A Christian Liberal is NOT an oxymoron.

Posted by XT on May 12th, 2009 in US News

All of a sudden, people are noticing that there are relatively few Republican women in office. What next? Perhaps we’ll be discussing the surprise observation that black people tend to support Democrats…

It’s worth noting, however, the “explanation” given by Bonnie Erbe:

I think the main reason [for the difference in numbers of office holders], however, is that Republican women are generally more traditional than Democratic women, who tend to be more progressive. Therefore, GOP women are more likely to be fulltime homemakers or to work part-time and not to pursue all-consuming careers such as politics. Republican women like former Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio) have even agreed with me in conversation that this is the case.

This is a problem that first year political science students are warned of – the Culture Explanation. The reason such-and-such happens to this group but that group is explained by “CULTURE.” Okay, yeah, it might be true, but it does nothing to help anyone explain why things are as they are. It’s a cop-out because it explains the way things are by saying, “Well, that’s the way things are.” The question that Erbe’s answer begs is: “Why is the GOP unable to gain the support of women who don’t stay at home?”

It isn’t about seeking blame. After all, it hardly matters who left who – Arlen Specter and thousands of fellow Pennsylvanians are now Democrats rather than Republicans. But if the Republican Party wants to be, you know, competitive, then they have to find a way to reach someone who isn’t already within the fold.

Take a look at the 2008 Republican platform and it becomes pretty easy to tell whose votes the GOP is going after. Especially if one looks at the values plank. There are nine points, and they include such things as gun rights, stopping flag desecration, stopping abortion, and “preserving traditional marriage.” You’ll be hard-pressed to find “women’s groups” that list those as top priorities (example). Even the National Federation of Republican Women picks education and protecting children from sexual predators over those issues (although they do say they stand for “Republican values” at all levels of politics).

The GOP Platform states:

Faithful to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence, we assert the inherent dignity and sanctity of all human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life.

That isn’t a popular position:

As long has been the case, women and men support legal abortion in roughly equal numbers. In this poll 61 percent of women and 58 percent of men say it should be legal in all or most cases. And while 58 percent of men say abortion should be illegal to end an unwanted pregnancy, so do 52 percent of women.

It isn’t a blanket endorsement of abortion (if you check the Democratic platform, you won’t find a blanket endorsement there, either). But it is a strong repudiation of the extreme position the GOP has staked out.

And on the issue of “traditional marriage”, which means opposition to allowing gay people to get married, CBS News found that 38% of women support full marriage and 26% support civil unions – which means that more than half of all women disagree with the GOPs official position.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if moderates (and women) left the GOP or vice versa. The purge is continuing, though. So, the Republicans can do one of two things. One: They can moderate their stance (amending the Constitution is not the answer to everything). Two: They can hope that about thirty percent of the American population suddenly decides they want to embrace the “Republican values” that have been driving them away.

Sphere: Related Content