Jeb Bush stands by comments that single mothers should be publicly shamed - Toronto Political Buzz | Examiner.com

Jeb Bush stands by comments that single mothers should be publicly shamed - Toronto Political Buzz | Examiner.com



In the United States of America, Presidential hopeful Jeb Bush believes the “Scarlet Letter” era should be reinstated. A book about the Presidential hopeful was discovered by the Huffington Post this week. The National Post reported June 11 that in a chapter titled “The Restoration of Shame,” Jeb Bush believes in,

In this chapter Jeb Bush also says that the reason his state, Florida, is so morally bankrupt is because Florida doesn’t do this enough. And yet, from the other side of his mouth in other arguments, Jeb Bush will call countries that stone women accused of adultery a terrorist country. And, since, the United States Census reports that there are more women than men in America, that may pose a problem at Bush’s attempts to get into the Oval Office.

It already is, and it possibly even already has. When Jeb Bush ran for Governor of Florida the first time in 1994, he made some comments that may have resulted in his loss. It was not long after those 1994 comments that Jeb authored “Profiles of Character.” It is this book that includes a chapter titled “The Restoration of Shame” where Bush argues that the solution to curbing pregnancies outside a marriage would be to publicly shame the people found “guilty” of such morally bankrupt acts.

In Bush’s 1995 opinion, he felt that a lack of this practice is the reason Florida suffers from moral bankruptcy. This of course allows Bush to walk right into one of his favorite conversations, the cutting of entitlement programs. The Bush mindset here is, if instead of offering assistance to these mothers in need we publicly shamed them, America would be a better place. In his book Bush writes, “There was a time when neighbors and communities would frown on out of wedlock births and when public condemnation was enough of a stimulus for one to be careful.”

Bush is only considering one half of the equation here. He is blaming mothers for this situation in society. But it takes two to make a baby. Perhaps Florida wouldn’t be so morally bankrupt if deadbeat fathers were publicly shamed after being told to find a job.

The “perfect world” and the “time” that Bush is pointing to in his argument is the time of “The Scarlet Letter,” a book penned when women weren’t permitted to wear pants, much like the GOP platform. Bush even points to this novel as his inspiration of the perfect world, by completely and likely intentionally misinterpreting the literary significance of “The Scarlet Letter.” Hawthorne wrote “The Scarlet Letter” to make the point that women in fact should not be publicly shamed.

It’s possible Mr. Bush missed that day in literature class at private school. In 1995 he took a different message from the book, and it’s not likely his opinion has changed much. He wrote,

    “Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter [is a] reminder that public condemnation of irresponsible sexual behavior has strong historical roots.”

That wouldn’t be the first time Bush endorsed public shaming of women or wildly misinterpreted a social message. In 2003 he supported legislation that required mothers out of wedlock to publicly inform their sexual history before they could be permitted to adopt out their children. And he didn’t just want these unwed mothers to quietly do so in the privacy of a public health room with practitioners present. He wanted them to have to put their information on their sexual histories in the local newspaper.

Never mind that adoption is most successful under confidentiality. Never mind that it takes two people to create the life of an unwed mother. At least never mind all of these things to Jeb Bush, it seems.

Bush slamming single women, and notably single mothers, everywhere is a pervasive pattern. Books could actually be written chronicling his comments and books against women. Another prize winning moment for him was when he told Florida women to “find a husband.”

According to CNN June 11, when Jeb Bush was running for Governor the first time in 1994, he told single women everywhere that entitlements like welfare should be replaced with things like, husbands. Apparently Florida didn’t like hearing that “find a husband” was the order from the government to women needing assistance. He lost that race, wonder why.

    “If people are mentally and physically able to work, they should be able to do so within a two-year period. They should be able to get their life together and find a husband, find a job, find other alternatives in terms of private charity or a combination of all three.”

We know where Bush stands with the gay community. So the “people” in America that he wants to find “husbands” are clearly women. He wants them to find husbands and be the workhouses. What about the fathers of America who tote around canes that they don’t need so they can keep collecting their disability checks?

