Austin Centrist: "Right Wing Baby Menace" Writer Can Relax

Saturday, April 01, 2006

"Right Wing Baby Menace" Writer Can Relax

Believe it or not, The Daily Texan this week published an editorial entitled "Right Wing Baby Menace." Texan columnist Christine Acker is catatonic that right-wing fundamentalists (as she calls them the "patriarchy") will take over the country and deprive her and other women of all their rights. I am not a fortune-teller so I will concede that anything can happen in politics, but I do dispute her central point, which is that this political result is inevitable because married Christian conservative women have more children. Here is a link to her missive:

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2006/03/30/Opinion/RightWing.Baby.Menace-1764920.shtml?norewrite200604010143&sourcedomain=www.dailytexanonline.com&mkey=1051127

There are a few problems with Ms. Acker's demographics is destiny thesis. Most importantly, she is assuming that all these children grow up to be exactly like their parents. Psychologists have for years documented the fact that children often do the opposite and rebel against their parents. A recent poll showed that 74 percent of high school students in America support gay marriage - not likely that all of these students' parents have the same view.

Of course, Ms. Acker also overlooks other trends like immigration, which also affect the pool of voters. Regardless of who is having children, more progressive cultural attitudes continue to shape society and the electorate - the fact is that we have seen ever-exapnding career opportunities for women in the private sector, quite apart from any government policy.

Ms. Acker - calm down - you do not need to move to Canada because right-wing women keep giving birth.

There are so many overlapping democgraphic dynamics influencing the direction of our country.
The Hispanic minority will become a majority. They tend to be socially conservative but the Republicans may alienate them with the persecution of immigrants. The fraction of independent voters is growing.
Reversing Roe v wade will alarm moderate Republicans and mobilize Dems. EMILY's list will explode in size. Global warming and increasing energy costs will impact our pocketbooks and votes.

Handicapping the future of politics is like playing pool on rocking cruise ship. As always I maintain that our only hope is electing representatives who are more concerned with pragmatism than ideology.

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