lisaannettestanley
- Jul 25, 2020

Past & Present Dispute Resolution from a Sociological Perspective

Voting Rights are as precious today as they were at the birth of our Nation. Putting the bitter battles fought over now & then into a Sociological context helps us understand why it is so important to Vote in every Election, every time & to never sit one out.

In the present day, people are still fighting bitter Court battles over Voting By Mail during the Covid19 Crisis.

It is the right thing to do to saves lives while people exercise their Right to Vote.

Very much like the question of whether saying the word "BITCH" is EVER Socially Acceptable speech to use in public. It is NOT. It is infuriating Hate Speech.

In studying the History of our Founding Documents, I find it completely fascinating that there has been a complete & total Role Reversal between the Democratic & Republican Parties of today as compared to the Democratic & Republican Parties of yesteryear.

American History has had a rocky beginning from the start, beginning with the Revolutionary War, the Civil War & World War 1 - which is the time-frame that the Constitution & resulting Amendments contained in the Bill of Rights were fought over, written, re-written & ultimately Legislated into Law.

That's a whole lot of warring going on.

Just as today when people cannot "Disagree with Decency" people still need to learn the art of Dispute Resolution, Conflict Management & Anger Management.

These are basic Sociological concepts: the study of how Individuals behave in a group.

Staying in the here & now, & thinking about some of things going on with people not fighting fair, with not "disagreeing with decency" a prime example of this is the Weaponization of one our main Freeways here in Houston: I-45 The Gulf Freeway.

Voter Oppression/Voter Suppression is still a bitter battle today as I very quickly learned during my Volunteer efforts in the 2018 Mid-Term Elections. I was out at the Polls every day during Early Voting.

The Term Gerrymandering was my 50 cent word of the day, what it means in real terms & how it played into "45" being weaponized into a Sexist Slur.

I lived it. It was awful.

There are still some people who refer to Donald Trump - not by name - but as "45."

I don't think people are trying to say they love the 45th President.

In an instance like this the term "45" is a Sexist Slur, designed to inflict pain - to be an insult.

In general, some of the very real issues with I-45 The Gulf Freeway are with respect to Gerrymandering as a means of Voter Suppression.

When we look to the past History of the Women's Rights Movement, the Right to Vote & the Equal Rights Amendment, it is not that Elizabeth Cady Stanton was against the 15th Amendment.

She viewed the willful glaring omission of Women as Voter Oppression.

She viewed the willful glaring omission of Women as Voter Suppression.

In her view, very rightfully so, it was the Suppression of the Right to Vote for 50% of the population - WOMEN, hence the need for the 19th Amendment.

In honor of the 100th Anniversary of Women gaining the Right to Vote, we need to Ratify the Equal Rights Amendment - not just to glorify the History of how we got here, but to truly fix the things that are still broken today.