NPR’s Leila Fadel asked Doug Wilson, the pastor of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, about one of the main ideas of his vision for a Christian theocracy — taking away the right to vote from American women.
“Now you’re calling for repealing women’s right to vote, which is protected by the 19th Amendment.
Why?” Fadel asked.
“Because it’s a good idea,” Wilson said, laughing.
“A lot of women wouldn’t think so,” Fadel said.
“A lot of women wouldn’t agree, right,” Wilson said.
“But this is one of my favorite questions now, too.This is not about being female or male.I don’t want women voting as individuals, because I don’t want men voting as individuals.So, what I imagine is a system we’ve used in our church for four decades — household voting.”
“In our church, we have many households led by women.
And when they lead the household, they vote,” Wilson explained.
“So, for example,” Fadel said, “I’m a woman who’s not married, doesn’t have kids, and is Muslim.
So, in a future Christian theocracy, where the 19th Amendment is repealed, what’s my role in public life?Can I vote?Can I run for office?Can I do these things?”
“No, you wouldn’t hold office because you couldn’t promise to follow the Christian Constitution,” Wilson said.
“And whether you voted or not wouldn’t depend on whether you were a woman or not.Whether you voted would depend on if you were the head of the household.If you were head of the household and Christian, you would vote.”
“And if I’m head of the household but not Christian?”
“Then that would depend on the state,” Wilson answered.
“Now, you’ve talked about wanting patriarchy, and that’s because you believe men are supposed to protect women,” Fadel said.
“But you use words that don’t sound very Christian — like ‘c*nt’ or ‘small breasted biddies.’ You’ve also said things about the ‘propriety of rape’ for women who reject patriarchy.So, women who reject patriarchy — do they deserve protection?”
“Of course,” Wilson answered.
Fadel then read from one of Wilson’s writings from 2016: “One consequence of rejecting the protection of good men is that you’re opening yourself up to the predations of bad men.
When they’ve walked away from the protection of fathers and brothers, that amounts to a tacit, implicit, not overt principle of the acceptance of the propriety of rape.”
“Correct,” Wilson said.
“I’m not saying anything about the propriety of rape.What I’m saying is, the women who are doing these things — they’re the ones saying that.So, if you refuse the protection of good men, then I’m saying, you’re the one asking for it.I’m pleading with you to stop asking for it.”
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