John Derbyshire, women’s suffrage, and more of what fascism looks like

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Via ThinkProgress, we learned yesterday on the Alan Colmes show that prominent conservative and National Review contributor John Derbyshire does not favor women having the right to vote:

DERBYSHIRE: Among the hopes that I do not realistically nurse is the hope that female suffrage will be repealed. But I’ll say this – if it were to be, I wouldn’t lose a minute’s sleep.

COLMES: We’d be a better country if women didn’t vote?

DERBYSHIRE: Probably. Don’t you think so?

COLMES: No, I do not think so whatsoever.

DERBYSHIRE: Come on Alan. Come clean here [laughing].

COLMES: We would be a better country? John Derbyshire making the statement, we would be a better country if women did not vote.

DERBYSHIRE: Yeah, probably.

via Think Progress » National Review’s John Derbyshire: Women Should Not Have The Right To Vote.

Here’s more evidence of a love of fascism among a prominent conservative who is not on the movement’s fringes. The issue here about why women shouldn’t vote is because they elect Democrats – 53% of the turnout in 2008 were women, and 56% of those women voted for President Obama. Restrict suffrage, and you produce a political outcome that is more favorable to conservatives. That’s the only rhyme or reason behind this idea. And in this case, conservatism is justified as a less selfish outcome that focuses on keeping American society strong. That’s fascism.

And if you think my comparison to fascism here is exaggerated, consider history. After all, Benito Mussolini also opposed letting Italian women vote, according to feminist scholar Margot Badran:

When Mussolini gave his welcoming address to the assembled suffragists he promised to allow “administrative suffrage” to “certain categories of women”. While half- heartedly tipping his hat to women suffrage, Mussolini also let slip that “women suffrage has caused a lot of problems in the countries where it was allowed.”