Santrum and Women

From dKosopedia

Category: Misc. rants

http://www.lufkindailynews.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2005/07/31/20050731LDNclements.html

Hijacking the ‘value' discussion with an altar call for ‘traditional' By CYNTHIA HALL CLEMENTS, The Lufkin Daily News Sunday, July 31, 2005 Women of America, I hope you look good in a burqa.

If Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has his way, we will all be wearing the burqas discarded by our recently liberated sisters in Afghanistan who were freed from years of male-dominated, Taliban oppression by the U.S. military invasion of that country.

In his recently-released book, “It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good, Santorum outlines his philosophical vision of America, with an altar call, of sorts, and asks how we can return to “our rich inheritance from generations past and with it build up a society our founders would revere? What is wrong with this country, according to Santorum, is that we have lost the legacy of liberty advocated by our founding fathers and exchanged it for the licentiousness – that “no fault freedom – of the liberal elite, a pro-choice, anti-responsibility mentality.

In his “the world according to me manifesto, Santorum jumps right into the fray of the social issues du jour – abortion, welfare reform, abstinence-only programs, public schools, women's rights, among others – and comes down unequivocally on the side of clearly-out-of-touch-with-reality conservatism, not-so-cleverly disguised as pro-family, “traditional values.

What should be obvious to readers, however, is that Santorum's views are out of the mainstream. He is clearly attempting to hijack the “value discussion, the debate on the alleged morality or immorality of today's culture war, by presenting a restrictive, and unrealistic, worldview of how American families, and American women, should be.

Santorum is the poster child of the day for the religious right. Various social and religious conservative organizations – Focus on the Family, the Independent Women's Forum, and others – are lining up to endorse his arguments that all of society's ails result from the deterioration of the traditional family.

In this spoof of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-N.Y.) book, “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child, published in 1996 when she was first lady, Santorum, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and possible 2008 presidential candidate, manages to offend most all American women, regardless of generation. His veiled, but not stated, implication is the obviously derogatory and antiquated myth that women are happiest barefoot, pregnant, in the kitchen, and, of course, submissive to men.

But Santorum needs no help in speaking for himself. He does that quite well in his book.

— On stay-at-home moms, Santorum opines, “Respect for stay-at-home moms has been poisoned by a toxic combination of the village elders' war on the traditional family and radical feminism's misogynistic crusade to make working outside the home the only marker of social value and self-respect.

— On welfare reform, he offers, “The notion that college education is a cost-effective way to help poor, low skilled unmarried mothers with high school diplomas or GEDs move up the economic ladder is just wrong.

— On two parents, both mom and dad, working outside the home, Santorum says, “In far too many families with young children, both parents are working, when, if they really took an honest look at the budget, they might confess that both of them really don't need to.

— On women working outside the home, he states, “Many women have told me, and surveys have shown, that they find it easier, more ‘professionally' gratifying, and certainly more socially affirming, to work outside the home than to give up their careers to take care of their children.

In Santorum's book public school socialization is “weird. Homeschooling is the value-laden option for families who are devoted to and truly love their children. Abortion is likened to the horror of pre-Civil war slavery in this country because it places the liberty rights of the mother ahead of the welfare of the child. And abstinence-only programs are preferable to comprehensive sex education discussions with teenagers.

The most disturbing part of Santorum's book, however, is his portrayal of the average American woman – a self-centered individual, sacrificing her children of the altar of personal greed and professional ambition. It is the “mommy wars” of the 1990s revisited.

But those are not the women I know.

Women I know make their own, oftentimes difficult, choices about what is best for their lives and for their families. They might work full-time, part-time, telecommute or manage a home-based business to help with the family expenses, while trying to balance time with their children. Women I know are returning to college to finish or advance their education, to improve their career opportunities, to be a role model for their children. Women I know, myself included, stayed at home for many years with young children, and now find personal fulfillment in professional accomplishments.

Santorum's unrealistic vision of the American woman does little, if any, to facilitate more productive, more personally fulfilling lives for us. It fails to contribute suggestions on how best to balance workplace and family responsibilities. It fails to validate the variety of roles that women play throughout our lives – from daughter, to wife, to mother, to employee. Santorum contributes a shrill, ranting voice to the culture debate but fails to provide practical solutions.

Today's feminism is not about women trying to mold themselves into an obsolete image of what some men think women should be. Today's feminism is about the right and power that we, as women, have to make choices for ourselves.