Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Feminist triumphalism

This WaTi article, the last of a series noted here, discusses the "gender gap" in 2006 and beyond. Feminists like to think that they’re on the cutting edge of history; I’d say it looks a whole lot more like the Iraq War widened the gap a bit.

As for family friendliness--an issue about which we’re likely to see a lot--note that married women still narrowly preferred Republicans. Note also that the Democratic family agenda is heavily statist, compelling all employers--except for public schools, where unions don’t want to hear about family preferences--to subsidize and support family choices.

This "pro-family" agenda is problematical for Democrats, at least to the extent that it’s articulated in a family-oriented way, and to the extent that its benefits aren’t extended to everyone, including single people as well as those in relationships not recognized by the state. My guess is that it’s really a pro-labor policy, not a pro-family policy, and its cost in terms of competitiveness, if enacted, would be substantial.

Discussions - 1 Comment

The one thing we can be sure about the "pro family" agenda is that it's not pro family.

"Pro family" Republicans are 'profamily'...as long as the family pays for the privilege. Abortion, when seen from the family's view, is an attempt to avoid an expense (regardless of what kids are, they aren't cheap). Republicans don't want to help PAY for kids (health care, education), but sure are against abortion...thus imposing a cost on the family.

David Frum on "NPR" a few weeks ago pointed out that poor people shouldn't buy houses. That way, when their job disappears, they can simply move. Wonderful for the economy, but it does little to help establish strong familial bonds.

The right also fought family leave...and succeeded in getting it to be unpaid when it became apparent they were going to lose on THAT issue.

There's nothing profamily with conservatives at all, save their view that the middle class should pay all the costs, bear all the burdens, and have the govt. tell them how to do this.

Leave a Comment

* denotes a required field
 

No TrackBacks
TrackBack URL: https://nlt.ashbrook.org/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/10432


Warning: include(/srv/users/prod-php-nltashbrook/apps/prod-php-nltashbrook/public/sd/nlt-blog/_includes/promo-main.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /srv/users/prod-php-nltashbrook/apps/prod-php-nltashbrook/public/2007/05/feminist-triumphalism.php on line 421

Warning: include(): Failed opening '/srv/users/prod-php-nltashbrook/apps/prod-php-nltashbrook/public/sd/nlt-blog/_includes/promo-main.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/opt/sp/php7.2/lib/php') in /srv/users/prod-php-nltashbrook/apps/prod-php-nltashbrook/public/2007/05/feminist-triumphalism.php on line 421