herself before standing up.  Meanwhile, a smaller procession of men had appeared out of nowhere.  A man had linked arms with her on either side of her and she had been pulled to her feet.  Victoria was bewildered to say the least.  She was just about to thank the men for helping her up, but these men started dragging her along almost immediately.  She found herself breathing really hard as she tried to keep up with the inhuman pace she was forced to endure.

            Suddenly, Victoria found herself thrown into a dark majestic room.  Victoria was in awe of how spacious it was because the room had a high ceiling.  There was a small porthole type window six feet above her on the front wall.  She was a little disappointed that the window wasn’t set lower, so she could look out on this land’s landscape.  However, given that this window lit up the dim room, she appreciated it.  A little light in any situation was always a blessing.

            Since Victoria could not focus on the building’s outer surroundings, she found herself focusing on the room itself.  She was immediately struck by the abundance of purple hues in the room.  There was a queen-size bed with a canopy.  This canopy frame had intricate woodwork with leaves carved into it to support this purple curtain that could be drawn around the bed to give the sleeper privacy.  The bedspread was also purple and the sheets were lavender.

            After that strenuous trip here, Victoria was feeling tired and parched.  By the canopy bed, there was a white pitcher containing water and a clear empty glass sitting beside it on a wooden table.  She strode over to the table and eagerly poured herself a glass of water.  She also noticed to her delight that there was a piece of toast on a plate on that same table, so she started nibbling at the bread and taking in more of the room.  There was a small loveseat in the room that was black with two purple throw pillows set upon it.  Compared to the luxurious bed, the love seat was rather ordinary.  However, Victoria was in a state of appreciation after her day.  After she finished her bread, she crashed into her bed and took a nap.

            Tonya was sitting on her throne musing to herself at how smart she was.  Since she wasn’t sure what she was going to do with the outsider, she had her guards put her in a simple room in the castle.  The bed was exquisite in that room, so this might entice the outsider to serve the queen at the possibility of additional comforts.  However, Tonya had also instructed the maids to put just bread and water in the outsider’s room.  This was a way of saying that the outsider was a prisoner.  While she hoped the outsider was becoming more pliable in lieu of her situation, Victoria was sleeping deeply and smiling softly finally resting.

            She didn’t know how long she’d been sleeping, but she knew she felt well-rested upon waking.  She knew this because when she woke up, she sat up, stretched out her arms with hands fisted gently and both wrists bent.  Then, she made a noise akin to a sigh with her mouth shut.  She then glanced over at the bedside table and saw that new toast had been placed on the plate and the pitcher of water was full again.  She decided to eat her breakfast and she wondered who her captor could be.

            Tonya was eating her lavish breakfast gleefully.  She had bowls of fruit and fresh-squeezed juices.  She sat at an obnoxiously long wooden table in a room full of portraits hanging on the wall.  These portraits all had purple backgrounds and were of the queen in various poses.  She loved to look upon beauty when she ate and she honestly considered herself the most beautiful person to look at.  She wasn’t really into landscape pictures, but she didn’t see anything wrong with that.  She figured she would let her prisoner eat her breakfast alone and hoped lunch with the queen would soften her up a bit.  Anyone who could pull herself off that strong tree could do with some softening up.  No woman had ever been able to pull herself off the tree before.  The queen shuttered to herself, thinking about it.

            Victoria had been in a reverie, imagining who she was going to meet when she met her captor.  She was sitting on a the loveseat hugging a pillow, thinking about meeting a kindhearted princess or a dashing prince charming who would kneel and kiss her hand gallantly.  Personally, she was hoping for a prince.  After seeing those barbaric men take women off that tree, Victoria was really hoping decent men existed in this world.  Suddenly two of the escorts from before opened the room door, grabbed Victoria, and before she knew what was going on, she was sitting in the chair facing a throne.

            The throne itself was purple with a golden frame.  It was sitting stage-like, two stairs above the rest of the room.  Victoria’s chair was sitting on the floor below the throne.  The floor of the room itself was black.  Victoria chuckled to herself thinking, “Black and not purple”.   Queen Tonya spoke in a deep assertive voice as she walked towards the throne from behind Victoria, “Magnificent, the throne room must seem to you.  I don’t know who you are or where you are from, but you are here and we must talk.”  As the queen strode beside Victoria’s chair, Victoria mostly noticed the purple billowing cape trailing the queen.  At first, Victoria wondered what sort of woman spoke so deeply.  Once the queen had turned in a flourish to sit on her throne and looked at Victoria from her seat appraising her, Victoria could not help but start laughing.  The entrance, the billowing cape, and the flourishing had been so dramatic that it was comical.  Victoria had never thought anyone spoke like this, let alone wore a cape.

