Rising Conservative Feminists Aren’t Stupid

Posted by Janet Hinz

Have you read my colleague Donna Trussell’s recent post titled The New Stepford Wife Party, Starring Sarah Palin (Also Gidget)? Donna is not the only writer who is skeptical of modern conservative feminists. With all due respect to Donna, I find them insulting and quite honestly, I’m offended.

First, let’s explain the references because maybe you don’t know what the Stepford Wives or Gidget are. The Stepford Wives is a 2004 remake of a 1975 movie by the same name based on a very popular novel. The original novel and movie had tremendous impact on American culture. The remake was a failure despite featuring Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick. Perhaps because it didn’t resonate with modern audiences. Gidget was a classic TV show in 1965 starring Sally Field who most people know today as either the matriach on the TV show Brothers and Sisters or her popular Boniva commercials to stop and prevent bone loss.

I am a political conservative and just because I don’t agree with you doesn’t mean I’m stupid or unenlightened. Don’t underestimate and don’t belittle us. I am fully aware that neither liberals nor conservatives have a monopoly on the truth.

Probability rather than certainty is the province of argument after all. I am against abortion on demand but I’ll listen and give you the benefit of the doubt. If you craft your argument on abortion well enough, you might get me to consider something I hadn’t previously considered. That’s a victory even if you haven’t persuaded me to change my position.

So you don’t get the power of Sarah Palin and you can’t fathom how people would rally around Christine O’Donnell. I’ll grant that they aren’t Ivy League educated women nor did they make millions of dollars before age 40 by inventing the cure for cancer while helping make sure no child in America went hungry. It would be nice if they had of course.

Karl Rove attacked O’Donnell shortly after her primary victory in an interview with Sean Hannity and questioned, “How come it took nearly two decades to pay her college bills so she could get her college degree?” This criticism doesn’t deter supporters because many people can relate to having a difficult time paying back student loans and to meeting the goals they set for themselves. After all the New York Times reported on September 13 that the latest data reveals the student loan default rate is up 7 percent.

I’ve got a few months before I reach 40, but I haven’t met those goals yet either. Should I just shut up then? I admire that these women go on despite their less than perfect resumes and are so passionate about serving their country that they are willing to subject themselves to such hateful media scrutiny.

They are powerful feminist politicians. Yes, I understand that the feminist adjective makes many liberals cringe.

My colleague Luista Lopez Torregrosa’s wrote recently that “conservative women like Jeri Thompson and Sarah Palin and Christine O’Donnell…are now forging their own brand of feminism and speaking out like progressive feminists have been doing for so long.”

Feminism is not a political party distinction. Women’s roles in the workplace have greatly changed over the past 40 years. Particularly in today’s economy, many women are now the primary bread-winners in homes across America.

Today’s women have many choices. Some work full time outside of the home, many opt to be stay at home parents and still others do a combination of both. And some choose to go into politics. The fact that we have these choices is a credit to the women’s liberation movement. The reality that there is still such an inequality of pay between men and women is why feminism is more important than ever.

Rather than marginalize the free-thinking women who embrace conservative thought and disagree that abortion is fundamental to feminism, these modern conservative feminists embrace the ideal of promoting respect for women, equal opportunities and equal pay. And guess what? We’d love to vote for a woman who reflects this line of thinking.

These rising conservative American feminist politicians aren’t going away. Isn’t it time we took them seriously?

Why Do We Still Focus on Gender Rather Than on Qualifications in Politics?

Posted by Janet Hinz

After the recent Tuesday primaries across the nation, it appears that a record number of women are poised to emerge as political victors. Wins by many women are cause for celebration, aren’t they? Some are angry that qualified candidates are still distinguished by their gender. If this is such a remarkable fact, isn’t it a sign that feminism has far to go?

The truth is that women are poorly represented in American politics. The 111^th Congress included a record number of women. Ninety-five were women, but only 21 of those representatives were Republicans.

While some argue that the Republican Party has historically neglected to support and elect women, it seems that the Tea Party has really attracted many conservative women.

Let’s not forget that Hillary Clinton was a strong candidate for President in 2008 and Sarah Palin had an energizing effect on the McCain campaign when he asked her to run with him as Vice President. Both women are feminists, yet they are from different political parties.

Sarah Palin has been frequently using the word feminism in recent speeches and it’s drawn some controversy because she doesn’t share the traditional feminist’s views on abortion rights. Many argue that pro-life feminism is the future.

