The great civil war between liberal and conservative women over Palin

How many times have I said that for all the passionate hatred between the Democrats and Republicans, and the claim by each party that the other represents the end of America as we know it, the only real difference left between them on domestic policy, now that the Republican party has hollowed itself out of conservative content, is on abortion?

Well, Peter Brown of Quinnipiac University Polling Institute writing in the Wall Street Journal straightens me out on my misconception, by showing how mammoth the political differences between the two sides really are.

The article, entitled, “Palin Stokes Class War Among Women,” begins:

The presidential campaign has turned into a high-profile version of the mommy wars.

That’s because women are the key swing voters in the election, and John McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has stoked the long-simmering class war among women.

But there is a twist this time: In the hot seat is a conservative Republican woman who is anathema to the traditional feminist groups and female politicians representing the feminist movement.

This disconnect between Gov. Palin and her outspoken female critics has to do with their—and her—politics, which, to understate it, are mammoth.

See? There are mammoth political differences between the two sides. This is what I had failed to understand, because I had had this notion that the only thing left that distinguished conservatism from liberalism was opposition to abortion. So, what are these mammoth differences? Brown continues:

She is an absolutist in wanting to ban all abortions, while they generally oppose restrictions on the procedure.

Ok, we knew about abortion. What are the other differences?

But it goes much, much further. [Italics added.] It involves lifestyle and cultural differences that have made women’s reactions to Gov. Palin’s vice presidential candidacy something of a Rorschach test.

The traditional women’s groups and Democratic-aligned women are understandably worried that if she is elected, the face of American feminism will be a gun-toting, sexual abstinence-teaching, abortion-opposing Wal-Mart shopper.

She doesn’t eat sushi like they do, but she does catch salmon.

No further differences between Palin and her feminist adversaries are mentioned. Thus, apart from abortion, this “mammoth” political and class divide consists of the following: she hunts, she favors the teaching of sexual abstinence (a little problem with that one, no?), and she shops at Wal-Mart (not that she buys her very stylish and attractive clothing there), and she fishes. Did I say she hunts, too?

And that’s it. This great class war tearing the country apart consists of no differences of substance, other than abortion. Moreover, the chances of any actual threat to Roe v. Wade under a McCain administration are vanishingly small. Meaning that in practical terms there are no differences between the two parties at all. Don’t attack me for saying this. I’m just repeating what political expert Peter Brown has told us, under his hype.

What all this means is that the sound and fury of this campaign signifies nothing but style and symbolism. But each side wants us to think that the other will be to America what Hulagu Khan was to the eastern Moslem empire.

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Laura W. writes:

You wrote:

Thus, apart from abortion, this “mammoth” political and class divide consists of the following: she hunts, she favors the teaching of sexual abstinence (a little problem with that one, no?), and she shops at Wal-Mart (not that she buys her very stylish and attractive clothing there), and she fishes. Did I say she hunts, too?

But, for many Republican women, there are other things:

She is not associated with any sneering comments about family, such as Hillary’s famous, “What did you expect me to do, stay home and bake cookies?”

She appears genuinely to believe in God, judging not just from her church attendance but from her public statements.

She has enough children to convince Republican women she cares about motherhood more than the typical feminist.

Her marriage appears to be a happy one.

If many Republican women were not feminists themselves, all these things would be outweighed by other known facts about Palin, particularly her daughter’s pregnancy and the age of her two youngest children, and by the fact that none of this is relevant to the vice presidency, and, if anything, suggests Palin is too much a mother to be vice president. Instead, Republicans are encouraged by Palin’s relatively soft feminism and falsely believe it constitutes a true cultural divide between themselves and liberals. You see what you want to see.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 15, 2008 01:51 AM | Send