Originally Posted by
Endus
You need to bear the quote's context; it's from 1969, not the current era. It was making the case that the issues facing women, issues which were treated as personal complaints, were actually political issues worthy of consideration. Issues like equal treatment under the law, like abortion rights, and so forth. While you might consider that these are battles which, today, have been 'won', they were adamantly not so, in the '60s.
In a more general sense, however, I'd argue that all political issues are personal issues. The collective is the sum of individuals, and their individual concerns. Indeed, this is the founding base principle of democracy itself. If you only consider issues that directly affect you, as an individual, you're relatively self-centered (which isn't an attack, just a recognition of a fact). Empathy for the issues that others may face, and their needs, springs from empathy and compassion, creating a situation where you will accept some tradeoffs of yourself in exchange for their consideration. In the understanding that your own needs would face similar support, in return, at least in the theoretical sense, if your own needs were shared by a sufficient number, and the response was just as justifiable.
It is, in a sense, a multifaceted, never-ending Prisoner's Dilemma. The issues other "prisoners" face are your issues. And yours are theirs. Because it's only by considering everyone's issues collectively that you can minimize the costs to everyone.