We Will Not Forget HER Words #RBG

Today is difficult for so many people, particularly women as we have lost one of our great champions Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

It is hard for many to remember the Clinton administration. A time of many positives. When we tackled real issues such as people spending a lifetime on welfare. A time when the technology industry created thousands of high-paying jobs.

But what many forget is that Clinton made important changes for women. First, he extended the amount of time women could be in the hospital after giving birth. I was under the old requirement and had only one day in the hospital. My mother was appalled as I was not ready to go home and was so lucky she was there to care of me.

I don’t think we realized at the time the significance of Clinton’s appointment of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court. We didn’t know a lot about this petite woman who would become the gold standard of Supreme Court justices. With her on the bench, we did not have to constantly worry about the loss of our reproductive rights. We knew our daughters would be safe in case of an ectopic pregnancy as they could have a life-saving abortion. As importantly, we had someone who never stopped fighting for women to have equal pay for equal work.

I knew Justice Ginsburg was ill but I did not realize we could be in the situation to lose this remarkable woman while Trump was still in office. Ginsburg tried to stop having a justice appointed before the election to replace her with her posthumous note. I believe her words should be honored. But we now have an administration with no ethics and whose word cannot be trusted. McConnell stole an appointment for Justice Gorsuch. And we know that Trump will nominate a justice worse than Kavanaugh who has no trouble lying to the American people about his support of established precedence such as Roe v Wade just as he lied about sexually assaulting a woman.

It is so sad that lying and appointing white men for high-level positions with no experience other than writing big campaign checking has become the norm in Trump’s Washington but I am here to say that things can change! We can recreate a world like we had during the Clinton administration. A different President can re-establish norms that make lying a punishable offense. We can pass laws to protect women. And we can expand the Court and add more justices that are like RBG (there is no set number for justices on the Court in the U.S. Constitution).

What does it take to have this nirvana? Believe it or not it’s pretty simple. Vote. It’s your right and responsibility as an American. It is the greatest way to honor what Ruth Bader Ginsburg worked tirelessly to do. I know we are living in a world that is bleak but we can bring out the light again. Write your Congressmen and Senator and demand that there be no vote on RGB’s replacement until a new President is in place as McConnell demanded. And vote whether in advance (vote by mail is perfectly safe) or on election day. Honor Justice Ginsburg by being an active American.