Congratulations to President Obama for nominating a woman for the Supreme Court. I know I’m going to get a lot of flak from many on the right for praising anything this president does. And for the most part they’d be right. But at least for this time I think he got it right.
Women represent a majority of the US population yet we are underrepresented in all levels of government. I know, I know. It’s the same battle cry from me again. But it bears repeating. The decisions being made on the Supreme Court are going to affect more women than men. That means we should have a representative number of women in the Court.
We can argue all day about the kind of appointment Sotomayor will be. It’s a good argument to have. The other day on Twitter a CNBC talking head asked a question about which nominee Conservatives would prefer now, Miers or Sotomayor. I responded “at least the debate is about which WOMAN deserves the nod more.”

Miss California, Miley Cyrus, teenage girls wearing purity rings. It’s amazing how much this issue gets under the skin of liberals. They question the validity of a movement that tells girls (and boys) to wait for sex until they are married. It’s like they are offended that anybody would choose to only have one sexual partner. What is it about virginity that so threatens these individuals???

A friend asked me if the end goal of the purity movement was to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs. To me those are just consequences of sex, teen or adult. The real issue is respect. Millions of Americans subscribe to Judeo-Christian ethics - one of which is not having sex until marriage. This is a religious belief for many and one that parents are trying to teach their children. As a society we would never dare to question other religion’s practices, i.e. the Muslim women wearing their garments as a means of showing modesty. But the Christian movement to teach children abstinence has become a source of public scorn and criticism.

As a Christian mother I have the right to raise my children according to my religious beliefs. I also have the right to protest a system that would teach counter to those beliefs in my children’s schools. It’s not a matter of forcing Christian beliefs on other children. It’s a matter of parents having the freedom to raise their children the best way they see fit.

If it’s okay to teach children about condoms then it is perfectly okay to offer them an alternative - purity.

According to a study released in a recent article in BusinessWeek women are less happy and less healthy than they were 50 years ago. They are taking more medications to cope with their stress and depression. It seems women are here because they’re having a hard time balancing the life a “modern” woman is supposed to manage.

I don’t have to look far to see the proof of the study. I talk with women’s groups, my neighbors, friends, colleagues and the conversations are all the same. They’re all feeling overstressed. Between families, careers, t-ball practice, football and drama practice for the kids, providing support for your mom because your dad had a heart attack, being a shoulder to cry on for your friend whose marriage is falling apart, fulfilling all of the requirements for the multitudes of boards and volunteer committees…it’s no wonder women are having to find happiness through a pill!

Feminism didn’t fail us. Women should be able to feel equal to their male counterparts. But the Feminist Movement did fail us! The truth is women haven’t found a way to have it all without living with feelings of guilt, inadequacy and unhappiness. That’s not to say all women are unhappy. I’d say we’ve learned to adapt to the stress of our lives because that’s what women do. But I’m left to wonder if we haven’t achieved that happiness at a price?

I don’t have the answers. Just a lot of questions. Dialog is a good thing. Women need to find a way to cope in this world. And being unhappy and unhealthy just isn’t the answer.

A “few” years ago, when I first started working around politics, (I was only 8 when I started- really!!) I met a guy who was a RPD for the Republican National Committee. He’d put in his time and knew a lot about politics. We were talking about women who’d made a professional career of politics and he said there was one universal truth that “everybody” knew. He informed me that there were 2 kinds of women in politics - the witches (I’m trying to be polite here!) and the sluts. The witches were the self proclaimed “ball-busters” - to get respect they had to act like the boys. (And the mean ones at that.) The sluts were the women who slept their way to the top. Even though I respected this guy I couldn’t believe that this stereotype existed so I started asking around. I was shocked when most people I talked to accepted this as the norm.

It made me stop and consider how I wanted to be thought of in the field of politics. I love my husband so there was no way I was going to jeopardize my marriage by using sex to get to the top. And I couldn’t act like a guy…I’m way to much of a girly girl to do that. So, I started to wonder - do women only have two options to succeed in politics?

God made women to balance out men, which means we’re supposed to be different. Imagine that! When women get involved the discussion changes. We’re the Ying to the Yang. Women do ourselves no favor when we try to be anything but the wonderful creation we are. We change the dialog because of who we are. Not because of who we feel we have to be.

So, embrace your inner pink, ladies! (Or whatever color it is you identify with!)