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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, NOVEMBER 18, 1983
PAGE 7
begun to appear on lists of Democratic vice-presidential
candidates.
Republican Party leaders are showing considerable concern about these
trends. Regarding the ethnic vote, their big fear is that the extensive
southern-state black voter registration drive engineered by Jesse Jackson
(himself a declared Democratic candidate) could tip the scales in those
states who narrowly went for Ronald Reagan in 1980. The black vote almost
entirely swings either to the Democrats or--in municipal elections where
party labels are often not used--behind black candidates. In Philadelphia,
for example, Mr. Goode (an obviously qualified candidate with an MBA degree
from that city's prestigious Wharton business college) garnered 98% of the
black vote. Of course, the news media never complains that such attempts to
bring out block voting en masse just might possibly smack of racism.
There is now talk of fostering what has been called a "rainbow coalition" of
blacks, women, Hispanics, maybe even (covertly at least) homosexuals, to
challenge conservative officeholders in next year's general elections.
Such a loose coalition might not hold up, but count on the news media to
give it as much publicity and tacit support as possible.
The defeat of the hastily reintroduced ERA in the House of Representatives
this week also could bode ill for Mr. Reagan's forces. Women's groups
angrily denounced those who had voted against the amendment Tuesday.
"For American women, this is a day of truth and consequences. We now know·
the truth about our representatives' commitment to equality, and those who
voted against us will soon learn the consequences of the gender gap," said
Kathy Wilson, chairman of the National Women's Political Caucus. "The
Republican members of Congress who orchestrated the loss of the equal
rights amendment in the House of Representatives toqay will face the wrath
of their constituents at the polls next year," said Judy Goldsmith,
president of the National Organization for Women.
The measure was defeated largely because the Democratic-controlled House
would not allow any amendments. Opponents were ready to tack on an amend
ment against abortion, something, of course, the feminist cause would not
want added to the bill. (Anti-ERA leader Phyllis Schiafly was delighted at
the outcome, stating that the unamended version would have opened the
legislative door to "abortion and gay rights."}
Despite the defeat, ERA just won't go away.
It will be introduced yet
again. Moreover, the political "clout" of women is growing significantly.
At the annual American Political Science Association convention in Chicago,
which I attended in early September, one entire evening session was devoted
to the role of women in politics. Women now, I learned, hold ten percent of
elective offices in the U.S. One political activist, Ruth Mandel, reported
that there are now twenty women's "PAC" (Political Action Committees)
designed to advance the cause of women's candidacies.
Only eleven years ago, women delegates gathered for the first national
women's caucus. They got little publicity, even when they emotionally sang
"We Shall Overcome" (the c.ivil rights anthem of the 1950s and 60s}. This
year, at the same convention (in San Antonio} and before scores of re
porters, nearly all of the Democratic Party presidential candidates--one of