Parenthood & Making Politics More Interesting

I saw this last night & it just pissed me off.

I don't live in Oklahoma but I'd hope there are some people there who've evolved from a 1950's mentality. So, why does it piss me off that some political candidate is bashing her opponent by saying "I'm a wife & mommy but YOU'VE never been married + haven't got any kids"? Let's dissect this piece by piece:

1. The implication that one is a lesbian by not doing this stuff. For all you know, maybe this other female candidate really enjoys the single life & does a lot of stuff behind closed doors that would constitute political suicide though someone like me would respect her honesty for being herself. Unlike many small minded idiots, I don't feel one's sexual orientation is any of my business and prefer a political candidate who is honest about it vs. the bible thumping hypocrite who hires a gay prostitute.

2. On that same tact, how about coming right out & saying what you mean? If you think people will make the gay leap and you're in a state that you & everyone presumes is stuck in the 1950's mentality, how would it harm you to come right out and say it? Considering the majority of the country is a-okay with denying gay marriage and bitched and whined about gay people having rights of any kind to start with, you're not going to harm yourself any more by being direct than with pissing off childfree & single people. Most people don't seem to care about pissing off New Yorkers and "liberals" so why bother? Just go on Fox news if you want to try justifying this little barb.

For the naked statement itself, here's why it offends me:

3. I got married by choice and actually LOVE my spouse. How many marriages do you see that aren't happy or even well functioning? The divorce rate is still pretty high and the person who made this attack is apparently herself a divorced woman who caused the breakup. You're in no position to tout how marriage is some essential ingredient to being a good politician. If it were, most of us should be running for public office.

4. As for breeding, oh God!! Hey, retard (yes, that's what you are and if you don't have a clinically diagnosed mental impairment then you deserved to be slurred by being called that)! Have you been asleep your entire life? Do you ever read news headlines? Watch television? Work in the courts or with a social services organization? Does the name "Susan Smith" ring a bell?

Popping out a baby doesn't qualify you to do anything!!! You can pop out 100 babies and be the worst parent ever. Look at the Octo Breeding Bitch--does anyone think she should run for political office? What about the other big families with reality shows? You really think being a parent qualifies you to be a politician?

Not having a child requires some responsible conduct on the part of a woman. She has to take birth control, get fixed or get a guy to get fixed since you practically have to hold a doctor at gunpoint to get sterilized if you're a woman without kids. Getting pregnant often doesn't require responsible behavior; there have been countless "oops" pregnancies in the world to back this up.

Not to mention that at least the candidate without children won't be parading them around like show ponies or using them to get out of doing work. I could care less about the child of any public figure unless that child has some real talent & ability on his/her own. I'll have respect for that child if (s)he didn't use family names and connections to get ahead or isn't a jerk to me/my acquaintances-friends-family.

All statements like that do is piss me off as a childfree person who knows better about what works for her life than some busybody parent or doctor who isn't directly affected by such a decision. These childfree people should be using that to rally others as feminist icons or role models for the childfree. In other words, take advantage of it to enlist help from pro-choice groups.

So in light of the sudden notoriety of the Rent Is Too Damn High candidate in NY who's running for governor (I read his platform statement in 2009--interesting but no one's views ever fit all of mine), I have a great idea for making politics much more interesting & getting cynics like me to give a darn: physical grudge matches!!

If you saw the last episode of the first season of "Bored To Death," then you remember when the lead characters were engaged in a boxing match w/their rivals. Could you imagine politicians doing that? The ratings would be through the roof. I also think people would love to see Sarah Palin and other hated political figures get punched in the face.

Another novel idea would be allowing the populace to do this to corrupt politicians. Let's see how great you are when some random person beats you in a physical match!

Of course, you'd need guidelines. Let people train w/equal resources, have some safety measures, no women fighting men, etc. If medically unable to box, maybe just slapping would be okay though my husband thinks no one should get cop-outs from performing their civic duty to beat their opponent fair & square in a physical fight.

In foreign countries, politicians have gotten into physical fights. Look for those wildest fight shows on truTV & such to see them.

If they did that in the House and the Senate, people would start watching government proceedings. Maybe that's why these people don't do stuff like that to make politics more interesting; too many people would watch political proceedings & never re-elect these incumbents who do nothing but line their pockets. Feed the human instinct to watch for blood; you'd make a fortune & then we'd stop having arthritic grandparents running for office. If you aren't there physically (at least reasonably in shape), how are you going to lead people & be scary to enemies? Someone like Schwarzenegger would inspire fear.

Yeah, yeah liabilities and such but why not? Cynics like me don't care & I think meaningful voter turnout would increase dramatically if this happened. It might stop people from not voting for someone b/c it's a "throw away" vote. I'd get a good laugh, at least.