OPINIONATED AND RELENTLESSLY INQUISITIVE readers have pulled me into an examination of the universal franchise without allowing time to offer useful background and perspective. Fortunately, another reader has come to the rescue with this very short primer on the subject and comments have been added to his remarks.

Robert B. writes:

Perhaps a little history will help your readership here.

The Ancient Greeks invented the idea and philosophy of Democracy, this is a given. But the reasoning behind it is not. The Greeks came to understand that if a man was to support the “State” through his labor (taxes) and with his life (military service) then he should, by all moral rights, have say in the matters at hand–thus the idea of voting and of suffrage were born. The term “suffrage” means, literally, to suffer the pain of the right to vote–that is, one must pay taxes and one must bear military service when called upon. Thus was the idea of a Republican Democracy born. Those who did not suffer the pain, could not vote, even if they were citizens. (more…)

SOMEWHERE right now in this country a woman is probably being hired for a job a man can do. Women will always need jobs, the questions are: How many and what kind of jobs? While that woman being hired may very well perform admirably, the likelihood that she will not be the primary financial supporter of her family is stronger than if she were a man. The likelihood that she will leave at some point to care for family is higher. And, regardless of whether she is in the postion of primary breadwinner, families and our entire culture do better when men occupy the breadwinner role.

There are many thousands of men over the age of 50 who in this latest downturn have had to start their careers over. Many have not found work. Some will never return to their former level of employment even though they are still capable and healthy. There are young men in their twenties taking unpaid internships, teaching English in Korea or playing video games in a back bedroom of their parents’ homes, lapsing into a state of deepening withdrawal. Their prospects are daunting. They are voluntarily withdrawing or biding their time until they can find real work, their chances of starting families reasonably early and on an economically-sound footing depressingly low.

The poor economy, in this unfortunate sense, is an opportunity. It is a chance to develop the will for the long-term fight against laws and regulations that make it illegal for businesses and government to discriminate on the basis of sex. While women should not be barred from any fields, no business should be forced to hire women and men in equal or similar proportions. Businesses should be free to respond to public pressure. They should be free to discriminate on the basis of sex. (more…)

  A COLLEGE STUDENT whom I know is studying the philosophical works of Western history, as well as works about the philosophical works of Western history. He made this interesting comment about his studies: I find I have a lot to say about the mediocre texts, but not so much to say about the great texts. This made me laugh, and reminded me of words by Gaius Musonius Rufus, a Roman Stoic philosopher. Rufus said that when we hear great truths, we are silenced. When we hear lesser ones, we applaud.

A NEW JERSEY elementary school recently directed all children, including boys, to dress up as women for an event celebrating Women’s History Month. Fortunately, the plan caused enough of an uproar by parents it was canceled. The principal then tried to deny that the school ever wanted boys to dress as women, even though the original letter home clearly stated that it did. You can read about the details at Publius’ Forum. One parent stated:

How is dressing like a woman from any era going to teach [my son] about history? Why not let him do a report, poster, or other project on this subject? If he was attending a vocational school in the field of textiles, women’s fashion, etc, then it would make sense. My son is adamantly opposed, and I don’t see how forcing my 9-year-old to cross-dress in front of the entire school body is going to teach him anything about Women’s History.

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  MORE INTERESTING COMMENTS have been added to recent posts on the franchise, the soaring illegitimacy rate, the faux manliness of Hillary Clinton and fatally distracted parents. Comments have also been added to "The Purloined Lunch," which offers reflections by readers on the meaning of serving a spouse. That discussion reminded me of another lunch story. A woman I know was divorced and rasing her nine-year-old daughter alone. The daughter was protective of her mother and every morning would make her a bag lunch before she went to work as a professional in a corporate office. One day the mother forgot her lunch. The daughter was distraught. She did something that perhaps would only occur to a child. She called the radio station her mother listened to on her commute to work and told the staff what had happened. They then announced on air, "Mrs. N, go home. You forgot your lunch!"

DAVID BROOKS’ recent words are strangely inspiring. If you recall, Brooks said the quintessential American product is something “coated in moral and psychological meaning.” Our famous conservative columnist believes America will enrich itself, and the rest of the world as well, with these special manufactures.

