How to pass the Equal Rights Amendment?

natalieb

Banned
Mike Stone commented in another thread that a big reason that the ERA failed was its unacceptability in the South.

I think it's a Catch-22 though. Any ERA mild enough to be passed in the South will not be radical enough for the progressives of the seventies.

Is there any way out of this pickle?
 
Re-elect Jerry Ford in 1976. President and First Lady Ford supported the Equal Rights Amendment. In addition, Ford in office in the late '70s will slow and delay the rise of the ideologues in the Republican Party. And plus . . .

State of the Union Address
President Gerald Ford
Jan. 15, 1975

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=4938

' . . . The emphasis on our economic efforts must now shift from inflation to jobs. . . '
I think Ford was more flexible and would have handled 1979 stagflation better than Carter did. I view Carter basically as a conservative southern governor who didn't like to spend money, of course YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).
 
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Re-elect Jerry Ford in 1976. President and First Lady Ford supported the Equal Rights Amendment. In addition, Ford in office in the late '70s will slow and delay the rise of the ideologues in the Republican Party. And plus . . .


I think Ford was more flexible and would have handled 1979 stagflation better than Carter did. I view Carter basically as a conservative southern governor who didn't like to spend money, of course YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).

If anything, Ford's election IMO will make it *less* likely for the ERA to be ratified--at least immediately. Republicans moved to the right under Nixon and Ford, and would continue to move to the right if Ford won in 1976. The only difference is that there would (at least until 1979) be more of them in the state legislatures.

I don't know where you get the notion that Ford would have been less fiscally conservative than Carter. "The post-Watergate Congress swarmed with cocky, virtuous Democrats, but Mr Ford, an instinctive fiscal conservative, managed to veto most of the spending bills he disliked. He also refused—with a certain pleasure, it seemed at the time—to bail out the bankrupt Democratic city of New York..." http://www.economist.com/node/8486190 But I don't see what that has to do with the ERA anyway, whose progress had pretty much come to a halt after March 1975 (Indiana ratified in 1977 and then Nevada--in 2017.)
 
If anything, Ford's election IMO will make it *less* likely for the ERA to be ratified--at least immediately. Republicans moved to the right under Nixon and Ford, and would continue to move to the right if Ford won in 1976. The only difference is that there would (at least until 1979) be more of them in the state legislatures.
What if Ford wins in 1976 changing the fewest number of votes possible (meaning he wins the EC while losing the PV)? Then the Democrats will do better in 1978 than OTL (and much better in 1980); so now matter how far right the republicans move in the later 70's, it won't necessarily help if fewer of them are getting elected. In this kind of atmosphere, I can see more state legislatures deciding to ratify the amendment than did OTL.
 
Reverse Roe v. Wade

While it may seem odd to say so, the ruling divided feminism and women's rights activists into essentially two camps, pro-life and pro-choice, with abortion becoming a major wedge issue among women who might otherwise agree. In OTL, the movement of pro-life women against the ERA is a major part of what killed it.
 
If anything, Ford's election IMO will make it *less* likely for the ERA to be ratified--at least immediately. Republicans moved to the right under Nixon and Ford, and would continue to move to the right if Ford won in 1976. . .
I think we're looking at different sides of the elephant so to speak!

I will say as a generalization that extremists and ideologues become more vocal when their party is out of power. As an example, look at how vocal the radical right became during Clinton's first years in 1993 and '94. And the Tea Party's rise during Obama's first two years. Now, as a generalization, sure there's exceptions, and we could point to the rise of the Occupy Movement around ? 2012 (even though I view them as speaking truth to power and focusing on some pretty central and centrist issues, but that's me!)
 
What if Ford wins in 1976 changing the fewest number of votes possible (meaning he wins the EC while losing the PV)? Then the Democrats will do better in 1978 than OTL (and much better in 1980); . . .
Overall, Democrats stay home in mid-terms in greater numbers than Republicans do.

So, if Ford wins in '76, there will be a pro-Democratic effect in '78, just maybe not as big as we might immediately expect.
 
Honestly, either stop Schlafly or get the amendment exempting women from the draft/a watered down Hayden Amendment attached. That would blunt a lot of opposition.
 
I agree that the military draft, or the possibility thereof, was a big deal.

The irony being that during World War II, the US had seriously considered extending the draft to Women, specifically Nurses, when there was a shortfall in 1945. The UK actually did draft Women into general military support roles. There's a POD then, the US extends the draft to women during World War II, so "What if they draft Women" isn't some nightmare scenario to left and right, but something that actually happened and the world didn't end.
 
Thinking back on this -- if the ERA passes in the late 1970's, does that have any impact on the abortion debate as a matter of constitutional law? Specifically, I wonder if we see the legal opinion emerge that even if Roe v Wade were found to be wrongly decided, the explicit requirement for legal equality between the sexes precludes any legal restrictions on a persons body when said resriction can only be applicable to those with wombs.
 
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