"Out of Touch"

It’s clear from my last post that there is a sense that someone who is fiscally conservative – in the fairly moderate manner of being accepting of, if not enamored with, a progressive tax in which the top bracket total percentage is 50% or lower – and does not vote for every Democratic candidate for President (although actually, I always have in the past) is somehow “out of touch.”

Never mind that other concerns have been voiced consistently over months, and deal with feminism – a liberal concern. Well, maybe not – while Feminism the movement appears preoccupied with liberalism in general, I’m not quite sure the reverse is true. But I digress. Or, maybe not.

And never mind that there are numerous reasons why a feminist who isn’t blown away by the experience or substantive policies of the Democratic candidate would have principled reasons not to vote Democratic in 2008.

Now, disagreement is fine. One could argue that the middle class needs a boost, Obama will likely not get carried away (some may feel even substantial redistribution is OK), and the Supreme Court issues pose a great risk even with a Democratic congress. That’s fine. But it is really so inconceivable to believe disincentivizing small business is actually going to be bad for the middle and lower classes (after all, an awful lot of economists at liberal campuses do). Is it out of touch to notice when misogyny isn’t contradicted numerous times over, when it comes not just from surrogates but from close, long-term friends and associates, some of whom have been asked to play key campaign roles? I remember Larry Summers’ famous comments about women’s inferiority. Everyone else does too. Appointing him a senior advisor sends a message, especially coupled with paying female staffers eighty-two cents on the dollar.

One could argue – well even with all that, McCain will be so much worse for the Supreme Court. Could very well be. That’s why I don’t endorse either candidate. However, I note that McCain’s move to the right and Biden’s to the left on abortion coincided with their 2008 campaigning. I also note that Obama was enamored with Roberts before an aide told him not to be. And finally, the democrat-packed, likely filibuster-proof congress. I’ve read enough legal articles to convince me which liberal issues could be compromised with a Republican president, and I don’t think choice is one of them. Still, I believe it’s legitimate to disagree with me on this issue.

However, “out of touch” suggests either that it is impossible for two people to want the same thing but believe in different mechanisms for getting there or that the person who is allegedly “out of touch” doesn’t really understand how to get there, whereas the accuser does. Because if people are upset about the economy, the accuser’s strategy is the obvious, the only, way to fix it.

If only it were so simple. A fixed amount of production which can be split any which way, staying constant throughout. Um, no. That’s not how it works. Economists much more skilled than either I or those on the other side of the post below have argued about these points for centuries. It doesn’t yield to a convenient “those who disagree are greedy and out of touch” conclusion.

But wait? Is there more going on here?

After all, I am not the only person not voting for Obama (although some days it seems so!). But I am female, and I am a feminist. Could those be related to the shock, the disgust at how “out of touch” I am?

Let’s talk about “out of touch” for a bit. I’m not going to boringly, self-servingly, dip into my creds once more. Most here know I have experienced some highs and some lows, but not the highest highs or the lowest lows. The bottom line is, unless any of the commenters are family members or old friends who’ve somehow figured out who I am (aside from Mom, who reads here and disagrees with me on this issue among others, but has already told me that in person) – nobody has the background with which to make that accusation.

I wonder whether male bloggers whose conservative creds are so nebulous as mine – basically amounting to being a small-l libertarian democrat – get this kind of accusation. Or whether it’s assumed that their stands, agreeable or not, are at least principled and researched.

I also wonder whether being a feminist is part of where the grief is coming from. Aren’t we supposed to be the National Organization of [Liberal] Women? Feminism should ideally be characterized by the ability for women to be independent, but is the ideal actually to simply transfer ones fealty from the Right-Wing Patriarchy to the Lefty one?

Who knows? All I know is: I’m a feminist, my goal is a healthy, safe, economically thriving (at all levels and especially the most vulnerable) country. And when I marked my ballot last week, I voted, albeit unenthusiastically, for John McCain.