A Republican Party I Would Respect

What can be done to salvage the Republican Party? … It’s leaders obsess about what they call the decline of its “brand,” in itself a mark of a party invested more in marketing than in principle. Rep. Tom Davis, former head of its congressional campaign committee, concludes that, “If we were a dog food, they’d take us off the shelf.” – Off the Shelf by Robert Borosage – The Huffington Post

Borosage here proposes that the Republican Party return not to Ronald Reagan but to Ike. His description of the Republican Party under Ike is of a party I can not only live with but actually respect.

A Millennial College Grad Discovers Sexism in the Workplace

New female college graduates, raised in a post-feminist culture, can have a hard time adjusting to a workplace where gender bias still exists. – Girl Power at School, but Not at the Office – NYTimes.com

Ha! Imagine what it is like for someone graduating from a women’s college! Anyhow, a must read for women.

That said, the author is missing one piece of the puzzle. She says repeatedly that the workplace requires “abilities that men are just more likely to have already” or that “men have long known” how to succeed in the workplace. She never quite hits on why or it never dawns on her to think why, which is problematic.

Honey, who do you think were involved in shaping for not only decades but centuries the cultural values, the preferred modes of interpersonal conduct, that prevail in today’s workplace? Now think again why men seem to know already how to best navigate their workplaces, or seem better prepared to do so?

Pretty Woman: Sarah Palin

Imagine my delight when the hokey chick flick came out on the campaign trail, a Cinderella story so preposterous it’s hard to believe it’s not premiering on Lifetime. – Vice in Go-Go Boots? – Maureen Dowd, NYTimes.com

I normally don’t go for Maureen Dowd. But this one did make me laugh. That said, I wonder at which point does critique become satire, then slur?

Yes, I still find insulting the choice of Palin as VP because she’s so grossly underqualified for that particular position. Perhaps she is a fine governor for Alaska. But 2nd in line to the POTUS? What was McCain thinking? What happened to the man who was once the Republican I Liked and Secretly Suspected Was a Democrat? (I just caught myself about to shoot off, “is he senile?” but realized how problematic that might be.)

That said, though we can critique her hypocrisy re: family values, if feminists want to argue for choice, we cannot go around criticizing her decision to be a Governor rather than the primary caretaker of her child, Down Syndrome or not.

I am a bit shocked by her hubris and audacity in thinking herself capable of being POTUS. I’d have respected her more if she’d declined.

The Wrong Kind of Hungry

While school districts struggle with financial problems, record numbers of students turning up for classes this fall are homeless or poor enough to qualify for free meals. – Hard Times Hitting Students and Schools – NYTimes.com

This is America, folks. Homeless kids who go to school so that they can have at least one meal, the premise being that kids can’t learn if they’re too hungry to think. While I am thankful that we are conscientious enough to ensure both that we’ve implemented one such public assistance program and that schools provide at least that, reading this makes me shake my head at the idea of the US being a first world nation.