Dear Friend and Reader:
Today is Election Day in the United States, what is called a midterm election — that is, a non-presidential year. I am reading that this campaign cycle broke all records for spending in a midterm, thanks mainly to the Citizens’ United decision of 2010. Just about everyone is reporting that Republicans are confident they are going to take over the Senate and gain seats in the House of Representatives.
That is astonishing. It can happen for two reasons — Americans have political amnesia, and Americans tend to vote against rather than vote for.
I have become a one-issue voter: who controls the uterus. Though I usually take a more complex view of the world and of politics, this is my perspective. To me there is no issue more important that is worth voting about.
Neither Democrats nor Republicans will put Wall Street criminals into jail, so far as we’ve seen. All those people seem to be addicted to starting wars. It seems impossible to differentiate most federal elected officials on these issues.
My personal value is to be extremely careful where pregnancy is a possible outcome of sex. I would probably never be involved in an abortion and never have been. Yet I cringe at the idea that anyone would want not only to ban the right to abortion, but also to ban sex education and birth control that might make pregnancy itself a choice. That is the insane mashup we are dealing with.
Does anyone remember the Equal Rights Amendment? This was a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The text was written in 1923 by two women, Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman. The last ratification deadline passed in June 1982. The text read simply, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” You might think that such language would be seen for its practical value, and accepted on common sense grounds.
For a number of reasons, particularly a smear campaign waged by conservative women fighting for “family values,” the amendment did not get through the states, and was never ratified. It is now an artifact in the Museum of Gender History. All we have left on the constitutional level is the right of women to control their bodies — what you might think of as the ultimate property right. And over the past few months, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent to deny that basic autonomy.
So, I am a one-issue voter. I like my congressman. He’s a friendly, helpful guy — and he’s repeatedly voted to defund Planned Parenthood. That one issue will determine my vote.
The astrology this week is about anger and change. Mars in Capricorn is about to make a conjunction to Pluto and a square to Uranus — yet another activation of the Uranus-Pluto square. This is firing up the deconstruction process indicated by Pluto in Capricorn, and Mars square Uranus illustrates fiery, militant rage — not usually the kind that gets positive results.
What we’ve been seeing in the political spheres with the Uranus-Pluto square is that it’s mainly inflamed the Anti-Sixties crowd, the political forces that want to roll back everything ever accomplished by a Democratic president (and by Teddy Roosevelt, Abe Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson for good measure — you can never be too careful).
This has been a real astrology lesson, I’ll tell you that. We have a lot of new information for the Uranus-Pluto files. The thing to remember is that the Uranus-Pluto square is far from over. It has its last two contacts out of seven yet to come (the last is in March) and the separating phase will reveal plenty.
Here is a fast roundup of what is available for you today on Planet Waves. First, we have the Moonshine horoscope by Len Wallick. That covers Thursday’s Taurus Full Moon. Next we have a special edition of Planet Waves FM, from my recent appearance on Beyond the Ordinary Show, hosted by John Burgos.
Thanks for tuning in.
Lovingly,
