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Sarah Palin recently granted her 50th endorsement of Republican office seekers. All but one are women. She is positioning herself as the biggest and baddest of the "Grizzly Moms," fighting to defend the indefensible, sustain the unsustainable, and keep going what is already gone.
In the world according to Sarah, 'Grizzly Moms,' as the largest and most dangerous species of the bear kingdom, are standing on their hind legs and mauling anyone who dares "to do something adverse toward their cubs."
Their 'cubs' in this case certainly aren't the hapless Chicago Cubs (Obama is a White Sox fan). And these cubs have nothing to do with children, except as props for their ambitions, as exemplified by Palin.
No, the powerless cubs in question are average Americans, who have been bamboozled by that socialist Obama and the liberal media 'lamestream.'
In a priceless bit of projection, given the rightwing extremism they represent, a group of Palin's Tea Party followers in Iowa put up a billboard showing Obama sandwiched between pictures of Hitler and Lenin, with the headings: "National Socialism, Democrat Socialism, and Marxist Socialism." After an immediate uproar (in a week in which the NAACP marginally condemned the bigoted 'faction' of the Tea Party), the sign was removed.
The unsettling hilarity of the billboard was accentuated by the cosmically ironic subtitle, "Radical Leaders Prey On the Fearful and Naive." The totalitarians in the Tea Party/Palin/Republican black tide sweeping the United States have come up with a perfect Trojan horse in their war to "take back America"-women who "wear pink and put a bow on it."
What better way to install the rightful, Constitutional government of this Christian nation? Yes indeedy, as Sarah says, "this year will be remembered as a year when common-sense conservative women get things done for our country."
We shouldn't be surprised that the greatest threat to our liberties and institutions are those shouting the loudest about upholding our liberties and institutions. Obama's shallow campaign of Hope and Change, lacking substance, has turned into a gathering tsunami driven by the fear of change.
As Palin warns, "a lot of women who are very concerned about their kids' futures are saying, 'we don't like this fundamental transformation, and we're gonna do something about it.' "
Kathleen Porter writes in the Washington Post that the "The Mom Movement is hardly new. Soccer moms...hockey moms, and now, mama bears. Womanhood has become a zoo. And we thought men were the beasts."
Men who follow Sarah Palin are either dweebs in socks and sandals, or punch-drunk old boys in big trucks with gun racks. The former never entered manhood; the latter are whipped and don't know it.
I've a friend in town, a fairly well known poet with whom I've had a few excellent conversations about the Pyrrhic victory of women in the war between the sexes. Our first discussion began with my asking: Have you ever heard the old maxim from anthropology, "women are the culture bearers?" My friend said she had.
Do you share my deep perception and feeling that the 'North American culture hearth' has burned out, leaving nothing but ashes? "You mean that it's dead," Susan stated matter-of-factly. "But what does that mean, for a culture to become dead?"
It's happened many times in human history, hasn't it-a culture dies a natural or premature death? Sometimes it deteriorates and limps along, even for hundreds of years, like the Egyptian civilization did long after it flowered and died. But I don't think we have that option, do you? "That's true," Susan said.
Do you think that women are emotionally stronger than men as a rule? "Yes, and women have become dominant in this culture, in some strange way, which seems to combine the worst traits of both sexes," Susan replied.
At that moment, as we talked on the narrow, mostly pedestrian park road, an average 20-something couple walked by. The young man was pushing a baby carriage, with the obligatory dog attached. He said he wanted to cross the footbridge, but the young woman told him, in no uncertain terms, that they were going to continue the way they were going.
"That kind of thing seems to be the norm now," Susan commented.
If all this is true, I have a question for you: Why are women keeping this dead culture going?
Her faced dropped as the logical conclusion of our enquiry sank in. "I don't know," Susan replied. I don't either, I said, and we left, both feeling perplexed and disturbed.
Now Sarah Palin, the alpha bear of the 'Grizzly Moms,' has answered the riddle. The 'Grizzly Moms' are the last bulwark against the American people accepting the truth that every reasonable person privately acknowledges: The American way of life as we've known it is dead and gone.
Out of fear of change, reactionary women have taken the lead. But where are they leading us, except to greater ruin by holding together the very culture that they purportedly loathe?
Contrary to popular opinion, women and men don't belong to separate species. Nor are women the perpetual victims of a culture that men alone made.
Palin and her 'go girl' cheerleaders are right in their implicit charge; most men have become useless, clueless, and powerless. But there are a few of us left standing, ready, willing, and able to work with good women to create a new culture.
******
Martin LeFevre is a contemplative, and non-academic religious and political philosopher. He welcomes dialogue. martinlefevre@sbcglobal.net
Published with permission of the author. All copyright remains with the author.
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