When you get right down to it, many things could be coated in moral and psychological meaning, don’t you agree? As Brooks said, affluent consumers “crave ” the stuff, and non-affluent consumers probably do too. Well, this got me craving for some myself. Here, inspired by Mr. Brooks, is my own personal culinary variation on his important and timely theme: (more…)

DIANE WRITES:

One of the big shortcomings I’ve found in the conservative strategy is that we lose sight of the fact that everyone sees through their own filter. If we want to reach liberals and leftists with truth, we have to tell them in a language they understand. Somehow, we keep trying to tell them in the way that WE understand, but they don’t have the kind of sensors that can hear the message in that language.  (more…)

Karen I. writes:

The article about children left in cars turned my stomach. Imagine the torment of the poor forgotten children. Children are being sacrificed for money, plain and simple. 

We have one vehicle, which is one of the many “sacrifices” I make to be home with my children. Even though it is a fairly new car in excellent condition, that I can take for the day whenever I want, people tell me they cannot imagine being a one-car family and they act as though I should be working so I can have a car of my own. As I drove my husband to work today, I passed at least six daycare centers on the busy street. They are all on the way to a major city where many professionals work. Countless mothers who need their own cars, fancy homes and designer clothes pull into the parking lot of those centers daily, drop their kids off without a backwards glance and speed off to important jobs. They truly believe they have no choice because how else can they pay for all those things they need? Sadly, I can see where a parent with this mindset would “forget” the child because the child is not seen as a person, but as a chore in the busy morning routine. Drop off the dry cleaning, drop off the child…it’s all the same, right? Until a tragedy reminds us otherwise. (more…)

Twenty years ago, I began making my husband lunch every day, a bag lunch though I rarely packaged it in the traditional brown bag.

Women have made lunches for their husbands for eons, long before there were factories or corporate campuses or high-rise office buildings. Farm wives heaped the table at noontime. Men in India carried their tiffin in metal holders to keep it warm, a practice which has possibly declined due to the large-scale departure of Indian women for the office themselves. Making lunch for a working man is as old as time. It seems a mundane and perfectly ordinary thing to do.

But, it isn’t a mundane and ordinary thing to do anymore. It seems beset with political overtones. I knew that making lunch for my husband everyday would not win me the esteem of others. (more…)

A SPRING day makes an old tree look young.

The ancient oak, its roots upturning the cracked plates of a misplaced sidewalk, corrugated bark frayed and acne-ridden, haggard limbs immodestly outstretched, wears a youthful fringe. High above the street, ignored by the preoccupied in occupied cars, seed and leaf unfurl. In festive alliance, wisdom and inexperience commingle against the moody spring sky.

Who wins? The green frills are there. They dangle and swing. They drop with the slightest stress to the sidewalk below.  A few may land.  None will grow, but those that briefly decorate the majesty and acceptance, the piety and determination the mature leaves obscure.

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SEE Rick Darby’s skewering of New York Times columnist David Brooks, who forecasts a bright future with Americans providing “emotional experiences” to the rest of the world.

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WHEN women become leaders of society, entering previously male domains of authority in significant numbers, they feminize leadership. To feminize something is by definition to make it less stern, less weighty, less serious and less plain. This is not the case with every female leader. Margaret Thatcher did not feminize the British government. Janet Reno did not make the position of attorney general a girly thing. When individual women are manly and accept masculine standards, they do not change the nature of the job.

But with the entry of many women into leadership positions, the inevitable Oprah-ization and feminine embellishment occurs. After all, women can’t stop being women. They can’t become manly any more than a cat can become a bicycle, and who would want them to? A perfect example of this phenomenon is the creation by one woman of a single-issue Barbie doll with the high church outfit of an Episcopalian priest. Barbie adorns the office of the Rev. Dena Cleaver-Bartholomew, rector of Christ (Episcopal) Church, in Manlius, N.Y.

Whether this Barbie poses serious marketing opportunities, I cannot say. But as a woman who once avidly played with dolls, I can say that this outfit suggests tantalizing possibilities. It possesses the right amount of drama and interest. I can imagine taking on and off the tiny hat and having Barbie sweep into an imaginary room with her majestic cape. Cleaver-Bartholomew says Barbie could be used for evangelization, providing evidence that Christians “have a sense of humor, we can be fun.” Precisely. The woman priest removes the stern face and the furrowed brow from Christianity. She makes God an easygoing guy or even an appealing blonde.

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HERE’S from a hilarious piece in The Onion that shows “sexism is rampant in nature”: (more…)