Dems Resort to Violence Against Women Act, Again

Democrats have so enjoyed the Sandra Fluke saga that they are trotting out another wedge issue to illustrate the supposed Republican War on Women. Sen. Charles Schumer will be invoking the Violence Against Women Act as an example of how much Dems care for those of us inclined to the vapors.

Take this from the perspective of someone who has represented dozens of victims of domestic violence:  we do not need a Violence Against Women Act. That statute was Joe Biden's mash note to the feminist lobby.  It is unnecessary and wasteful.

To be sure, domestic violence is horrific.  I have represented clients who have been kicked in the stomach while eight months pregnant, strangled until they passed out, thrown down stair cases and subjected to death threats.  There is no question that a just society must apprehend and punish those who engage in such violence, where it can be proven.

Most of my domestic violence clients have been women.  Most, but not all. Yet what makes such conduct reprehensible, however, is not that it is directed against women; it is equally wrong to strangle a man until he passes out.  It is the nature of the act, not the gender of the victim, that warrants judicial intervention.

Nor is this a federal problem.  The Constitution vests the states with the police power. This is not a problem that implicates interstate commerce; there is no constitutional basis for the federalization of crimes involving violence against women (or against men, for that matter).

Women, like men, need jobs.  Women, like men, need to be able to fill their cars for less than $ 100 a tank.  The commonality in all of my domestic violence cases has been poverty.  The stress that it places on relationships and families causes untold tragedy.  That's why we need a president who can restore the economy to one that gives Americans a realistic prospect that the future can be better.

Democrats want to talk about the Violence Against Women Act to deflect the damage that they have done families through their mishandling of our economy.  It is a ruse that women should reject.