            Tonya was less than amused by this reaction, so she spoke again.  “My name is Queen Tonya, the Purple Queen.  I rule over the people here and I make it my business to know what sort of people live here.  You are different in many ways from my people.  What shall I call you?” Victoria had stopped laughing due to the force in Tonya’s voice and she responded, “Victoria”.  Tonya responded, “What a detestable name! I’ll have to give you a new one.”  At this remark, Victoria was offended and said this, “It is not your place to name me, as you are not my reason for being.  Furthermore, as long as I correct you with my real name, the name you give me will not hold power.”

            Queen Tonya huffed under her breath and said, “Fine, Victoria.  How did you get here?”

            “I do not know.  I was just suddenly attached to that tree.”

            Queen Tonya shuttered to herself slightly and replied, “Yes.  I am aware that you were in that part of the land.  What sorcery do you have that you were able to escape the pull of the tree?”

            Victoria replied, “I do not know sorcery of any kind.”  Victoria thought to herself, “I still don’t know myself how I managed to have the strength to get off that tree.  Strategically, the sliding of the limbs incrementally was my doing, but otherwise I’m just grateful I managed to escape the fate of the other women.”  Tonya noted that Victoria was having some sort of mental dialogue with herself, which irritated her.  Thus, Tonya spoke again in a barking manner, “What are you thinking?!”

            “I was thinking to myself that the tree we’ve been speaking of is unsettling.  As Queen of this land, why haven’t you done anything as a fellow woman?”

            At mention of the tree, the queen started to look like she was going to be sick.  Her face turned a little green and there was a slight twinge of terror in her eyes.  The queen stood up and turned her back on Victoria.  She spoke again and said, “Any men not of the procession who approach the tree to harm it are repelled.  Any women who approach the tree are attracted to the tree like a magnet.  Once attracted to the tree, the woman cannot free herself and any color she had fades over time.” 

Queen Tonya thought about her mother then, one of the tree’s victims.  She remembered standing on the road near the tree.  Her mother had been upset about this tree for a long time and approached it to try and pull the women off.  As she tried, the force of the tree increased.  There was a sudden intense pull and before Tonya knew it, her mother was stuck to the tree.  Tonya started to scream, “Momma, Momma!” and she moved towards the tree.  Her mother assertively yelled, “Stop! Don’t come any closer, Tonya!”  Her mother’s tone softened and she said, “Go home and tell your father what happened.  Never ever approach this tree, little one.  I love you.”  Queen Tonya’s eyes welled up and she waved her hand at the guards to take me to the dining room to eat lunch.  She was glad she had her back to Victoria, so Victoria could not see her tears.

However, Victoria knew the tree upset the queen because while she was lost in thought, she kept shivering ever so slightly.  Shrewdly, Victoria decided to let the issue rest and bring it up later.  The guards took her to the dining room in their usual abrupt manner.  The food was nice.  There were loads of options, but Victoria elected to make a BLT from the options in front of her.  Victoria didn’t need much to be happy.  A simple BLT was plenty for her.  As long as she had choices, life was something to be appreciated.

Queen Tonya was bothered that her conversation with Victoria had not gone as planned.  Furthermore, she was bothered that she found herself wanting to do something about that tree.  What was she supposed to do about an ancient tree that was made up of forces beyond her control? How is it that this girl, this outsider, was capable of being stronger than the strongest woman that she had ever known, her mother.  The state of all this irritated her.  She found herself storming into the dining room and glaring at Victoria.  “If you want me to do something about that infernal tree, you figure out what I am to do! If it’s reasonable, I will consider your plan and we can discuss putting it into action.”