Is there a standardized test Bush is offering to all “people” who create children that determines if they are “mentally and physically” able to work within two years? Or does he have one just for women? And is it a standardized decision for all of these women, or is it just the opinion of someone in a suit?

Mothers of children created out of wedlock are not the only ones that need to find a job. But Bush never stops blaming the single mother. Maybe someone in his office needs to show him how many single mothers there are in America. But it looks like he doesn’t really want the vote of more than half of America at all.

It doesn’t even look like he understands America at all. Bush also believes if children suffer in these out of wedlock situations, it’s mom’s fault. Never mind the men sitting on couches at home beside canes that they don’t really need. If the children have limited options, it’s because mom didn’t do enough.

This is the message Jeb Bush sent in a conference this past Thursday. CNN reports that when criticized for these comments in the European press on Thursday, Bush responded trying to make the point that his opinions are “for the children.” He said,

    “From the perspective of children it’s a huge challenge for single moms and it hurts the prospects, it limits the ability of children to live lives with purpose and meaning.”

Blaming single mothers for the entitlement problem is one of Bush’s favorite things to do. Another time he did so was during a 1994 September press conference during election season where he offered his favorite solutions to entitlement programs.

    “How you get on welfare is by not having a husband in the house. Let’s be honest here.”

Let’s be honest here, Mr. Bush. Those facts don’t hold up. According to a CNS News report last year, United States Census Bureau data from 2012 shows over 109 million Americans were on welfare of some sort. That is just over one-third of the country, and yes that is a lot.

But, if Bush wants honesty, they weren’t all women. And, in fact, women weren’t even most of the welfare recipients. According to the same census, only 22 million were women. So, even if all of those women “found husbands” there would still be significant entitlement costs. This week, when discussion of his book “Profiles in Character” came out, that didn’t make Bush look all that great, he stood by his comments.

In other words, it takes real character to publicly shame a woman for her morally bankrupt choices, according to Jeb Bush. He also believes that not having a father is wreaking havoc on the children of America. He also said,

    “For young girls, there is a correlate effect of fatherlessness that can be measured by sexual activity and the rate of out of wedlock childbearing. Studies have shown that girls who grow up without fathers run a greater risk not only of adolescent childbearing but out of divorce as well.”

If public shaming is the answer, shouldn’t all parents who fail their children, as Bush puts it, be publicly shamed? Would it not be fair to also publicly shame the fathers of the world who are leaving their sons and daughters fatherless by evading gainful employment to stay on welfare?

This is a real opening for the Democrats to continue strengthening the women’s vote. The women’s vote is not the only critical one however. The single vote is an ever growing population in America, making it a very large demographic. According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2013 there were 105 million Americans that were over the age of 18, voting age, that were single.

53% of them were women. That’s over 50 million votes Mr. Bush may have just lost. That also means that 47% of them were men. That’s less than 50 million people that Mr. Bush is also not even considering in his argument.

What about those 49 million men? Did it ever occur to Mr. Bush that the reason so many women in America are working so hard and need assistance is because 47% of the population might be a deadbeat? When Mr. Bush is telling women to “find a husband”, what is he saying to the men? Since there are more men on welfare than women, shouldn’t he then be arguing to them, “Find a job!”

Why does Jeb Bush think it’s just the women’s faults? Some single mothers in America are lucky enough to have working fathers that are plugged in, pitching in and doing their part. But, if all of these mothers out of wedlock were that lucky, maybe America wouldn’t need such large entitlement budgets at all.

The numbers suggest this line of thinking could be problematic for Jeb’s eye for the Oval Office. There are more women than men that will be voting. And, there are more single women than single men that will be voting. Bush is very slowly losing those millions of votes.

Not only that, but knowing that there are more men on entitlement programs than women isn’t going to fare well for Bush either. Those men aren’t going to want their entitlement programs cut any more than the mothers of their babies want to be publicly shamed.

It’s a point that former Texas Senator, Democrat, and single mother Wendy Davis makes in the video seen here in response to Bush’s controversial comments. She concurs with the public response to Bush’s outrageous claims, Bush doesn’t get it.