Reader encourages women to vote

First, regardless of party, if one does not exercise their right, privilege and duty to vote in elections, they have no right to complain about the result.

Younger women should not take their hard-won personal rights for granted. I knew a woman, born about 1900, whose doctor took a professional risk by performing an "appendectomy," since she had several children, worked like a man in their family butcher business, and sterilization was illegal. Later it was permissible only for women beyond a specified age, with a specified number of children. Modern birth control methods were nonexistent. The party which would choose less control of corporate boardrooms, would again, it seems, demand more control in personal lives and bedrooms. That's just one Supreme Court appointment away.

My father, 1889-1974, proudly voted to give his older sisters, who had raised him, that same right to vote. We women, young and old, owe our hard-fighting foremothers and forefathers when women couldn't vote, to carry on and protect those hard fought for rights.

Regarding the Keystone Pipeline ballyhoo, to expedite border to border transportations of Canadian-owned Tar Sand product to tax-free international ports on the Gulf for exportation... no energy independence or lower fuel prices there.

Now, for those advocating smaller government and fewer taxes: government is the streets and highways on which you drive. Prefer foreign-owned toll roads? It's the park in which you recreate. Do you like the Discover Pass? It's the law enforcement in your community. In municipalities, it's the water in your tap. Paying taxes is not a punishment; it is compensation for all the services and privileges one tends to take for granted.

Finally, does the country need Ayn Rand's stark philosophy, coupled with Grover Norquistism, on heartbeat from the presidency?

Darlene E. Meyer

Ephrata