“I would gladly give up my right to vote to have a more conservative country”

That’s what right-wing influencer Samantha Stone said at a recent Turning Point USA Women's Leadership Summit. Turning Point is run by Charlie Kirk’s widow following his death. The Summit included some women who said they were willing to give up their right to vote because they trust their husbands to represent them. It’s a long way from the good trouble made by the suffragettes to that Summit. If you haven’t actually listened to these women express their views, this five-minute clip compiled by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is worth your time. “My perspective as a Christian woman,” one young woman says, “is that my husband and I are one flesh. I vote the same way he does, so honestly, I would be okay with giving up my right to vote, because I know that he would represent me well.” Another chimes in that her daughter won’t need to be able to vote because she knows she’ll marry a godly man. The viewpoint is shocking and even laughable when most people are exposed to it for the first time. And it does give rise to a number of questions. But we would be unwise to reject what these women are saying out of hand. Yes, it seems too ridiculous to become reality. There is a Handmaid’s Tale quality to these women’s voices; they are willing to bargain away their own personhood for what they perceive to be the security of marriage and motherhood. And it’s still a fringe view, even at Turning Point. But so many views we once considered fringe, ranging from the unitary executive theory to the demise of Roe v. Wade and women’s ability to access reproductive health care, have become mainstream. We are a country that tried, but failed, to pass the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. The Amendment simply provides that equality of rights under the law cannot be denied or abridged by the U.S. or any state on account of sex. In other words, women aren’t second class citizens; they possess equal rights to men. But the Amendment never made it across the finish line. (There is still work in that regard underway). So instead of dismissing what we see here as ridiculous, it’s a good moment to recommit to the principle that all people, women included, are entitled to equal rights. If MAGA women don’t want to vote, that’s their prerogative. As for me, I intend to exercise my rights fully. These women who would willingly give up their right to vote seem to have absorbed the idea that political power is dangerous in their own hands. It's worth considering how ideas like this get planted and who seeks to benefit from them. These are the conversations Civil Discourse exists to have—not shouting matches, but careful looks at what's really happening to our democracy and why.  Thank you for being here with me for them. And if you aren’t already a subscriber, join us if that's the kind of thinking you want in your inbox. This is a community of people who take democracy seriously, and there's room in it for all of us. We have so much work to do. We’re in this together, Joyce Vance