'Progressives Need A Palin Of Their Own?'

This piece in the New York Times made me absolutely cackle..which is a good thing, since we've got some fairly heavy items to get to later.

It consists of Anna Homes and Rebecca Traister, a couple of self-styled feminists and progressives absolutely livid over the fact that the Democrats 'have done nothing to stop an anti-choice, pro-abstinence, socialist-bashing Tea Party enthusiast from becoming the 21st century symbol of American women in politics.' Presumably by the Democrats failing to come up with their own Sarah Palin, only one that will stay on the Democrat reservation and be a Good Girl.

What really apparently frosts them is that they see Sarah Palin's success as being a gift courtesy of 'rights' bequeathed to her from feminist progressives...and one Governor Palin has craftily misused against them. Horrors!

Compassionate man that I am, I've decided to take it upon myself to explain to the ladies exactly why a progressive Sarah Palin would be an impossibility, and why it's almost certain they would absolutely hate it if it happened.

Sarah Palin's success and ascendancy is not due to anything feminist progressives or anyone else gave her. She is a product of her own grit, discipline, determination and mad political skillz, and the fact that the authors of this piece are unwilling to give her credit for that unfortunately reveals them as the anti-feminists they actually are.

In fact, here's an ugly little secret - the rights they're talking about didn't come from feminists, but from those Evil White Males they undoubtedly despise, who crafted legislation and voted for equal rights for women because they thought it was the right thing to do. Let's not forget that the first US State to give women the right to vote was not a 'progressive' state back east but rock ribbed, conservative Wyoming...who also elected the first female governor, Nellie Taloe Ross.

Conservatives respect individuals for their achievements and abilities. The Left thinks of them as members of a group.

Sarah Palin became governor of Alaska by taking on the entrenched establishment of her own party and winning against the odds. And after she was on the losing end of the 2008 election and was hounded out of office in what amounted to a conspiracy to destroy her, she started from scratch and built herself what amounts to a political machine all her own by taking on that the same establishment. And she's winning, on her own terms.

There's no way any of this could ever happen amongst 'progressives'.

The Left prizes orthodoxy and groupthink above all things, a legacy of its Stalinist past. And since the Angry Left took over the Democrats, nobody challenges the party establishment, its identity politics or its tenants of faith. Can you imagine, for instance, a female Democrat coming out against NARAL's position on partial birth abortion? Or calling for legislation to rein in frivolous lawsuits? Or supporting Arizona's SB 1070 on immigration? Such a politician would be demonized and destroyed, regardless of her feminist credentials.

This groupthink is so ingrained that even male politicians who are serial abusers of women - Bill Clinton comes to mind - get a pass from progressive feministas provided they're down for the agenda.

Part of Sarah Palin's appeal is that she lives dangerously and has had no problem taking on the GOP establishment. That would simply be impossible for anyone mired in the Church of Progressive orthodoxy.

Another problem with the Left coming up with its own Sarah Palin is the construct of the Democratic party. It is based on ethnic and gender identity politics, grievance mongering and special interests . And in many cases, not only do the aims of some of these groups actually conflict but involve constant competition over who's the most worthy to receive the spoils and goodies.

We saw a prime example of this in that same 2008 campaign where Hillary Clinton actually ended up winning the large state primaries and the majority of actual state delegates only to get robbed of the nomination by the superdelegates and party big shots and handed to Barack Obama...because, among other things, the Democrat powers that be felt they couldn't alienate the black vote.

Conservatives and the GOP indeed have their factions, but they have largely avoided division on these lines. Which means that a Sarah Palin can garner appeal across a number of factions...not just because she's a woman but because of who she is and what she's accomplished.

Sorry ladies. Sarah Palin couldn't exist in Progressiville. And that's actually pretty sad.

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