Victoria was taken aback by the sudden entrance and obvious anger emanating from the queen.  She was wondering how she was supposed to come up with a plan when nobody had one that worked before this.  Victoria decided to ask a question “Is there anything else I should know about the tree?” The Queen replied, “That tree is ancient.  It possibly has origins in the time of the dinosaurs.  The legends say it didn’t always just attract people.  It is said that every species that came into being was once attracted to the tree and that their behaviors were shaped in regards to mating by it.  If you can believe it, rhinos used to be attracted to that tree.  The male rhinos used to try to pull the female rhinos off of it with their horns.  However, the female was always given enough leeway by the tree to scramble away.  When the rhinos were finally released from the tree, the females ran away from potential mates to test their endurance.  Rhinos still mate like that today.”

Victoria replied, “Wow.  By this account, the tree releases species at a certain time.  Maybe the time of people will be over soon.”  The queen laughed and shook her head.  “Humans have been on that tree since the human species arrived into existence.  It has been a long time, so that theory is doubtful.”  Victoria then said, “I wonder why the tree has been holding onto people so long.  If the tree releases species at certain times, perhaps the tree has a mind of its own.  Perhaps it is dissatisfied with how humans behave and does not want women and men to mate based on physical assessment alone.  Maybe the tree only lets go of species once it believes the mating strategy is reasonable.”

The queen was astounded with Victoria’s exceptional assessment and replied, “Well, then what do you believe will stop the tree from wanting to hang onto women?” Victoria replied, “Well, there seems to be only two possibilities.  Since I pulled myself off the tree and I know no sorcery, it may be possible to sway to women to leave the tree of their own accord with enough encouragement.  The other option is to have men approach the tree, talk to the women, connect with them mentally, and then pull a mate off.”

Given these options, the queen decided to ask a question of Victoria, “Was there a woman on the tree with curly hair and a beauty mark slightly above and to the right of her left eye?” Victoria thought about it and nodded.  Victoria continued, “She kept giving the other women dirty looks and raising her eyebrows at their apathy.  I was more concerned with the majority of apathetic faces, but I did notice the woman you describe.”  The queen’s expression brightened a little bit and she said, “I know a man who would be willing to talk that woman off the tree.”  She proceeded to explain the tragic story of her parents and how her father was still heartbroken without her mother.

The Queen, Victoria, and the haggard remnants of Tonya’s father rode in a carriage to the road near the tree.  Tonya’s father’s name was Anthony and her mother’s name was Samantha.  Anthony slowly approached the tree and spoke to Samantha so softly.  He told her about Tonya ruling the kingdom and he told her what had been happening in their village while she was gone.  Samantha told Anthony how she’d been feeling watching the women being pulled from the tree and how she had missed him and Tonya.  As they were talking, the color that had faded returned to her and she blushed.  Anthony held her hand, interlacing his fingers in hers.  Anthony said, “Samantha, you are my whole world.  I’ve been so lost without you.  I love you more than anything.”  He kissed her hand and the tree released her.

The moment between Anthony and Samantha had been so touching that the other women had regained their color too.  They also found themselves blushing and wanting what Samantha had with Anthony.  Not long after Samantha was released, all the other women were released.  The tree was smart enough to gently let the women float down to the ground through its force powers.  The limbs of the women were out of practice of use and had they fallen to the ground, it could have caused broken bones or even death.  Queen Tonya summoned her guards and ordered them to assist the women, based on what the women wanted.  The guards were so used to direct orders that they were unsure of how to handle the situation.  One guard saw a woman rubbing her ankle, so he asked if he could do that for her.  She said yes.  They proceeded to talk.  The other guards followed suit.  Before Victoria knew it, everyone had regained color and the atmosphere around the tree changed.

Queen Tonya was reunited with her parents, so she no longer felt so self-absorbed.  She vowed to be a kinder ruler.  Victoria was thinking everything was going to be okay here, when suddenly she got pulled towards the tree.  She expected she’d be stuck to the tree’s surface again, but the tree sucked her into itself.  Victoria woke up in her bed at home and she was a little startled.  However, she was happy to be home.  She had her family, her color, and most importantly her choices which would get her through any obstacle.

Often Victoria wondered to herself about her adventure.  She wondered if it was a dream or if it was reality somewhere else.  She wondered if her adventure was completely the doing of her imagination or if the tree had chosen her.  She liked to believe that the tree brought her to that other world because it knew a modern woman’s perspective would bring a solution. 

Victoria had faith that the women of her time would make the right decisions, but the idea of a wise and compassionate tree having an influence did not bother her.  Every once and awhile, she would think fondly of the tree that had once terrified her.  She tried to name the tree in her mind, but her own words came back to her.  She might not be the tree’s reason for being, so she could not name it.  As such, she satisfied herself by thinking of the tree and nature itself with appreciation and love.

