Regarding "Family Values"

[entirelysonja]

I find it surprising that the Republican Party, which always tries to position itself as being in favor of "Family Values," is about to select a Vice Presidential candidate who has a four-month-old baby

Comments

[leora]

Yeah, I find it surprising. Although I think if she were male nobody would care. Although breastfeeding from a distance seems difficult, even if you express milk, how do you get it to the baby?

I'm fine with the father become a full-time parent and raising the kids if that is what works for them. From what I've read, which I can't confirm, from people claiming to be Alaskan, she gets a lot of help from her mother raising her children. Although it also said that when she ran for her position in Alaska she said her husband would become a full-time parent and then he didn't and then she said she hadn't actually discussed it with him... I hope that is false because I find that massively disturbing.

It's weird, because so little is known about her.

Basically, I think she probably could be VP and raise her kids with the involvement of her husband and family. But i agree that it is a bit strange. I think the campaigning will be harder on the baby and the ability to form a good bond than the actual VPing would.

[vegaenglit]

im sure that being VP would also mean she would have an army support staff to help.

[hill_the_khore]

I'm in agreement that there's a gender issue here. My first response was that if she were male, everyone would be talking about what a wonderful path he's making for his child and what a wonderful opportunity this is for the family. As a female, she's subject to a different set of rules, and I don't think that's quite fair.

[entirelysonja]

It seems to me that the problem here may be more that so little is expected of men as fathers in our society, rather than that too much is expected of women.

A father who is actually involved in the day-to-day care of his 4-month-old probably wouldn't have time to run for Vice President, either.

[lillibet]

Yeah--this stuff occurred to me, not so much from my own position, but from that of the people who are supposedly so excited about her. I don't see how she's actually exemplifying "family values" as they are generally promulgated by the Conservative Christian movement. But they've never been the most consistent bunch.

[jason237]

I once read someone's formulation of this situation as an irregular verb, conjugated thus:

(I) am making a difference.
(You) should really be home with the kids.
(She) is destroying our society.

[jlsgaladriel]

I think that the conservative formulation of "family values" is mostly about *producing* family, and not so much about how one fosters relationship within the family.

(I know that's too simple: I believe the concept also includes, for example, financial support of the children one has within the family structure, but the Palins certainly have this aspect covered.)

So Palin's ability to produce children -- even those with serious health needs -- within a financially viable family is the salient point. Likewise, even Palin's daughter's bearing her child becomes a positive mark of "adulthood," cemented by her decision to marry the father and form a family.

I think perhaps the German concept of family values speaks more to *quality* than to this sort of functionality, but I believe the conservative concept is almost entirely functional, not qualitative.

[vegaenglit]

somehow i think bristol's "decision" to carry to term/marry her babydaddy wasnt made completely freely.

[jlsgaladriel]

Oh I'm sure I agree with that -- although I'd hazard a guess that one way or another, very few seventeen-year-old pregnant girls have much real freedom in their decisions.

[leora]

Whether it was made freely or not, and I'm willing to assume that it is what Bristol wants, I think what's important to remember is hat Sarah Palin wants to make it illegal for other women to choose freely. The choice might be right for Bristol. And it may have been right for Sarah. But that doesn't mean it is right for every woman. And that's the important thing. What her daughter does doesn't really matter. But what she wants to legislate for everybody does.