Thoreau & Stanton

“All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, playing with right or wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it.” Thoreau

        Voting is like a game because each person votes for the person they feel (morally) is right for the job. Their decisions are usually based on the candidate’s responses to their questions. The majority wins the election.

        I chose this passage of Thoreau’s because I see similarity of voting and games. Each candidate will tell us what we want to hear and gather votes. Then we make our decisions, hoping to outnumber the opposing candidates’ voters and win the election.

He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration. He closes against her all the avenues to wealth and distinction which he considers most honorable to himself. As a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known.- Stanton

Men obtain better paying jobs than women. The positions women are allowed to get are low waged. She is not allowed to have high-end professional careers, because men keep those positions for themselves.

I agree with this passage because there was a time when women were not allowed to learn, much less train for a well paying job. Mothers, house wives, maids, prostitutes and school teachers were our choices.