Conservative feminism is not an oxymoron. Feminism is not a political party distinction.Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s feminism became synonymous with man-hating, bra burning and abortion rights. That is why many modern women have been so reluctant to embrace the term. Feminism has evolved.

Women’s roles in the workplace have greatly changed over the past 40 years. Particularly in today’s economy, many women are now the primary bread-winners in homes across America.

Still, there is a vast discrepancy between the amount women and men earn. According to an April 20, 2010 article, Why Do Women Still Earn Less Than Men? in Time magazine by Laura Fitzpatrick, “U.S. women still earned 77 cents on the male dollar in 2008, according to the latest census statistics. That number drops by 68% for African Americans women and 58% for Latinas.” This impacts most American families and it is not something that can be necessarily legislated.

Today’s women have many choices. Some work full time outside of the home, many opt to be stay at home parents and still others do a combination of both. The fact that we have these choices is a reality due to the women’s liberation movement. The fact that there is still such an inequality of pay between men and women is the reason that feminism is necessary.

Rather than marginalize the free-thinking woman who disagree that abortion is fundamental to feminism, modern feminists embrace the ideal of promoting respect for women, equal opportunities and equal pay. It does not preclude a person from being a feminist.

There is a rising pro-life sentiment among American women and it cannot be ignored. Feminism is not a party distinction.

Public opinion polls are often taken to measure the pulse of Americans and this new sentiment has become evident in polls. According to Colleen Carroll Campbell’s Washington post article, “Pro-life feminism is the future” from last month, “A 2007 study from Overbrook Research tracked the abortion views of women in Missouri, considered to be a bellwether state on such issues. Researchers found that the share of Missouri women identifying themselves as ‘strongly pro-life’ rose from 28 percent in 1992 to 37 percent in 2006, with the ranks of the ‘strongly pro-choice’ shrinking from about a third to a quarter of Missouri women. This pro-life shift was even more pronounced among young women.”

Campbell’s article also sites a more recent study. A May 2009 Gallup Poll, “proved that, for the first time since Gallup began asking the question in 1995, a majority of Americans now identify themselves as ‘pro-life’ rather than ‘pro-choice.’ Gallup found a significant rise in the percentage of young adults who believe that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances, from about one in seven in the early 1990s to one in four today. Eighteen-to-29-year-olds are now tied with seniors as the group most likely to favor the outlawing of abortion.”

Feminism no longer has the negative connotation it once did. Today’s feminists don’t hate men, they love them and want to co-govern, co-work and co-parent with them.

Women have made great strides in the home, workplace and public eye. Yet, politics remains clouded by a male bias which critical thinkers should be able to see past.

Passion for Politics Through the Decades

Posted by Janet Hinz

Some people follow sports. I don’t, but I follow politics with the same amount of enthusiasm as the biggest sports fanatics. My love of politics began quite young. I was born in Washington, DC in 1971 and grew up in suburban Maryland, so politics was always a part of my life.

It is hard to believe, but my first political memory is of President Nixon resigning. I remember seeing the president cry on TV. It stood out because all the adults were glued to the broadcast.

My next political memory is of the patriotism surrounding the 4^th of July 1976. My mother made cherry pies, cakes frosted with red, white and blue icing and I even had a bathing suit with the American flag on it. It seemed to me that everything that summer was all about pride in our nation.

When I stayed with my grandparents on Saturday nights as a child, I was given two options; either I watched Lawrence Welk with my grandmother or Agronsky & Company with my grandfather in the other room. I found Lawrence Welk boring, but the passion on Agronsky & Company was quite compelling. I loved the roundtable discussion format which is now common today even though I rarely understood the substance of the debates.

President Reagan inspired many of my generation and I was no exception. I wrote him a letter when I was 10 and he wrote back. From then on, I watched every single speech. The one that stands out as the most inspiring is his 1986 State of the Union Address where he said:

And tonight I want to speak directly to America’s younger generation, because you hold the destiny of our nation in your hands. With all the temptations young people face, it sometimes seems the allure of the permissive society requires superhuman feats of self-control. But the call of the future is too strong, the challenge too great to get lost in the blind alleyways of dissolution, drugs, and despair. Never has there been a more exciting time to be alive, a time of rousing wonder and heroic achievement. As they said in the film “Back to the Future,” “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”

Well, today physicists peering into the infinitely small realms of subatomic particles find reaffirmations of religious faith. Astronomers build a space telescope that can see to the edge of the universe and possibly back to the moment of creation.

