So, it appears – and after reading the article linked below, I agree – that the whole basis for the Republican War on Women (and gay rights, health care and unions, etc) is that Men should be Men. Yes, everything they are fighting against is something they somehow see as a threat to masculinity and the power-base of Men.
If the government steps in to protect and support women, then they won’t need men (anti-health care, anti-contraception, anti-equal-pay, etc). If women don’t have babies to take care of, then they won’t need men to support them and the child (anti-abortion, anti-contraception, anti-public assistance, etc).
Basically, the majority of the platform comes down to protecting the Male Ego – you know, all those parts not dedicated to making sure the rich get richer and the poor folks just stay in their place.
The Root of the Conservative War on Contraception showcases their ‘anxiety’ very well in the author’s dialogue :
WALSH: And we’re going to equalize this thing right here,
right now. And he did that, and these guys went crazy. They went crazy. I
don’t entirely get what that was about …STEELE:
The problem is that you have effectively absolved the male of any
responsibility in the relationship with this woman, whether it’s a
sexual nature or beyond that. It’s not just about giving women access to
contraception. It’s about the responsible behavior that goes with that
access. It’s nice for Barack Obama to tell women, I got your back. Here,
have a pill.WALSH: That’s not what he’s saying.STEELE:
That’s what you just described … Men have a responsibility here … when
you come together in that fashion, there’s a responsibility that kicks
in that you just don’t want to be absolved because the woman has a pill …
It’s this other piece that doesn’t get talked about in terms of the
responsibility of fathers, or potential fathers, in this relationship.
I read Steele’s response as “Whaaa! Whaaaa! Men Matter too! We Matter!! Whaaaa!!!”
Apparently, their theory says that we must keep women barefoot, pregnant and, in addition to raising kids, they also have the responsibility to “Civilize” their menfolk in order to keep the men from being violent, criminal barbarians*.
In the view of Murray, Santorum and, to some degree Steele, government
dependency frees a woman from being dependent on a man – and that’s not
good for men. It’s as though liberated from the burden of providing for a
woman (even just providing contraception!), a man can’t be trusted to
be responsible, for his children, or even himself.
Of course, by cutting education – an effort to “keep ’em stupid, keep ’em republican”, IMHO – they are shooting themselves in the foot, so to speak :
we know that educating women is key to improving the living standards of
their communities and their countries. When girls are educated, they
postpone motherhood, and when they do have children, their kids are
healthier, better educated and their families are more stable.
There is not even a consistency, much less any reasonable logic in their platform or agenda.
Save Mississippi, Save The United States – Don’t Vote Republican!!
*though, many people are not Greek and don’t speak Greek, so I am not sure where they are going with that one….lol.