Today, My Brother Graduated High School

Today, my youngest brother graduated from high school.  His graduation was late in the day at 3 pm.  I was worried that I was going to be bored out of my mind, since I've been to quite a few boring graduation ceremonies (as I'm sure a lot of people can relate to from experience).  However, I was pleasantly surprised that the five speeches given by the valedictorians and salutatorian were spoken well and even entertaining.  My favorite speech was the first one given about Las Vegas High School (LVHS) students being winners ("That's just what we do").  I'm probably biased because LVHS is my alma mater, so I liked being called a winner.  I also got a kick out of my uncle saying "Go Vikings" next to me, since he attended Valley High School: Home of the Vikings back in the day.  It is good to have school pride and I appreciated that I have that in common with my uncle.

Then, after the ceremony, we returned home and we had a party.  I was mostly focused on compiling the veggie trays, making teas, and filling deviled eggs for the first part of the party.  Even so, there were some interesting things that happened.  Apparently, my uncle and aunt decided to make purchases from the ice cream truck driving down our street because they had never been allowed to do that as kids.  I reaped quite a benefit from it, as my uncle passed around ice cream sandwiches at the party.  Who doesn't like ice cream sandwiches?!!  Plus, my aunt was practicing her golf swing out on the lawn.  To which, my uncle said "She looks like Tigger Woods out there".  Overall, the party was a good time.  My uncles and aunts made it particularly entertaining both in their actions and in their statements.

Thoughts On Fathers

Fathers are such important figures in our lives.  Growing up, I spent a lot of time with each of my parents.  With Mom, there was cooking, girl scouts, bowling, and colorguard.  Yet, I remember observing my father in an attempt to understand the strong silent man within.  I used to watch him glue pipes together, make concrete, and mow the lawn.  To this day, I smell pipe glue and feel a sense of nostalgia for my childhood.

Based on my observations, I learned that my dad valued being productive very highly.  I also came to the realization that I was born to a construction-driven family.  How many kids can say their dad builds walls like a mason, fixes cars like a mechanic, upkeeps his lawn, and has a day job in a specialized trade?! I feel lucky to have such an intelligent and skilled father.  Furthermore, he is modest and does not presume he is an expert at the feats he completes.  The phrase, “That’s my dad” said with pride comes to mind.

The word father means all sorts of things to all sorts of people.  Some people see fathers as the disciplinarians.  Other people see fathers as war heroes or soldiers.  I see my father as the family pillar, standing strongly supporting the family through the vast expanse of time.  I see my father as a man of few words, but meaningful words when spoken.

Essentially, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Father’s Day.

Why Do So Many Politicians Stink These Days?

I remember growing up, learning about the history of America, and being in awe of the amazing men who were our Presidents.  We started out with the amazing George Washington with his views about isolationism, a man who was unanimously elected into office because he had done our country great service and had earned the respect of the people.

As time has passed on, I have noticed the fall in my satisfaction of Presidential performance.  Presidents are not what they used to be anymore.  In times of crisis, “We the people”, could look to our President and our leader would do something revolutionary to fix domestic crises. 

There were those Presidents who were decisive in economic affairs.  Franklin Roosevelt gave us the New Deal.  Harry Truman gave us the Fair Deal.  Franklin Roosevelt also created the Tennessee Valley Authority, helping people by providing a means of employment.

There were those Presidents who helped our nation fight wars that mattered.  We had the two great World Wars, that are still pinnacles of historical significance when we look back at them.  We also look back at Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency during the Civil War and acknowledge his efforts to transform American society in the pursuit of equality.  I am proud of my nation’s involvement in those wars.  There were also those wars fought here in our nation, wars that we were directly part of that helped shape our nation. 

Nowadays, it seems like it is more about what is going on in foreign countries than what is going on at home.  We seem to have a hand in everyone else’s business, whilst our own country’s domestic affairs are a complete mess.  Our economy is suffering and we have a huge deficit.  There are so many issues that are divided in this country.  There is no middle ground to be reached on such issues as abortion, gay marriage, alternative energy, military spending, and government spending in general.

