1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Greetings. I am a voting constituent in rural west Texas. MOSCOW — Vladimir Putin, who has long cultivated an aura of machismo as Russia’s strongman leader, is enlisting women to grow Russia’s population through childbirth and to rebuild his nation as a great power steeped in traditional family values — a campaign that is eroding equal rights and protections, human rights advocates and Russian feminists say. “Many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had seven or eight children, and maybe even more,” Putin declared to an audience of ultraconservative religious and political figures who had convened in the State Kremlin Palace in November. “We should preserve and revive these wonderful traditions.” Putin, who spoke by video link from his office in Sochi in southern Russia, appeared on a massive screen flanked by two images of the “Icon of the Savior, Made-Without-Hands,” suggesting godlike status as he urged Russian women to give birth to very large families. Russian officials, echoing their leader, are telling women to start young — at 18.” WaPo 7/30/24 Ahhhhh it all becomes clear why the current drive by certain GOP candidates and MAGA mouthpieces to gin American women up to become brood mares…if it’s good for Russia it’s good for America. It’s disconcerting how easily, how quickly, how simply a major American political party can be co-opted by the concerted efforts of a good propaganda machine. And not even realize it’s happening. Or perhaps not care. How did it come to this? P.S. check the current climate amongst American women. We are not particularly happy with the men who have taken our bodily autonomy away. Even with overturning Roe v Wade, best hold off on the more-babies-for-country concept.