Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
April 12, 2012
“His wife has actually never worked a day in her life.
She’s never really dealt with the kind of economic issues that a majority of
the women in the country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do
we send them to school,” said lobbyist and Democratic pundit Hilary Rosen of
Ann Romney, wife of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Rosen, also an advisor for the Democratic National
Committee, stirred up a firestorm with her incendiary and insensitive remarks
about the values of stay at home moms who make the sacrifice, albeit of their
choosing, to put a career on hold or even abandon it entirely for the supremely
more important JOB of raising children.
Children that are the next generation of American
citizens to further the American dream, the American way of life and extol the
virtues of freedom, capitalism and democracy. And one of the best ways to
produce such potentially stellar citizens – future leaders, doctors, nurses,
lawyers, teachers, soldiers, engineers, and yes, the next generation of stay at
home mothers, is by having a parent at home to raise the children – not day
care or nannies, which some deem necessary to having children.
This is not a condemnation of working women, but instead,
a deleterious lifestyle brought about by permissiveness and irresponsible
behavior – by men and women alike.
Some women say they must work in order to support their
children. While they are working, they are spending a huge percentage of that
salary to pay for others to raise those children. Trade the salary for raising
the children themselves and it’s a virtual financial wash. If you can’t afford
children, don’t have them until you can.
Government, and more specifically former President Lyndon
Johnson’s so-called Great Society, allowed for a welfare check to replace a
father in the home. Thus began the great descent into the rising percentages of
out of wedlock births and the expectation that government would provide for the
children when the single mother didn’t.
Reality dictates that a two-parent family is better
equipped to provide for the needs of children. With the loosening of morality
in the United States and teenaged parents being glorified on cable television
along with single-parent families more the norm than the exception, there is a
level of expectation by society that government owes these people something of
a life and a living. There is a paucity of personal responsibility.
According to Fox News in 2008 there were 5.3 million stay
at home moms, down to 5.1 million in 2009 and down yet again in 2010 to five
million, with 23 percent of married couples with children under 15 years of age
having a stay at home mom.
And, when a woman such as Ann Romney decides to stay at
home and raise her five sons, there is criticism by women such as Hilary Rosen
that Romney’s way is archaic and Rosen’s is the accepted norm. Yet, Romney did
not take to web, blogosphere or editorial pages to condemn Rosen’s lifestyle as
a single lesbian raising her adopted children. Instead, Romney, in her classy
style, took the high road.
“She should have come to my house when those five boys
were causing so much trouble,” said Romney, as she chuckled when asked her gut
reaction to Rosen’s comments. “It wasn’t so easy.” The Romneys have been
married 42 years with five children and 16 grandchildren.
“Ann Romney is one of the smartest, hard working women I
know. [She] could have done anything with her life, [but] chose to raise me,”
said Josh Romney of his mother, via Twitter.
“My career choice was to be a mother. We need to respect
choices women make,” said Romney adding that she respects the choices other
women such as Rosen made of being both a parent and having her career. “And let
me give a shout out to all those dads at home raising kids – this is obviously
an awesome responsibility. To me it’s the most important thing we can do,” said
Romney.
“Mitt said to me, your job is more important than mine,”
continued Romney, adding that while Mitt was earning money, he admitted that
his job was temporary, telling his wife that her job is a forever job. “So he
had perspective on this,” said Romney. “Mitt respects women who make those
choices.”
Addressing Rosen’s claim that the former Massachusetts
governor seems old fashioned when it comes to women and that “he doesn’t see us
as equals,” Ann Romney shot that notion down quickly, noting her husband’s
chief of staff when governor was a woman as was his lieutenant governor – Kerry
Healy.
“Women are talking about economic issues,” said Ann
Romney, adding that the economy is weak with a huge debt burden “that will
strangle our kids.” Women are also talking about their own job security as well
as the security of their husbands’ jobs, she said, noting that Mitt is
“listening and he cares.”
Ann Romney reminded Rosen that, while not financial, “I
have had struggles in life. We care about those people that are struggling.” A
survivor of breast cancer and fighting the ills of Multiple Sclerosis, Romney
wants to find cures of these diseases and no doubt will make those her
signature issues should she ascend to the White House as First Lady.
Ann Romney defined the 2012 presidential election as “a
battle for the soul of America.”
Sanford D. Horn is
a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
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