I have never been a politician, but I often imagine what it is like and have come up with the following beliefs.  Politicians are constantly under scrutiny for voting against their party’s stance.  Yet, logrolling is essential to the government’s law-making practices.  Politicians are constantly trying to stall some bills in some categories based on what it will do to their constituents.  Furthermore, politics is all about numbers in a lot of ways.  Whoever has the majority, has the advantage. 

Law-making is not so much about improving society anymore.  Politicians are constantly strategizing, trying to determine how they should vote so they can get enough votes later.  Politicians are also kept in check by their parties and elections.  If that politician is not up to par or following the party platform, there is pressure felt because he or she is affiliated with his or her party and this party helped get him or her elected. 

Politics is not about promoting “the good of the people” anymore.  Politics is about doing what you have to do in order to have influence over specific bills.  Taking this into account, it is no wonder that multiple politicians turn out to be morally bankrupt with respect to their marriages.

This is the second Presidential election that will be coming up in a row where I do not care for the candidates that have been provided to me as options.  I am not in awe of them like I used to be for our past influential Presidents.  I have listened to political speeches and debates on the television over the years.  The more words I hear, the more I realize that the speeches are just for show.  I feel like I am listening to someone who is saying what they need to say for their image or to get a nomination and not someone who actually cares wholeheartedly about what they are saying and about fixing the problems (even if that road is unpopular to interest groups).

I have come to the conclusion that politicians stink.  All the great politicians died a long time ago.  I had hope that Hillary Clinton would be elected to the Presidency in the last Presidential election.  However, she did not get the Democratic nomination.  I still do not understand why she did not win over Obama.  I felt that a Former First Lady who had remained active in politics as a Senator was more qualified for the position of President than any other candidate.  I also felt she was an excellent speaker during her campaign, so she would have been a great representative for our nation. 

Logically, it did not make sense to me that she did not win the nomination.  This brings me to the disgusting notion that “history repeats itself”.  Based on historical rights progression, black men had the right to vote before women did.  As such, based on this history, it follows that we will not have a female President for several more decades.  Personally, I believe that stinks.  If history must repeat itself in this manner, I truly believe there is a lot wrong with the social construction of America. 

In particular, I am upset because I am an intelligent woman and society will not give me all the opportunities of the men without struggle because I was not born a man.  There is this constant feeling that I need to prove myself as the best at what I do in order to work with men.  There is this constant irritation that women are presented as objects in advertising and that affects the mindset of society as a whole.  Regardless of how I present myself and behave, there is that underlying stereotype put out by the media.  I am convinced the world is screwed up because it is the women who have to have the thick skin to be successful professionally when men have the advantage in muscle mass development.

Overall, I want to see more female politicians.  The past notion of women getting moody and bombing countries is ridiculous.  Firstly, that argument makes no sense based on government protocol.  Congress would have to fund that sort of decision and it is likely that a moody episode would not last the length of deliberation on the House floor for something like that.  Secondly, men in society grow up having to portray themselves as tough or hypermasculine.  There are a lot of men who get moody and beat their wives.  Yet, apparently only the women are suggested as the people who could get moody and randomly blow up countries.  Stereotypes disgust me, especially in how women are indirectly excluded from the pursuit of political advancement.

If I Was An Antifederalist

It is a time for celebration.  After more than a century of British oppression and a war, we as a society have finally been liberated.  There were tariffs placed upon us before that have been lifted, allowing those of us who were impoverished and struggling to build up our monetary resources or expand our businesses as craftsmen or artisans.  There was a war that separated families for an extended time that is now over, allowing heartfelt reunions of kin who knew the struggles of this developing nation in a pronounced way.  We all know the havoc an organized government can wreak, the oppression associated with having beliefs not in line with those of our rulers.  We finally established some form of internal stability after all these struggles and these people called "The Framers" come along with this new document called "The Constitution" to throw us into turmoil again.  This document will surely ruin our newfound semblance of stability as a nation.  We just stepped out of the King's bed and they want us to jump into Benjamin Franklin's bed without reservations.

This document gives all these powers to specified branches of government.  There are articles written with multiple sections for each of these branches of government that are supposed to govern us, the people.  At least, in the Declaration of Independence, the governed are mentioned as having the right of consent.  Where is the section on the powers of the governed in this document called "The Constitution"? If it is supposed to be a document for the good of the people, the governed should have an article in it too.

