This week marks one year since the Dobbs decision, which brought an end to 50 years in which women had the Constitutional right to an abortion as granted by the Roe v. Wade decision. One NJ7 acknowledged this devastating day at the FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS brunch, featuring three women fighting in the trenches for reproductive freedom: Sue Altman (Democratic Candidate, New Jersey's 7th Congressional District). Jill Lazare (Acting President, NOW, New Jersey); and Elizabeth Talmont (Chief Project Officer, Planned Parenthood - Northern, Central, Southern New Jersey).
Over 50 people turned up for the event. The speakers were terrific; and the audience was engaged.Take a look for yourself!
As we detailed in our previous blog, Congressman Tom Kean, Jr. equates “pro choice” with a 20-week abortion ban. His NJ Senate voting record confirms that he is a member of the vast legion of (mostly) male legislators who have worked to restrict women’s rights. The Guardian featured the 1,292 Republican male lawmakers and governors who—just during the past year—voted to pass abortion bans either at conception or after six weeks, before most women even know they are pregnant. They were joined by 214 Republican women, and, shockingly, 53 Democratic men and 11 Democratic women. When abortion rights are at risk or rolled back anywhere, they’re at risk everywhere—don’t think it can't happen here. We must hold every one of our legislators accountable in the fight to protect a woman’s right to make a personal and private choice about her own body.
Kean’s votes reveal just how aligned he is with the Trump wing of the Republican Party. Time and again, he joins them in their efforts to undermine democracy: insisting with the rest of his party that the Trump campaign didn’t work with the Russians; that Adam Schiff “misled the public” over Trump’s call asking for a “favor” from Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky; and that Schiff, as former chair of the Intelligence Committee, must be censured “for misleading the American public and for conduct unbecoming of an elected Member of the House of Representatives.” This happened just after Trump went on social media to call for primary challengers against any Republican who voted against the censure. Almost every elected Republican—including our Congressman—fell into line.
The GOP is desperate to retain NJ7 in the 2024 election to sustain their fragile majority. In a nod to that desperation, Speaker Kevin McCarthy was scheduled to come to bucolic Warren, NJ, for a “Kean Victory Fundraiser.” He and Kean never made it because of “bad weather,” but a little rain did not deter OneNJ7 supporters turning out with the billboard truck, highlighting Kean’s connections to the extreme right wing of his party, and bringing a mention and a clip of Maggie Savoca on WPIX.
Did McCarthy plan to speak to the Republican Steering Committee plans for structural changes to Social Security and Medicare? Under the RSC blueprint, Medicare would be transformed to include a subsidized, privatized option. A range of changes to Social Security—including means-testing—are proposed. Of course, Republicans refuse to consider tax increases to help shore up these vital programs.
Kean and his GOP colleagues are practicing politics as performance art—symbolic votes on issues that do nothing to move the country forward. What Trump, McCarthy and Kean refuse to focus on are the issues on which a majority of Americans are in agreement. That big corporations are TOO big. That monopolies must be broken. That corporate welfare must end. That corporate corruption of our democracy must stop.
Further, no one who works full time should be in poverty—unable to afford food, clothing, or housing for themselves or their families. The minimum wage should be a living wage. Every family deserves affordable health insurance and paid sick leave. College education should be affordable. Billionaires must pay their fair share of taxes. The climate crisis is real, and it’s caused by humans.
These ideas are no longer “progressive” or “left.” They’ve gone mainstream. Over 70 percent of Americans—including many self-described Republicans—agree with them.
Congressman Kean needs to get on board with what his constituents—and the American public—want, or make way for someone who will.
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