Myrtle Beach, SC, Orlando, FL August 20, 2015 

Gastonia, NC Correspondent-So the question this week is one that any heterosexual man fears to answer, lest he displease the object of his affections or even the potential object of his affections.

However, as I am unencumbered by any romantic entanglements at the moment and, by dint of a combination of irascible temperament and unhandsome exterior unlikely to find myself paired up anytime in the foreseeable future, I shall throw myself upon the grenade.

No, there is not a “war on women,” and the people claiming one exists are little more than Chicken Littles warning that we’re about to be clouted by chunks of falling firmament.  A war requires organization and a chain of command, and thus far the hardcore chauvinists doing their level best to lay steel girders to brace the glass ceilings in boardrooms across the country have proven they don’t have the brains to successfully pull off anything more devious than a surprise birthday party.

Is there discrimination against women in the workplace? Undoubtedly.  The wage figures tell the tale, and the deluded neo-con “thinkers” who claim that women would be much happier if they resumed their “traditional” roles as homemakers should be force-fed a gingham apron.  Women have made tremendous inroads into the C-suite in the last 20 years, but in a lot of corporations the appointment of token women to high-ranking positions is so obvious it’s almost laughable.

In society, there’s the usual barrage of wolf-whistling jackasses, butt-pinching Neanderthals and other lowbrow types who give us decent-but-homely guys a bad name.  The recent documentaries shot by women walking the streets in major cities chronicling the overtures made to them by men of every race and professional standing are nothing if not sobering.

But none of this is a war. If it were a war, the women would be winning. Let’s face it, guys, they organize FAR better than we do, and they’d overrun our forward bases by attacking on Sunday while we were watching football.

The discrimination is real, but it’s not a war.

Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent-The “War on Women” is a manufactured ploy of the Democrat party and has been made a part of their ongoing political platform from its initiation.   Blame for the so-called war on women’s rights has been placed on the Republican party for its stance with legislative issues and actions concerning women’s health, reproductive rights (public funding of birth control and abortion,) criminal violence prosecutions (rapes), workplace discrimination, gender pay gaps and same sex marriage.

If there is a real war on women, it is driven by the Democrats and the media frenzy that has developed around it.  The war is based on false pretenses as Democrats have fully ignored the true problems surrounding women’s issues.  As in all liberal Democrat actions, control is the name of the game and women’s rights are certainly not exempt, particularly when they can be used as distractions for political maneuvering.  The thought of allowing women to merely think for themselves and remain independent is repugnant to liberal Democrats, and if enough goodies are dangled in front of unsuspecting women, such as government sponsored birth control, abortion upon demand, discriminatory and criminal lawsuit support, welfare programs and other social issue perks, Democrats believe they have the upper hand over women in both terms of future votes and the art of victimhood characterization,  in which to them every woman requires rescue through a new policy and taxpayer funded program.

Everyday women have suffered from the propaganda of the left and have viewed the hypocrisy of progressive liberal policies through its contradictions.  For example, female staffers in the Obama White House receive considerably less pay (18 percent) than that of their male counterparts.  Also, many women are not accepting of the idea that taxpayers are forced to pay for contraceptives and abortions, and the unsafe administration of such treatments, and view the entire process as an affront to religious freedom.  Women’s intelligence has been insulted by the whole idea that they are not allowed to resolve their own issues and that government policies have been allowed to ride roughshod over their lives.  “As indicated in a recent Rasmussen poll, 52% of women surveyed stated that they believe the “War on Women” slogan is primarily used for political purposes” rather than for the betterment of women in general.

Both young and mature women are faced with far more than reproductive rights issues.  Through a liberal progressive administration that wants to redistribute wealth, women have seen an extreme drop in labor force participation along with higher fuel, utility and food costs, property tax increases and declining incomes for those still in the workforce, not to mention the number of women who are abused and under threat of life, which is never addressed in the War on Women platform.  These are the critical points that are more a war on women than anything else manufactured by progressive leftists.

Democrats will continue to intertwine their political message with the War on Women rhetoric, and they will ignore the real problems of women in America who suffer from issues other than government controlled birth control, abortion and thinly veiled domestic issues.  Democrats will also continue to avoid the true and horrific War on Women that occurs on a daily basis  throughout the world, particularly for women in the Middle East and other Third World areas suffering from unspeakable treatment, slavery,  sexual bondage, religious restrictions, and inherent and deadly dangers.

The phony War on Women will continue to be a political tool and the real war will remain unresolved until both Democrats and Republicans allow women to resolve their own issues in a common sense, ethical and moral manner.  This War cannot be allowed to remain a distracting political factor when women in America and the world are permitted to suffer horrendous violations under humiliating and unbearable conditions.

Asheville, NC Correspondent-War metaphors are among the silliest things we use in political discourse.  Lyndon B. Johnson declared “war on poverty” in 1964 as a way of rallying support for a variety of anti-poverty programs.  Richard Nixon announced a “War on Drugs,” by declaring drug abuse “public enemy number one.” He followed that move with a “ War on Crime,” and a “War on Pollution.”  Most recently, George W. Bush declared a “War on Terror” that resulted in two disastrous wars and a serious curtailing of civil liberties. The idea behind this rhetoric is, presumably, that the full force and measure of government policy will be deployed to crush whatever the object of the war is. In this sense, there is no “War on Women.” In the sense that a group of policies that are doomed to failure are given a frightening name, perhaps there can be said to be one.

Make no mistake, women are targeted, often unfairly, by a set of policies which restrict access to reproductive health care, block attempts to close the wage gap, or blame women for being victims of rape, among other things. To call these policies a “war” is to vastly overstate both the organization and effectiveness of these efforts. There are certainly vocal misogynists seeking elected office, but they’re far from organized.

Moreover, calling this effort a “war” reduces the chances for effective dialog. Opposite sides of a war have nothing to talk about. The only way to resolve their differences is by fighting. Hateful misogyny, on the other hand, is a mindset. Mindsets can be changed with evidence, discussion, and empathy. These things have no place in a war, but they do have a clear place in American political discourse.