As individuals and craftsmen, we know how important it is to honor specialization.  It is important to promote the respectful uses of the resources employed in our craft.  We work arduously honing our skills and provide our region great services.  We acknowledge farmers who utilize waterways to interact with other regions of the nation.  These small regions or republics should have the ability to provide input on the governing of this country.  Who knows better the needs of a baby bird than the birds of the same nest? These nests should be revered as the art of nature.  Yet, states, like nests, have less powers given to them in the grand scheme of this proposed government in "The Constitution".  That is against the logic of nature.

These small nests are best governed separately because each bird is different and has its own character, values, and aims.  How is this not obvious? There is a nobility associated with birds as they live in that they find the resources to build their nests along and find only the food necessary to keep their baby birds fed.  This is efficient.  If small nests are easier to manage in nature, why is this not evident to "The Framers" and why were not the states given more power?

Despite the obvious fact that this document goes against nature, which should be enough on its own to not want it ratified, it is also an illegal document.  This is against our current national document, the Articles of Confederation.  What is to say those criminal "Framers" will not uproot this supposedly preferential document over and over again.  If there is no respect for the law of the land, then what should we respect? Why follow those who have already insulted a national law? It does not make sense to follow the word of criminals.

If I Was A Supreme Court Justice

Some people believe that the Constitution was written to be taken literally and only that.  Other people believe the Constitution is a "living and breathing document".  Regardless of what people believe, it is the judiciary system that must interpret the Constitution.

Judicial restraint is the belief that the court system should try to preserve the "original intent" or sanctity of the Constitution.  The individuals who believe in judicial restraint tend to be strict constructionists.  In Supreme Court history, a Chief Justice who prided himself on being a strict constructionist was Warren Earl Burger.  Ironically, he was also the Chief Justice presiding over many transformative cases such as Roe v. Wade, U of C Regents v. Bakke, and Buckley v. Valeo.  Roe v. Wade ruled that abortion was legal as long as the woman was within the first trimester of her pregnancy.  U of C Regents v. Bakke was a case that dealt with affirmative action in college admissions.  Bakke wanted to attend the University of California-Davis medical school, but was denied although his grades were better than those of people in the seats designated for women and minorities.  The Court ruled in favor of Bakke, in the end.  In Buckley v. Valeo, it was determined that money was a form of speech, so was protected under the first Amendment to the Constitution.  In truth, these rulings seemed revolutionary.

This leads us to the definition of judicial activism.  Judicial activism is the belief that the court system should take a more broad interpretation of the Constitution and take more responsibility for righting the wrongs of the society as a whole.  There were many a disturbed person about the Supreme Court rulings for cases such as Plessy v. Ferguson, and Dred Scott v. Sanford.  Plessy was one-eighth black and could pass as white.  Thus, he tried to ride a White Only railway car, but he got caught.  It was determined that the black and white cars were "separate but equal", thus justifying racial segregation.  In Dred Scott v. Sanford, Dred Scott was a black man who wanted his freedom since he had lived different parts of his life in free states.  The court ruled that Scott was still considered property.  The Justice responsible for at least one of these cases was Taney.  It is a common wish that judicial activism would have been preferred on the issue of slavery long before it was actually resolved.

I really do not know which philosophy I would adhere to if I was given the opportunity to sit on the Supreme Court.  I really admire the word of Chief Justice John Marshall.  He made some landmark decisions, setting up the power of judicial review of the court system.  Marbury v. Madison made it so the Supreme Court could declare congressional acts unconstitutional.  McCullough v. Maryland made it so the Supreme Court could declare state acts unconstitutional (especially if they interfered in the running of the United States government).  Marshall seemed to stick to judicial restraint and he did great things for this country.  Earl Warren took on more of a judicial activism view with the Brown v. Board of Education case that desegregated our national school system.  That case was definitely a turning point for America.

If I based the chosen philosophy on my sense of justice, I would choose the judicial activism view at my current age.  I have a strong belief in equality for everyone.  Plus, I believe that individuals should be allowed to redress their grievances and those grievances of society as a whole.  When I am older, I might think differently, as it is likely that Supreme Court Justices' thoughts and beliefs evolved over time.

Alexander Hamilton said he believed the judiciary branch was the "least dangerous" branch of the government because it had "neither sword nor purse".  I disagree with that statement, although I acknowledge its brilliance.  I believe the Supreme Court could be quite dangerous if the Justices took on judicial activism at full force.