Last week several lawmakers were on the Capitol steps making small talk
pretending they gave a damn about their jobs for what Sen. Rand Paul (the
anti-woman zealot) called a bipartisan “coffee break.” However, it was Sen. Susan Collins of Maine
who pulled the senators, all men, into a huddle to actually talk about what
matters. And what matters? Getting her colleagues to push Congress into
deal-making.
Suzy
Khimm and Jessica Taylor wrote about the Republican women who are trying to
fix the government for MSNBC. I know I don’t go there much either. However, for
six days no one heard anything from Sen. Collins, until Sens. Lisa Murkowski
and Kelly Ayotte signed a six-month budget agreement to reopen the government
while giving agencies more flexibility on sequestration and repeal Obamacare’s
medical device tax. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and some Democrats think
this is an idea worth considering.
Khimm and Taylor are quick to point out that this isn’t going to be the
final bill we see if we ever get a solution, but it is a nice reminder that
while the extremists are grabbing for power there are some moderates somewhere
trying to work together. They also point out:
“Many senators say Collins’ moves reflect another dynamic as well: while male leaders of both parties have barely been speaking to each other, much less negotiating, Republican women have never stopped talking to their Democratic counterparts in the Senate.”
Actually, these women have continued to work on some serious issues like
military sexual assault and mental health. Khimm and Taylor pose the question, “Would
Washington be a different place it the tactics of women senators, who make up just
20% of the Senate, were the norm?”
The word on the Hill among the other women, yes, yes it would. Some
Democrat women say that the only people who are talking to them are the Republican
women, and they are trying to do something here. The women for example appear
to be regularly getting together to talk informally. It is very reminiscent of
years gone by. And interestingly enough, when these women were getting together
for a dinner, Rep. Paul Ryan and seven of this male colleagues were sitting
across the table from empty chairs in a feeble attempt to same Senate Democrats
into meeting with them.
The article concludes with this from Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan
when asked about women leading the way out of the fiscal mess, “We all used to
balancing family budgets and dealing with children that are bullies and misbehave.
And so sometimes that comes in handy.”
Now the article makes a lot of assumptions about the nature of women,
some coming from quotes from the women lawmakers. That said, there is a lot of
true to the socialization of women. We are taught to value compromise over
victory, and to talk out problems oppose to yelling and shouting over one
another. This doesn’t always work in our favor though, see the Wendy Davis
filibuster. In the US government these skills are very valuable especially as
the men in the House and Senate can’t seem to have any kind of discussions.
I’m not endorsing the plan that Sen. Collins came up with because I haven’t
read it and I don’t think we should compromise too much because well, Speaker
John Boehner is doing this and the House GOP need to learn a lesson. It does
seem like a step in the right direction.
All the politics aside though, maybe it is time we start putting an
emphasis on socializing boy identifying and male born children in the same ways
we socialize the girl identified and female born children? Girls have their
problems, see Mean Girls, but the
value of compromise and working together to meet a goal does take priority over
a lot of other things. And honestly, I’d rather my elected representation work
together then play king of the mountain.
Women are still grossly underrepresented in the House and the Senate, but
this is as good a reason as any to get more women elected.
