DaNoodle is here and I salute Barbara Howey, a wife, mother and Republican leader in Marin County, for stepping up to provide the Bay Area with a kinder, softer, more gentle view of Republicans and how we think.
Barb is typical of most Republican women: she is a mother (her daughter is now back at NYU), an active volunteer, highly educated and has held executive positions in the working world: in political speak she is a "soccer mom." Soccer moms are critical to the Republican Party...they weigh in heavily at dinner tables every evening with their spouses and/or children. Soccer moms voice (sometimes loudly!) concerns about safety for their children, security of our country, the quality of public education and public facilities (school bond measures in Marin County do not lose very often), about traffic and the environment...typical things that today drive most "politics" on both sides of the political spectrum.
The art of politics in a democratic society is to get people to side with you....majority rules. At the local and state levels, Democrats of late, particularly Bay Area Democrats, have done a good job of co-opting the political process by identifying and catering to the three pillars of self interest who, if they can all continue to cooperate, will enjoy the "far leaning Left tilt" and richly deserved political "whacko" status given the Bay Area by pundits throughout the country. The "three pillars" of self interest are: the public employee unions (who vote for their bosses enmass via elections which translates to million dollar lifetime pension and medical benefits and is now bankrupting the state and numerous counties...including Marin), the environmentalists (currently camping out in oak trees and playing bongo drums at UC Berkeley's Memorial Coliseum) and the bicyclists, who feel its just fine break multitudes of laws on the books to shut down the City of San Francisco every other week by taking "rides to nowhere" and causing nightmarish traffic jams for people who are trying to get home to their families. (Another or fourth Pillar would be the gay/lesbian/transgender community, however, their impact within the Bay Area is centered primarily in San Francisco.) However, the result is still the same: these "pillars of self interest," when colluding and acting collectively, have damaged our democracy. Their singular issue focus, at the expense of all other issues, their collective power has led policy makers and pandering politicians to perform unnatural acts.
Examples of this "laws made by our democracy don't apply to me" are everywhere: SF Mayor Gavin Newsom breaking federal law by claiming San Francisco will "recognize gay marriages" with the federal courts coming back and saying....."ahem...Gavin thats not how it works." and nullifying all the ceremonies that occurred. Remember Gavin... the pyramid of the judicial system is local, county, state and federal.....not the other way around. When you are President..God help us.... THEN you get to make grandioso gestures like that...good luck.
Or how about the public employee unions claiming that they and their members should be invisible to taxpayers as it relates to how much their members make in wages, salaries, overtime, vacation, retirement, medical benefits or even hours worked? Their rationale, drunk like kool aid by our own Marin County Supervisors, was equally pathetic....ummm... "we shouldn't release this information because telemarketers will know how much we make and may try to sell us stuff." Are you kidding me?
It took years in court, but again the judicial system saved me from jumping off a bridge in disgust in a unanimous decision saying in effect: "public union bosses are not in charge here....taxpayers are...show us the names and the payouts." So now the fun begins.... Marin county taxpayers will witness first hand just how rich many of these (tongue in cheek here) "public servants" are...can you say "millionaires" ....because the press can now show us. And with that information out, our Marin County Supervisors should do us all a favor....$700mm in unfunded liabilities later....and think about retiring too.
The bicyclists are a unique breed....hybrids of jocks and jocketts mixed with a healthier dose of radical arrogance "me, me, me, I, I, I" lifestyles and environmentalism. Their "dream" is a carless society and in their mind..it is. We have all seen the rage of a bicyclist who simply won't acknowlege the fact that five cars are trying to get by her on a windy road over Mount Tam. Of all the special interests, I have the most in common with the bicyclists.... however, I would stop at "build me bicycle lanes along side of your car lanes and I won't be so obnoxious".
So back to Barb and all the great moms in the County. How do we help get their voices to be heard over the three pillars of self interest above? The soccer mom's interests aren't about "million dollar taxpayer funded payouts", or Prius cars or bicycle lanes...its about their kids, families, safety, transportation, education and community. I have some ideas, have tried to implement some myself but remain amazed at the power of the three pillars. One thing I do know...I wouldn't bet against Barb and those like her. Fiesty bunch those soccer moms.
