Who is still Voting for Kasich? And Why? OR Kasich, the Contradictions and the Campaign Continue

John Kasich, current Republican Governor of Ohio, is still campaigning for the Presidency. He has somehow convinced himself and those in his immediate circle of staffers that there remains a plausible as well as possible way to the White House. Reliance on the remote possibility of a brokered convention is not a political strategy of any merit or substance. In fact, the argument can be made that such poorly spun strategy disenfranchises or at least marginalizes those who fall victim to this unique form of folie a deux, so often seen between conservatives and their candidate. The campaign continues more for the hubris of said candidate than to effect change or influence the national conversation. Kasich's campaign calculus is rooted in fiction much more than it is in fact. This scenario then begs the question--Who is still voting for him? And why is anyone, irrespective of party affiliation, supporting his campaign?
Kasich is against paid maternity leave; opposes the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); opposes equal pay for equal work; and is governor of a state which has yet to pass into law any legislation against female genital mutilation (FGM). And arguably the most nonsensical, contradictory part of this candidate's composite is that he is father to twin daughters.
Recent studies show that less than one-third of working women in the United States are employed by companies that offer paid maternity leave. In addition, 40 percent of the Nation's labor force remains ineligible for the paid leave mandated by the Family and Medical Leave Act. Consequently, women who are either the sole or primary wage earners for their family have a vastly reduced or completely evaporated income should they become pregnant and take leave to deliver. When Kasich was in Congress, he voted against the FMLA not once but twice. Apparently, Governor and Candidate Kasich is either too arrogant or too inept or a combination thereof to ever imagine either of his daughters being single mothers or working mothers or mothers. Because if he did, the following series of sentences would never have been spoken in response to a reporter's question regarding paid maternity leave: The one thing we need to do for working women is to give them the flexibility to be able to work at home online...The reason why that's important is when women take maternity leave or time to be with children, then what happens is they fall behind on the experience level, which means that the pay becomes a differential. Besides the fact that his response is barely coherent and makes absolutely no sense either economically or sociologically, somebody keeps voting for this man and electing him to office. And even more frightening is the fact that in the US, Kasich is considered an educated man. An educated man votes against legislation that could only benefit his daughters, their future children, their future families? An educated man believes that his daughters deserve to earn less than a man for the same work? An educated man does not see female genital mutilation as a human rights violation?
Again, Governor Kasich does not support equal pay for equal work, nor does he support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This is demonstrated by the gender-based disparity in pay among those employed by his campaign. For example, the average salary for a woman employed by the Kasich presidential campaign is $55,300, with a  median salary of $44,900; while the average pay for a man employed by his campaign is $60,700 with a median salary of $60,000. Of the ten highest paid Kasich campaign employees, nine are men.
Only 23 states in the US have specific laws against female genital mutilation, despite the remote and recent passage of Federal legislation proscribing the practice. Ohio, the state to which Kasich is governor, does not have legislation prohibiting FGM practices nor does it have legislation prohibiting parents, grandparents, legal guardians, from taking girls out of the country for the purposes of female genital mutilation. The World Health Organization recognizes four types of FGM: Clitoridectomy, total or partial removal of the clitoris or prepuce; Infibulation, the most radical form of FGM in which there is removal of all external genitalia and the vulva is stitched closed; Excision, partial or complete removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without concurrent removal of the labia majora; Other, all other procedures, practices done to female genitalia for a nonmedical purpose.
FGM is performed for several reasons: to control a woman's sexuality, i.e. maintain virginity before marriage and fidelity during; to increase a girl's eligibility/attractiveness for a marriage match and ultimately make her more accepted within her ethnic/religious community; and as a traditional rite of passage. According to a January 2016 survey conducted by the US Department of Health and Human Services, more than half a million women in the US have either been subject to FGM or are at risk for an FGM procedure. Internationally, female genital mutilation is recognized as a form of torture and extreme violence against women and girls, and is a human rights violation. It is performed without benefit of anesthesia, anesthetic or analgesia; it can and often does cause sepsis, infection, incontinence, miscarriage, hemorrhage, as well as birth and pregnancy complications. It is also a cause of neonatal and maternal death.
Maybe, Governor/Candidate Kasich doesn't believe that Republican girls have these parts and could never be caught in a scenario where they or their daughters could fall victim to FGM. As a physician, I feel compelled to inform Mr. Kasich that Republican girls, in fact all biological and some not so biological girls, are endowed with this anatomy and can be subject to FGM if not granted legislative protection. In Ohio, according to the Population Reference Bureau, 24,320 women and girls are at risk for FGM; 12,079 are under the age of 18 years, while 12,241 are older than the age of 18 years.
In fact, women are vulnerable to all sorts of equal rights violations and indignities when legislation is not put into place to offer protection and deterrence. By choosing to exclude women from such considerations as equal pay, paid maternity leave and protection from female genital mutilation Kasich squarely disqualifies himself from consideration for President of the United States, as he does not feel an obligation to advocate for more than 52 percent of the population, women--a special interest group to which three members of his immediate family belong.

