76-11-2
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Equal Rights Amendment
TranscriptThe Equal Rights Amendment is beginning to look like an idea whose time may never come. The framers of our Constitution expected the amendment process to be used when there was broad public support for change. Right now, support for the Equal Rights Amendment seems to be going the other way. It is shrinking rather than growing and must tell us something about the merits of the document itself. In its first year, 1972, the Amendment had been ratified by 22 states. Eight more ratified the next year and three more in 1974. But now, three years later, it looks as if 1977 will pass into history with the Equal Rights Amendment still two or three states short of the 38 needed for ratification. If it hasn't gotten them by 1979, the whole issue lapses into the history books. I think it should. The other day I looked back over some of my radio commentaries from year-before-last, including one expressing my reservations about the Equal Rights Amendment. I find that those reservations haven't changed. I noted then that there is nothing in the Constitution that says that women are unequal. Congress and the states can, and do, legislate to correct specific inequities in jobs, housing and so forth. The Equal Rights Amendment would lock into the Constitution matters which should be left to legislative bodies to determine. There are plenty of questions about what the Amendment would and wouldn't do if it were to become law. Would it involve wholesale conscription of women in time of war? Would it require women to serve alongside men in combat? Would it wipe out laws that were passed especially to make sure that women were not put upon by men? Divorce laws; child support laws; laws protecting women from being forced to work long hours at hard physical labor? We can't say for sure, and that is one of the major flaws of the Equal Rights Amendment. It is just vague enough that it will almost certainly end up in the courts. The judges will then become legislators, designing its impact by their ruling from the bench. Bureaucrats will do the rest. Isn't it time we had a little less distortion of our federal system from the courts and the bureaucrats rather than inviting more by ratifying this well-meaning but poorly thought out Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution? You can usually tell when an issue is failing by the shrillness of its supporters. The tougher the sledding for the Amendment, the more desperate its more militant supporters have become. Recently, the Washington STAR ran a column by one of its writers that was nothing more than an ad with instructions on where to write and who to call to push for support of the Equal Rights Amendment. President Carter, the First Lady and assorted aides warmed up the telephone lines trying to arm-twist a number of state legislators into voting for ratification -- with little success . A documentary on ABC television described opponents as "ultra-conservatives", "far rightists" and "Communists". If you don't have a good argument, you can always call the other guy names. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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