IN a piece at National Review Online, Heather Mac Donald laments Romney’s craven appeals to feminists,  a theme I discussed here last week. She writes:

Even if the women’s vote existed (Ramesh shows it to be largely a phantom), it would not be a good strategy to pursue it — at least as that pursuing is conventionally done. The distortions inflicted by delusional feminist grievance on this country’s core institutions — from workplaces to universities and the family — is enormous. It is therefore nauseating and infuriating to see the Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee so mindlessly ape the bromides of the feminist Left. That aping may proceed out of rankest political calculation and cynical opportunism, rather than true belief, but by feeding the feminist beast, the Republican strategists are only strengthening its lies and making it harder to combat them when they are directed against mainstream causes.

Mac Donald makes excellent points. I highly recommend the piece. However, in the end she suggests Romney confine himself to economic libertarianism, which is essentially not anti-feminist. She writes:

Romney is at his best when speaking from the heart about the power and beauty of the free market. He won me over in a debate with McCain during the last election, when he shot down McCain’s demagoguery about the evil profits of drug companies with the simple observation that pharmaceutical makers were bringing valuable products to market at considerable financial risk to themselves and should be rewarded for their efforts. If women’s votes can’t be won with such core truths, they’re not worth it. Romney should stick to a gender-blind defense of free enterprise, and leave the feminist fever dreams to the Democrats.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as “a gender-blind defense of free enterprise.” Anyone who advocates an end to institutionalized, government-enforced favoritism for women will inevitably be challenged on his views of the place of women. Feminism is a comprehensive view of society and the roles of men and women. The libertarian can at best advocate individual freedom and choice, but not a positive vision to replace the positive vision of feminism.

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