As I watched Sarah Palin give her speech endorsing Donald Trump, knowing she is going to get push back from conservative leaders, I couldn’t help but think of an experience in college.

The Dean of Women declared it mandatory for all female students to attend a speech by Betty Friedan. I was never interested in being any place without guys, and the last thing I needed was to hear from a woman who blamed all men for her problems.

Having been raised with three brothers, I knew guys were actually a lot of fun, were far more daring than the girls and their clothes were more comfortable. So, when  Betty began to trash all men as the enemy of all women, I couldn’t help but think of my brothers. They had always loved and supported me, allowed me to play soccer and basketball with them, and were thrilled that I was a better shot than all of them. They would actually brag on my groupings at the gun range.

But the line that propelled me to stand up in opposition, in the middle of her speech was, “Men have always told women what to do, now, if you listen to us . . . the feminists will move you into the right direction since we know what’s best for you … you stupid little women.” I added that last part, but that was the gist of what she was saying.

I stood, interrupted her and said, “You just told us not to let men tell us what to do, to think for ourselves, and then followed with the suggestion that we should listen to you and your movement. That is a bit of a contradiction, don’t you agree?”

The entire time I was standing and speaking in protest against this new fascism rising, the dean of women was behind me telling me to sit down and be quiet. Instead, I asked who agreed with me and left with about a third of the audience in tow. Can’t believe they still let me graduate.

It also reminded me of the time I was protesting a pro-abortion march at the Capitol in the late 70’s and these women, who were claiming to be pro-choice and for equal rights, were trying to take away my right to speak, by telling the police to arrest me. They claimed I didn’t have a permit to speak. I said I thought the Constitution was the only permit I needed. I remember a very angry woman, yelling at me that she had to raise four kids alone. I reminded her that I didn’t get her pregnant. She kept yelling.

Again, open minded, tolerant, feminists trying to tell me to sit down and shut up.  And something tells me Sarah will not be intimidated by the left or right concerning her decision to support Trump and she will not sit down and shut up either.

As a response to the feminist’s attempt at indoctrination, I formed a group called the Renaissance Women. That was In 1982 when the assumption was that all working women were feminists and all moms who stayed home were pathetic losers. I was trying to become a pathetic loser but couldn’t get pregnant so I had to continue running my very successful publishing company, while attending law school.

I hated being lumped with “them,” just because I was a professional, working outside the house so I defined women like me as “Renaissance Women,” and the name has held through the years. I discovered that there were millions like me who rejected the monolithic stereotyping of all women as though just because we have the same genitalia, we think alike, vote alike, act alike or support the same candidates.

I was invited to debate Gloria Steinem on the Phil Donahue Show . . . yes, I am that old . . . and I was shocked by the ease it took to tee the ball up for her to hit into an angry crowd. She was saying that all women should support the Mondale/Ferraro ticket and I asked her if she would be so compelled to support a ticket with Phyllis Schlafly on it. I then proceeded to ask her why she, and all feminists vilify any woman who disagrees with them when they claim they are about free choice, equality, women’s rights, freedom, blah blah blah.

Turns out, that only applies to liberal women, liberal blacks, liberal anything. We have watched for years as they have moved to silence, intimidate, marginalize and ridicule any black who dares to embrace the party of Lincoln and refuse to stay on the state sponsored plantation. If they try and escape to the reality of conservative ideals and philosophies, they are hunted by the hounds of derision and undergo what Clarence Thomas referred to, as a high tech lynching.

So, back to the reason for writing this, before I took a little trip down feminist memory lane. As a conservative women I have seen the vilification and contempt for other women who share my beliefs and saw the full scale, public flaying of a competent, successful woman who was governor of the largest state in the union. The only thing she needed to change to become the darling of the left, was her belief system.

If Sarah Palin had been a liberal Democrat, there is no doubt she would probably be president or running for president today instead of another woman. Unlike Sarah, this other woman who is the darling of the left, is a hackneyed, pathetically desperate person who is bereft of original ideas and will do anything to try and prove she did it on her own with no one’s help. Ok Hillary, we’ll agree … Benghazi is all yours.

When Sarah announced she was supporting Trump, she was full of the same fire and passion that has always driven and compelled her to action. There was also a justified anger in her demeanor and words. She, like millions of conservatives feel betrayed not only by the political establishment, but all the special interest groups that have successfully marginalized conservatives in all corners of society whether the media, entertainment, education, or politics.

In the old cowboy shows you had the marshall and his deputies in charge and they were the arbiter of all conflicts. But then, somewhere in the plot, they would start abusing their power, claiming it was what was best for the town until creeping authoritarianism was strangling free thought. It would take an outside person, who hated bullies and wanted justice, to come in and save the day. There would be a stand off either in the saloon or on the street and the whole town was rooting for the new guy because they knew status quo had to go.

And that is why Sarah Palin, and millions of other conservatives are voting for the new gunslinger in town because he shares their anger at the abuse of power, at the flaunting of the law that is applied one way to one group and another way to another. At this point, it doesn’t matter if the battle is in the main street and windows are blown out, because there will be a time of cleanup after the  shoot out. The town is tired of being held hostage, first by an out-law administration, and second by an enabling Congress that hoodwinked the town into buying their musical instruments.

OK, I know I’ve jumped genres, but you get the drift. People are tired of being lied to, of being fleeced, of being ridiculed and marginalized and told they can’t say or think a certain way, and if they deny that global warming is a reality they could be fined or jailed. I threw that in to make a point of the radical nature of the battle we are in, but sadly, that is what the “Climateers” are wanting to do and there is no outcry from the right on this Draconian suggestion.

What is heard though is a voice of opposition against an over reaching government from a guy with a big gun and the will to use it. Yeah a gun analogy . . . get used to it. We are tired of talk and are looking for action.  And we are tired of being told who is more conservative and who we are “allowed” to support and aren’t.

Let’s blow some windows out and mix things up. The mirror behind the bar needs to be shot up every now and then and chairs need to be crashed on heads. We need a good old fashioned western bar fight in this country and may the strongest, the toughest, the most hard core dude in the room win.

That is why conservative women are flocking to Trump because they see that fight in him. They see a man with a pair who will face down the bullies in their town, and after winning the fight, will work to help replace the windows. He will help put a new mirror behind the bar in a saloon that will be run without fear, or intimidation or speech codes. And people who want to kill us all . . . conservative and liberal … will not be allowed to come in and destroy that peace.

Conservative women didn’t fall for the lies of the feminist movement and they don’t need self proclaimed leaders telling them who they should and shouldn’t support. I have always said a Renaissance Woman can think for herself, she doesn’t need a spokesman and she is not predictable. Because that leads to control. She is a leader not a follower, a winner not a whiner and a victor not a victim. This is the type of woman who is rising up and telling the fearful men to step aside. As Lee Iacocca once said . .. “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”