The Rise of the Conservative Woman

One of the most annoying things about liberals is their insistence that only they can define a "real" minority or a "real" woman. In the eyes of the left, Clarence Thomas, Ken Blackwell and J.C. Watts will never be "real" black men. Likewise, Michelle Bachmann, the smiling firebrand conservative congresswoman from Minnesota, and Sarah Palin, the popular former governor of Alaska, will never be "real" women.

How can they be? After all, these women don't support abortion. In fact, Palin actually had the audacity to give birth to a baby with Down Syndrome. As one embarrassed liberal wag put it during last year's presidential campaign, "If abortion isn't for that, what is it for?"

These female leaders believe that marriage is a sacred bond between one man and one woman and anything else is a counterfeit. In the case of Bachman and Palin, they have lived out their values by staying married to the same men for decades.

They believe in allowing families to keep as much of their hard-earned income as possible. What a concept: let people keep more of their own money rather than sending it to Washington for Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi to squander on their latest wealth redistribution scheme.

They support true energy independence, and they know that the best way to get there, as Sarah Palin put it last year, is "Drill, Baby Drill!" At the same time, they believe in responsible conservation that takes into account the fact that human beings not only have a responsibility to be good stewards of the earth but that they are the key component in the environment, not an afterthought or some kind of unwelcome virus, as liberals would have us believe.

These women have faith in America's small business owners and believe that they should be free to grow their businesses without excessive government taxation and regulation, and to access the entrepreneurial opportunities this nation affords.

They are adamantly opposed to the Obama-Pelosi-Reid takeover of health care, believing instead that the American people should be given more choices, not fewer, and that government involvement inevitably means government control.

They believe in school choice so that America's children — especially minorities — are not trapped in the war zones we so casually call "public schools."

They understand what the Founders knew instinctively — that the First Amendment is worthless without the Second, and the Second is constantly under attack by those who favor big government. They know what all freedom-loving people know: that tyrants hate guns in the hands of the people. As Jefferson said, "When the people fear the government, there is tyranny; when government fears the people, there is liberty."

Women like Palin and Bachmann — attractive, conservative, content in the marriages, devoted to God, family and country — are as comfortable in politics as they are in their homes, caring for their families. They are a new breed of woman, and they are a threat to the liberal orthodoxy. They are the true representation of American women, as evidenced by the fact that the last time a Democrat presidential candidate won a majority of white women was 1964.

Liberals are angry and unhappy people, and they hate and fear the new breed of female politician represented by Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann. These women are cut from the same bold cloth as Margaret Thatcher. They love liberty, and that puts them at the top of the hit list for every leftist in America. Nancy Pelosi has targeted Michelle Bachmann for defeat in next year's congressional election because Bachmann threatens Pelosi's extremist agenda.

As for Palin, she is a tough-as-nails mother of five who took on the corruption of her own state party officials, tamed the Alaskan oil industry and rose from city council to governor to vice presidential candidate. Her very existence incenses the left. Not since Phyllis Schlafly infuriated them with her organized opposition to the ERA in the early 1970s has anyone so unnerved the liberal forces of "hope and change."

When you hear elitists across the political spectrum vilify conservative women like Palin and Bachmann, know that it is because they fear them. Left wing politicians of either gender represent the politics of the past. Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann represent the future. That makes them dangerous.