Chris Jepson: A new day for women

That the Orlando Sentinel endorsed Congressman John Mica didn’t particularly surprise me. I’ve subscribed to the Sentinel for over 30 years and consider its editorial page undeniably right of center. It took a Republican presidential candidate as egregious and offensive as Mr. Trump to convince the Sentinel powers-that-be that the paper’s endorsement of Don the Con would not only be bad for America but would unquestionably reflect poorly on them as thinking, rational journalists.

But the Sentinel’s endorsement of Mr. Mica begs the question of how is it Mr. Trump’s positions are too whacked-out for him to be elected president but John Mica as our local congressman is perfectly fine. As a matter of record and word, John Mica is essentially cut from the same whole cloth as Donald Trump. As is the entire Republican Party.

So many Republicans — today — are aghast (shocked!) that Donald Trump is the party’s presidential candidate. Donald Trump is “your” Republican Party. He received millions upon millions of Republican votes based on his racist, misogynist, and nativist jingoism. Trump offers simplistic answers to complex questions but only when he is able to string together a remotely coherent sentence.

Candidate John Mica hasn’t renounced Donald Trump. He endorses him. He stands by his party’s nominee. He embraces Trump’s sexist policies toward women. John Mica has so little faith in the women of Central Florida making intelligent reproductive decisions for themselves that he and his misogynistic Republican brethren repeatedly support legislation curtailing a woman’s right to own and control her own body.

I ask the women of Central Florida: is there any more fundamental issue to you (and your daughters and granddaughters) than that of “owning” your own body? Which would you give up last? Your body or your vote? It is that fundamental of an issue. Why then do you allow Republicans to put a “hold” on your uterus under the dubious claim that “father knows best?”

Congressman John Mica has a 0 percent voting record from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. This means that he has voted against women and reproductive health every single time. Mica would intrude on a woman’s (your) personal medical decisions by injecting his politics into the exam room. In 2013, John Mica voted no on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.

John Mica does not believe human activity is contributing to climate change. He does not support federal legislation to control greenhouse gases. Mica does not back government support for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal), yet predictably votes no on removing oil and gas exploration subsidies. How can that be? How do you rationally make such a determination? Is Mica looking out for future generations of Americans? Unequivocally no as, for example, he sees no justification for increasing environmental safeguards on fracking.

Mica doesn’t support same sex marriage or that gays and lesbians should be able to adopt children. John Mica does not support any gun-control legislation such as increased background checks or purchase “waiting periods.”

It has been astutely observed that while “Trump is dangerously unpredictable, Mica is dangerously predictable.”

Opposing John Mica is Democrat Stephanie Murphy, a Rollins College business professor and former Department of Defense analyst. I enthusiastically support her candidacy.

John Mica is a shop-worn remnant of the old boys’ club when misogyny was winked at as boys just being boys. His day is long over. Let’s awaken Nov. 9 to a new day for women. Vote Murphy. Vote Clinton.