Mothers and Politics: Strangers No More
Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 10:30 am
- 6 Comments
Mothers Day and politics seem strangely at odds.
Politics is down and dirty. Mothers are hardly that. Or rather shouldn’t be.
Yet mothers are having a greater presence in political life. There are three mothers in Congress representing Minnesotans: Rep. Michele Bachmann, Rep. Betty McCollum and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
And another mother is the speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives: Rep. Margaret Kelliher. We have a mother as lieutenant governor and as state auditor.
In Mankato, the state representative, Kathy Brynaert, and state senator, Kathy Sheran, are both mothers. Rochester likewise is represented by mothers: Reps. Tina Liebling and Kim Norton and Sen. Ann Lynch. As is Winona, Sen. Sharon Ropes; Austin, Rep. Jeanne Poppe; Albert Lea, Rep. Robin Brown; and in Fairmont, Rep. Julie Rosen.
Across the country a number of mothers are governors, and now we have a mother in the forefront of presidential candidates.
The internet generation takes all this for granted. But trust me, kids, it hasn’t always been that way.
Yes, fathers still dominate politics, business and the military. They still run the show in law, science, medicine, religion and the upper levels of academia. Yet mothers are making headway everywhere.
Who knows? Perhaps if we had more mothers instead of fathers making the decisions, we’d have fewer wars and more attention paid to health, nutrition, education and, heaven forbid, the future.
Is there anyone out there who thinks that’s a bad idea?
6 Comments
Comment posted May 14, 2007 @ 11:25 am
Is there anyone out there who thinks that’s a bad idea? I do.
Comment posted May 14, 2007 @ 12:59 pm
Not me I wish Iran and North Korea had more mothers making decisions.
Comment posted May 16, 2007 @ 2:20 pm
Mothers — as well as single women — are leading at the Ballot Box Winning where it counts … at the ballot box !
The Washington Times has a story in today’s paper that you may find interesting
link
Winning the votes of a larger share of married mothers was a key opening for Democrats in 2006, Anna Greenberg, vice president of the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner research firm, said after the election. Politically, Democrats “have a moment where parents are listening to us,” Ms. Greenberg says at the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) event on Democratic pro-family issues.
[SNIP]
“I think women have always been very anchored to reality and acknowledged how important it is to help shape the world that their children are going to grow up in,” says Janice Shaw Crouse, director of the Beverly LaHaye Institute at Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public-policy women’s organization.
Comment posted May 14, 2007 @ 6:25 am
Is there anyone out there who thinks that's a bad idea? I do.
Comment posted May 14, 2007 @ 7:59 am
Not me I wish Iran and North Korea had more mothers making decisions.
Comment posted May 16, 2007 @ 9:20 am
Mothers — as well as single women — are leading at the Ballot Box Winning where it counts … at the ballot box !
The Washington Times has a story in today’s paper that you may find interesting
link
Winning the votes of a larger share of married mothers was a key opening for Democrats in 2006, Anna Greenberg, vice president of the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner research firm, said after the election. Politically, Democrats “have a moment where parents are listening to us,” Ms. Greenberg says at the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) event on Democratic pro-family issues.
[SNIP]
“I think women have always been very anchored to reality and acknowledged how important it is to help shape the world that their children are going to grow up in,” says Janice Shaw Crouse, director of the Beverly LaHaye Institute at Concerned Women for America, the nation's largest public-policy women's organization.
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