Martha Montelongo
August 6, 2004

There they go again… In ’92, Senator Barbara Boxer swept into office leading the chorus with the war cry “the personal is political…and men don’t get it.”  This was before Bill Clinton made all these same women into his enablers when they had to wink at jokes about kneepads being fashionable attire for sycophant women journalists.

This past week, Boxer revved up her feminist war cry again, (must be an election season), this time insisting that “we” have not arrived until there is equal representation of men versus women in the US Senate.  Never mind that there are twelve women senators today.  No, it’s not fifty percent, but I personally don’t feel that Boxer has represented me in the US Senate.  Not all women aspire to a life of being imposed on by big government from cradle to grave.

Not all women believe that we’re better off relying on government for paying for our children’s healthcare or college education, putting them in public school before they are old enough for the convenience of their parents and those of us who run businesses from home would appreciate less regulations, not more.  And I know I’d be happier if I had more of our household income to manage if we didn’t have to pay as much as we do in taxes.

The “women are still oppressed” diatribe is not restricted to Boxer.  The aspiring First Lady, Teresa Heinz Kerry used her bought and paid for microphone to self-righteously suggest that unlike her, most of us women in America don’t feel free to speak out minds.

Well, maybe I do not speak to as many listeners as she, but it isn’t because I don’t have an opinion.  Oh, what I’d say if I could buy the airtime and have that audience. But I wasn’t born into a politically elite family that ruled over the colony of Mozambique for the Dictatorship Government of Portugal.   Like so many children of immigrants, my parents were working class and did their best that their children would have opportunity and prosperity.  I did not marry a multi-millionaire to amass my fortune and then marry a US Senator as a means to wield power and influence over the lives of US citizens.

I chose to marry and have children and then to be a stay at home mom. A choice many women still and always will aspire to.  I have the freedom to pursue a career as it fits into my primary commitment.   My success is measurable by the product of my labor. My sons will be contributing and productive members of our great country.  They understand their freedom is a factor of their personal responsibility. They do not see themselves as wards of the state.

I wish for them, fulfillment, and a meaningful life, including marriage to a woman who loves and respects them as well as one who recognizes and values her own power and brings integrity to the commitments she undertakes, be it to be a politician or his wife, a small business owner, a corporate elite or a tender of the hearth.

Women are powerful now.  We need to be discerning in whom we choose to represent us in Government and avoid the victocrats who paint us all as oppressed.   Our success stems not from the Government but from our ability and labor and the enjoined efforts of men and women to honor our rights.   We can accept the tired adage of the Barbara Boxers in Government, whose vision of us as hapless and needing to be rescued and cared for, is always more and bigger government, paid for with our hard earned money, or we can embrace the leadership that acknowledges and respects our power, ability and responsibility, and works to unleash it by getting out of the way.  We have voice and a vote and we can choose to use it wisely!

You can listen to "Straight Talk with Martha" every Saturday from 10am to 11am on News/Talk 1460, KION, Salinas, Monterey, Santa Cruz, California. Call in during the show at 831-633-1460.

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