The Democratic Party establishment must be really be desperate. This past week America got another peek at what the Democratic strategy will be for the 2014 and 2016 election cycles, and it was wretched. As both major political parties prepare to enter the arena of ideas to win over the hearts and minds of the voters, the Democrats seemed satisfied to come armed only with hyperbole and demagoguery. The fact neither of these will help restore a civil tone to an already vicious political atmosphere seems to matter very little to the Democratic establishment.
As the Democrat leadership continues to feed their Koch addiction, Democrats from President Obama on down decided to do what they do best and stir the pot of identity politics. Recycling the false narrative of both gender and pay inequality, Democrats attempted to inflame the fabricated battle between the sexes.
Many Democrats spent a majority of the week regurgitating the contrived tale of an organized effort to pay women less than men. What is sad about this strategy is that all the Democrat leadership managed to achieve is to look foolish and ignite the flame with false embers, as reported by Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin (http://wapo.st/1eryhgA).
No one should mistake my concern about the current Democratic distortion on pay inequality as a denial that there was a time in our country in which women were paid less merely because they were female. Nor should anyone walk away from this article believing I do not think there are some isolated incidents in which some women may still experience this problem. However, pay inequality is no longer a systemic issue or even the biggest problem facing working women.
Democrats only managed to show how they excel at placing people in identity silos, whether by sex, sexual preference, religious belief, or income differentials, and then pitting them against each other in an attempt for political gain. Those who dare disagree with them are immediately vilified or accused of not caring, which President Obama demonstrated when he said, “If Republicans in Congress …; want to show that they do care about women being paid the same as men, then show me. …; They can join us, in this, the 21st century, and vote yes on the Paycheck Fairness Act.” To falsely censure those who disagree with you, especially while perpetuating an untruth, is unpresidential.
The only thing President Obama earned by repeating the myth that women only make 77 cents on the dollar that men make is another negative Pinocchio rating from the Washington Post (http://wapo.st/PV3ZNK). In fact, anyone who repeats this untruth is either woefully ignorant or nothing more than a liar.
Numerous articles have been written on this issue, by men and women, that when all factors are considered (profession, education, number of hours worked and region) there is absolutely no evidence of systemic mistreatment of women related to pay. In fact, when one chooses to analyze available information, such as that provided by the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, and studies done by Queens College (and others), we find single women under age 30 with a college education make more than their male counterparts by at least 8 percent.
But then again, the Democratic establishment would rather we not look at facts. The sloganeers at the Democratic National Committee and the N.H. Democratic Party care more about firing up their base than explaining why, according to Labor Department statistics, women have suffered net job losses and a record number of women are not in the workforce under Obama. The brain-dead Democratic leadership would rather push the silly fairy tale that Republicans were part of some secret cabal to ban contraception than face the fact that women have not fared well under the Obama economy. I think most Americans would rather hear why under the Democratic leadership the poverty rate has soared by almost 17 percent. According to the Census Bureau reports, more Americans are still in poverty under Obama than at any other time in our country’s history. The real pay inequality is the fact the average median income has declined by over 8 percent under Obama. For the mathematically challenged Democratic leadership, that is the equivalent of losing a month’s pay for those of us in the middle class, which includes women.
As the N.H. Democratic Party was airing ridiculous Web-only ads accusing Sen. Kelly Ayotte (hint: a woman), congressional candidate Marilinda Garcia (hint: a woman) and senatorial candidate Scott Brown (hint: in a household filled with women) of waging war on women, Sen. Ayotte, along with Sens. Deb Fisher, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins (hint: all women and all Republicans) presented a positive amendment that would have prevented retaliation against employees who reported alleged discrimination, reiterates the ban on discrimination, and requires the notification of an employee’s rights as it relates to discrimination, and addressed the opportunity gap. Largely ignored by the press and Democratic leadership, this was common-sense legislation, brought forth by women who have worked at all levels of public and private employment. It seems some Democrats believe certain women should only be seen and not heard.
Like Groundhog Day, we will repeat this national folly next year, led of course by the Democratic leadership. Not that the facts will change, or the reality will be any less a lie. That’s not the point. Firing up the base and deflecting the conversation away from failed policies are all that really matter.
