No Bull Mom

The Shriver Report Rebuttal -- Part 2

Not every aspect of The Shriver Report is a myth. Some parts are just insanely unrealistic. Consider below:

• Schools still let kids out in the afternoon, long before the workday ends, and they shut their doors for three months during the summer, even though the majority of families with children are supported by a single working parent or a dual-earning couple.

It's very important that Americans understand what it is these folks want. Shriver and the CAP (Center for American Progress) envision an America where parents are not in the home at all during the week. They believe we are already on this path and will continue down this same path in the future. They imagine homes with no one in them from sun-up till sun-down all throughout the year. America's children would therefore need to be raised by hired help -- caregivers, babysitters, preschools, day cares, etc. -- around the clock.

Now one of the findings CAP addresses, which is accurate, is that there are approximately 40% of single mothers in America. This is an astounding figure we should all be concerned about -- yet rather than address this major social phenomenon as the travesty it is, the Left wants to accept that it is a fait accompli -- one we should encourage by changing society to fit this new pattern. Conservative-minded folks, on the other hand, recognize the pitfalls of single motherhood and wish to lower the 40% figure, not accomodate for it by making it easier for women to remain unmarried or get divorced.

There were two main findings from the TIME article, "The State of the American Woman," last week. (This cover story was designed to be released alongside The Shriver Report, as the TSR was funded in part by TIME -- I'm telling you, these left-wing organizations are like a cult the way they operate.) The first is the evidence that as women have gained more freedom, more education, and more power, they have become less happy. This was the whole point of the cover story, yet it is not addressed at all in The Shriver Report.

No one on the Left even entertains that idea that maybe, just maybe, the reason women are so unhappy is b/c they've been fed a lie. (Recognizing this would eradicate their entire agenda; they'd have nothing left to fight for!) Modern feminism, which came about in the 1960s, is not the same as the kind of feminism that existed earlier. Feminists like to think it's all one long fight, but it isn't. There's a difference b/w fighting for the right to vote, for example, and the "right" to abortion and child care. Indeed, the early feminists were pro-life -- and they never entertained the idea of leaving babies and toddlers in substitute care so they could fulfill their adult needs outside the home.

It is modern feminism that told women they're just like men. It is modern feminism that taught women to postpone motherhood is search of greener pastures. It is modern feminism that taught women they can juggle demanding careers with babies and toddlers -- if they have the "right kind" of government. And now that women have seen the truth -- yes, women and men really are different; gee, postponing motherhood causes a plethora of fertility problems; and wow, motherhood is hard enough on its own without a full-time job -- they are overwhelmed, exhausted, and downright unhappy.

You won't see any of this argued in The Shriver Report.

The second important finding of the TIME article is that "women no longer view matrimony as a necessary station on the road to financial security or parenthood." This is huge. Huge. Yet no mention of it in The Shriver Report. It is modern feminism that has caused women to believe marriage is unnecessary. According to the article, more men than women consider marriage "very important" to their happiness. Too bad for them, I guess, since women don't agree. Men have become totally irrelevant in this country. We need a bona fide men's movement.

More on TSR tomorrow...