Wednesday, September 10, 2008

JURASSIC GLORIA VS. PALIN


During the past few days, I, like millions of Americans, have just been enjoying and delighted with the nomination of Sarah Palin, as the Vice-Presidential candidate on the Republican ticket. To me, personally, her nomination just served to assert my own personal beliefs on what I have been preaching for the past 20 years, namely: “that women in America are, regretfully, the greatest untapped resource of the U.S,”– more so probably than even oil. Matter of fact, had we had a woman in the Presidency or Vice-Presidency of this country earlier in our history, we probably wouldn’t be in the oil dependency mode we find ourselves today – mind you, one of America’s greatest threats.

How I came to being an unswerving “feminist” supporter is really not important. Needless to say, for someone like me, who’s been promoting women equality all his life, the nomination of Sarah Palin, was, as far as I am concerned, one of the greatest breakthroughs in American history. Notwithstanding her predecessors, Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, comes with a refreshing aura of the complete package. While Gerry and Hillary were both able to transcend the gender barrier, neither one embodied the “persona” America was really looking forward to have as our first woman President or Vice-President.

Palin, a virtual unknown, rocketed into political stardom within hours of her nomination – a credit, I may add, to John McCain. Regardless, and in spite of McCain’s potentially ulterior motives for choosing her as his running mate, the fact remains that Palin’s record as a politician and as woman are worthy of inspiration to all American women -liberals and conservatives alike. Palin’s resume has it all. As we now know, within her political domain in the great state of Alaska, Palin has shaken the establishment, fought political corruption among her own party, faced up to the oil moguls, managed the budget, and…yes, all the while, a loving wife and mother of five. Come to think of it, for all we know, this rather “unknown” may very well indeed have changed the outcome of this election and by default the course of this nation and the world.

As would be expected from any politician running for office, the opposing party’s pundits did not waste any time searching for her “dirty laundry” list; hoping, somehow, they would undermine the new candidate’s overwhelming admiration and support. Fear stroke the liberal hearts of America, as most were still riding the crest of the wave left from the Democratic National Convention. No sooner had the Greek columns of Britney Spears’ choreographer been removed from the stage that had plummeted Barack Obama into his ever-favorite stardom role, no sooner had the wave vanished from underneath as Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech hit the airwaves throughout the nation.

As we all later found out, the “dirty laundry” list was all but preposterously weak; a pregnant teenage daughter; a husband arrested for a DUI; and a presumptive lack of experience relative to politics in America’s small towns. Regretfully for liberal democrats and their beloved media pundits, the attacks were quickly disregarded as personal and reckless, many of which, ironically, just served only to enhance the public’s view of the new candidate, and boosted the polls of the McCain / Palin ticket to show for it.

Throughout it all, I carefully made mental notes of some of Palin’s critics while one in particular, really caught my attention. To wit, none other than Jurassic Park’s Gloria Steinmen. It would have been quite reasonable to assume and expect that for America’s must renowned feminist political activist, the news of Sarah Palin’s nomination and resume would have, indeed, been the ultimate realization of a lifetime objective. Instead, following McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, Steinem penned an op-ed in which she labeled Palin an "unqualified woman" who "opposes everything most other women want and need." Steinem described Palin’s nomination speech as "divisive and deceptive".

Liberal feminism as forever promoted by Steinmen, also known as "mainstream feminism," asserts the equality of men and women through political and legal reform. It is an individualistic form of feminism and theory, which focuses on women’s ability to show and maintain their equality through their own actions and choices. You would have thought Palin to be the ideal poster- character for Gloria’s movement, wouldn’t you? What then, did Steinmen really mean when she said that: Palin opposes everything most other women want and need?

What then, does “liberal feminism” really stands for? Liberal feminism as promoted by Steinmen was born in the 1960’s – a turbulent time in American history. Sparked by righteous ideals and masterfully disguised under the banner of equality of men and women, liberal feminism quickly gained the support of young women in America, who, at the time, were rebelling against the establishment as the “in” thing to do. The establishment then, as now, included America’s most conservative and traditional values such as marriage, children and family. Steinmen’s radical liberal feminism of the 1960’s, was subversively conceived and crafted for women to undermine every fabric of this society as a means of liberation from male supremacy. To that end, marriage, children and family were truly incompatible with Steinmen’s objectives and, as such, had to be disposed of.

In essence, Steinmen’s liberal feminist agenda, would in the end, merely serve as an exchange of gender dominance as opposed to the purported equality of the sexes set forth in her messianic role as savior of women in America. By virtue alone of God’s-given natural laws, the procreation of mankind would only be attainable through the association of man and woman, notwithstanding the name chosen for this association, thus Gloria’s model was destined for failure even before it started.

Steinmen’s liberal feminist model in the new millennium is simply a Jurassic concept, outdated and obsolete. I have to believe that Gloria and whatever is left of her now defunct movement, by today’s standards, thrives exclusively on hate towards men with some obscure Freudian dysfunctionality as the driving force behind it. Regretfully though, the “liberal” banner used by Steinmen for the last forty years has now tainted the true “feminists” of America, as represented in the persona of Sarah Palin. It is no wonder then, that Steinmen would be one of Palin’s worst critics.

Steinmen’s criticisms of Palin are truly the latter’s greatest accolade. At age 74, Steinmen’s time has passed. Liberal feminism, as conceived by Steinmen, belongs now in the history books, in the chapters following Woodstock and the protest for the war in Vietnam. Over the past forty years, Steinmen’s distorted feminism managed to disenfranchise a great constituency of true “feminist”, supported by husbands, sons and daughters and yes, by most men in America, conservatives and liberals alike.

As Steinmen’s failed ideals disappear into oblivion, America shall be forever grateful for whatever contributions she may have made to women in America along the way. The women who truly believed in the kind of feminism embodied in Sarah Palin. But, for God’s sake, give it up already Gloria. Can you understand, that, contrary to what you may wished for, Sarah Palin is indeed what women in America want and need? You claimed Sarah is "divisive and deceptive". I can’t help but think of the old cliché: “it takes one to know one”.

In summary, to all women in America, I say to you: congratulations. I truly believe your time has come. Sarah Palin may not come in the messianic role embodied by Gloria Steinmen over the past forty years. Instead, she comes as one of you or better yet, as one of us. Equality has finally come of age. Candidate Barack Obama, had his chance to do a similar deed for women in America, yet he passed on it. Too bad, isn’t it? Shame on him. McCain, didn’t pass on it. Who will you vote for? That’s your choice. Meantime, I say to Gloria, regardless of wins this election, for God’s sake please, go back to the Park and rest. America has had enough of you.

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