Editor, The Smithfield Times:

Friday, Aug. 18, was the 103rd anniversary of U.S. women’s suffrage. But was it a time for celebration? Have we men not “suffered” enough?

As a local history-watcher, it behooves (unless that’s not a word) me to respond to Renee Bevan’s “sarcasm” in the Aug. 16 Times (“Mr. Sexism, meet Mrs. Sarcasm”). I saw nothing sarcastic in it. She was absolutely right to check with and get permission from her husband before making any decisions. Frank Hall (“Says Luter done with Smithfield,” Aug. 9) was spot on.

Frank’s letter, the object of Ms. Bevan’s non-sarcasm, reminded me of the good ol’ days before 1920 and that outrageous 19th amendment to our sacred Constitution. Before then, men, and only men, voted. OK, and maybe also a few trans ladies who were able to con their electoral board.

And what followed permitting the girls to vote? Fascism, Naziism, World War II, atomic bombs, Korean War, intercontinental ballistic missiles, Cold War, Mutual Assured Destruction, Vietnam, 9-11, Afghanistan, etc., etc. Now, with women voting, what’s next? War with China? Russia? Armageddon? Mankind was steadily advancing until 1920 when, all of a sudden, we started going backwards! A coincidence? I think not!

So maybe women’s suffrage wasn’t such a good idea after all. We learned from our 1919 18th Amendment that Prohibition was a really bad idea. And, it was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union that agitated for that ludicrous thing. So we wised up and repealed it in 1933 with the great 21st Amendment to our Constitution. Let’s all drink to that!

So why can’t we just do the same and repeal the 19th? As the time-honored expression goes, “A woman’s place in the home.” It’s been highly successful for millennia, so let’s keep it that way.

And, so far, we have very wisely not passed that silly Equal Rights Amendment because we realize the total folly of the 19th.

And maybe, just maybe, our Muslim brethren have it right too. As I think Frank would agree, keep ’em covered up, I say!

 

Alfred “R.” Buckethead Jr.

aka Albert Burckard 

Carrollton