The Violence Against Women Act is Important

What about the last election was so hard to figure out for the GOP?
Women and minorities fled from them in large numbers.  One hypothesized reason that emerged in polling leading up to the election was that the GOP does not share values with American women.
 And they lost the election, by every measure.  Additionally, this past Congress had the lowest approval rating on modern record.
So, as one of their last acts, they fail to pass the VAWA--driven by the ever unpopular House GOP.
Is their distaste for women so overwhelming?
Can they not imagine women that they know are being raped and beaten?
Or do they just not think that it is improtant?
Violence has an effect that ripples through society and affects every man, woman, and child in it's path--there is no safe haven from rape and domestic violence.

One provision that the House GOP objected to was the ability to prosecute non-Native American men who rape women on tribal land.  The epidemic of violence against women on tribal lands is staggering; 34% of American Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped in their lifetimes, 39% will experience domestic violence, and as a Department of Justice study found, non-Indians commit 88% of these crimes. Tribal justice systems are the most appropriate entities to root out these criminals, yet they are the ones with tied hands—restricted by antiquated jurisdictional laws established the U.S. government limiting tribes from prosecuting non-Native criminals.

The proposed tribal provisions in VAWA, passed with bipartisan support in the Senate, were left out of the main House of Representatives version of VAWA. Some members of the House are afraid non-Natives will be subject to tribal law and not guaranteed their constitutional rights.

The reality is the tribal provisions of VAWA are fully constitutional and offer every safeguard provided by U.S. courts – more importantly they are vital to curtailing a very real problem.
In a recent letter to Congress, fifty leading U.S. law professors outlined their confidence in the constitutionality of the legislation. At the core of the letter, the lawyers highlighted the Supreme Court case law supporting Congressional authority and the requisite safe guards of the provisions offered to every defendant.

I am just furious about this--I am not over the anger that I felt during the election season--that women are second class citizens in the eyes of the GOP.  That they are not worthy of equal protection of the law.  For the fictionalized version of the effects of this tragedy, pick up Louise Erdrich's most recent book, "The Round House".