I began college at Milwaukee’s Marquette University in 1989 and I was embarrassed to be from Washington, DC which was then Murder Capital of the USA and where Mayor Marion Barry was convicted of drug possession. Later, I began actively campaigning for Pat Buchanan and was actually one of the leaders of the WI chapter of his campaign for presidency. Buchanan appealed to me because he grew up in Bethesda, MD with my mother, aunts and uncles. He proved to be far too right-wing for me and for America at large.

During the 1992 presidential election night, I worked for the Associated Press Milwaukee Bureau helping to tabulate the votes and was stunned when Bill Clinton won. I didn’t share in my fellow co-worker’s excitement and felt left out.

I graduated from college and began working on Capitol Hill for Representative Steve Gunderson and my political views became much more moderate as I realized that the Republican party did include a tent wide enough for a large spectrum of voters. I also gained an appreciation for the majesty of the Capitol. Walking through its halls daily left me awestruck in a way all the grade-school fieldtrips hadn’t. I was a part of things and that was exciting. More exciting still was when the Republicans took control of the House and Senate. I remember clearly when a much older and experienced staffer who was legal counsel said, “Oh my God! Now we actually have to create legislation rather than block it.” His statement shocked me because I knew that wasn’t how it was supposed to work.

Speaker Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America was impressive and I was thrilled to be playing even the smallest role in his plan. It was so refreshing to see a politician follow through on his promises even though those first 100 days were quite exhausting.

The congressman announced his retirement and I went to work for an agriculture association. Each day on my way to work, I walked past Monica Lewinsky’s attorneys’ offices and the media permanently camped outside. I watched fascinated as President Clinton looked straight at the camera (and it seemed at me) and said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” I read the Kenneth Starr report alternately shocked and disgusted. Clinton had lied and it had been proven with DNA evidence. When Clinton was impeached in 1998 and then refused to resign, I was dumbfounded. When he won reelection, I was both impressed with his tenacity and incredulous at his victory.

The George W. Bush and Al Gore presidential race was riveting. Like most Americans I watched as NBC’s Tim Russert held up a white board and said, “It all comes down to Florida.” The hanging chads situation reminded me of just how important each vote is in the country. I was thrilled when Bush won and grateful he was our president on September 11, 2001. I was proud of him when he spoke at Ground Zero and felt reassured by his State of the Union afterwards. The surge of patriotism that followed was comforting and unifying for Americans. It was wonderful to see something great come out of such a devastating tragedy.

The first time I saw IL Senate Candidate Barrack Obama speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, I knew that he had a special charisma. Still I was surprised that he became the 2008 presidential candidate. Senator John McCain didn’t excite me even though his service to our nation was impressive. I was reinvigorated in the election when McCain picked Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. For the first time ever, I really felt as if it might be possible for a woman to hold such a high office.

While I didn’t vote for Obama and couldn’t believe he won, he is my president because I am an American. I believe strongly in the system our forefathers created and I love watching it play out.

Similar to sports enthusiasts, I’ve found politics is always interesting even if my team doesn’t win.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Posted by Janet Hinz

We use language as a means to transmit ideas. A person has a thought and needs to figure out how to communicate that to others. If a person uses the wrong words, it doesn’t matter how great the ideas were because no one received them. When we use words that offend, it’s like we hit a wall because our message is blocked. There are words that cause some listeners to tune out and when that happens, we aren’t being heard.

Last month, President Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel used the word “retarded” in a private meeting. He’s received great criticism for his insensitivity and Sarah Palin even said he should be fired. Palin’s son has Downs Syndrome and is very passionate about the use of this word. She said, “Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the ‘N-word’ or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities — and the people who love them — is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking.”

Emanuel has apologized publicly and privately to Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver for using the word “retarded.” This is not the first time the White House has come under fire for offending this group. In March of 2009, Obama himself made a joke about his bowling skills by referring to them as worthy of the Special Olympics on The Tonight Show.

The word “retarded” is offensive. In the past, it was used frequently and is now often used in slang as a form of slur particularly among young people. That doesn’t excuse its use, however. As our society evolves, so does our language. A person who scores below about a 70 on IQ tests is now called a person with an intellectual disability.

While some object to political correctness, our words matter. We would not call a person who has the flu, “a flu,” so we should not call a person who has paralysis of the legs “paralyzed.” We put the person first rather than the condition. He or she is a person with paralysis. This change in phrasing makes a big difference. A medical condition does not define a person or sum up everything he or she is. This is the reason for the change.

Critical thinkers choose their words carefully because they know if they don’t, they won’t be heard.