Please reference: law.cornell.edu, equalitynow.org, theslot.jezebel.com, dispatch.com. npr.org, prb.org

A Kasich Victory in Ohio! What were they thinking!?

This evening's projected Kasich victory in Ohio is more than unbelievable; it stands as a testament to the continued disintegration of what was once a Jeffersonian democracy.
Irrespective of one's party affiliation--whether one is Democrat or Republican--it is near impossible to ignore the systemic damage a Kasich Governorship has wreaked upon the state of Ohio. Consequently, logic stands defied when Ohio voters use their collective electoral support to further the political ambitions of a Republican who boldly stands against the very cornerstone of a free society--a free and public education. The state's public school system has been left for dead in the wake of Republican corporate interests and their related business affiliations such as Imagine Schools--one of the country's largest for-profit charter school management and over-sight companies. As Governor of Ohio, Kasich lifted the cap on the number of charter schools allowed to operate within the state, opening the door to corporate entities like Imagine Schools; corporate entities which were then placed in a position to usurp public school funding, leaving inner city school systems (i.e. Youngstown, OH) to be taken over by the state. This brand of private corporate encroachment upon public schools assigns CEO's in place of School superintendents and defaults curriculum decisions to what is essentially a corporate boardroom.
Consider the following: In Ohio the public school system educates more than 90 percent of school-age children; under the Kasich administration, more than $515 million in state funding has been removed from the budget of Ohio public schools. Charter school funding, under Kasich, has grown by more than 27 percent--in fact, more funds are spent on charter schools than on the entire public school system in Ohio. Which is curious when one realizes that nearly 25 percent of charter school funding goes to underperforming or poorly-rated charter schools operated by David Brennan and William Lager. Brennan and Lager, collectively have contributed in excess of $5.4million to Republican political candidates and Republican causes. (please reference innovationOhio.org as well as cnn.com, breitbart.com, washingtonpost.com and Mother Jones.)
In addition, John Kasich counts the likes of George Soros' Soros Fund Management as a major campaign contributor. (again, please reference cnn.com, breitbart.com, washingtonpost.com) Kasich, similar to Soros, espouses an open border policy for the US in addition to blanket amnesty for all illegal and/or undocumented individuals. No vetting. No follow-up. No close looks. No second looks. Simple universally applied amnesty with an open border. Kasich does a fantastic job of couching or even insinuating his true agenda amongst Golden Rule-type references while fondly repeating such phrases as ,"I will not take the low road in pursuit of the highest office in the land". Such sentiment is often employed by creatures of the body politic to distract and assuage any anxiety amongst the voting public. It's not unlike broadcasting the Super Bowl during a nuclear missile strike--the pollsters, pundits, advertisers and politicians are masters at manipulating priorities within the public conversation. They know in which direction they want us to look. And tonight in Ohio it happened again. Many hopeful, well-intentioned voters were caught admiring the pretty light show and all the corporate cut-outs while the American dream sat in the corner of the auditorium, silently weeping.