When President Barack Obama became the first African-American president, I was overjoyed for many reasons, especially that he would be able to appoint Supreme Court justices to the bench. Little did I know it would be two women, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, who would play a critical role in passing a health law that will benefit all Americans with a 5-to-4 vote. Although Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was thought to be the deciding vote for passage, it was the two female justices selected by Obama who secured the law.
Women have never been a majority on the Supreme Court, and yet their qualifications have outstripped any male who would qualify for the position. I believe that women have a special place in government that could give democracy its greatest hour. Following are some quotes about the character of women written by legendary men and women.
“The errors of women spring, almost always, from their faith in the good or their confidence in the true.” Honore de Balzac (1799-1850), French novelist
“Women–last at the cross and earliest at the grave.” Eaton Stannard Barrett (1786-1820), Irish poet
“The future of society is in the hands of mothers: If the world was lost through woman, she alone can save it.” Louis de Beaufort (1703-1795), Dutch historian
“It is reputed that quite a number of women have had consciences.” James Branch Cabell (1879-1958), American novelist and essayist
“The deepest tenderness a woman can show to a man is to help him to do his duty.” Dinah Maria Mulock Craik (1826-1887), English novelist
“The test of civilization is the estimate of woman.” George William Curtis (1824-1892), American author and lecturer
“It has been women who have breathed gentleness and care into the harsh progress of mankind.” Elizabeth II (1926-), queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
“Men have sight; women insight.” Victor Marie Hugo (1802-1885), French author
“In all societies, women have played a much more important role than their menfolk are generally ready to admit.” Ashley Montague (1905-), American anthropologist and social biologist
“All the reasoning of men are not worth one sentiment of women.” Voltaire (1694-1778), French author
“Woman reduces us all to a common denominator.” George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), British playwright, author and critic
“A women’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty.” Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), English author
“Woman is like the reed which bends to every breeze but breaks not in the tempest.” Richard Whately (1787-1863), English logician and theologian
I am sure that after reading these quotes, you will be satisfied that the passage of the health bill will benefit all man- and womankind.