They’re floundering at school and in the workplace. Some conservatives blame a crisis of masculinity, but the problems — and their solutions — are far more complex.” — New Yorker magazine.
Is Nancy Pelosi going against the tide by endorsing a man rather than a woman for U.S. Senate? Recently, she endorsed Congressman Adam Schiff for Senate over two women candidates, Congresswomen Barbara Lee of Oakland and Katie Porter, one of the few Democrats who was able to maintain her seat in southern California. Maybe the explanation is more than loyalty. Maybe she thinks Schiff would do a better job.
I always vote for the best candidate regardless of their sex. I was an early supporter of Barack Obama and never a fan of Hillary Clinton. I am very concerned that when Joe Biden can no longer seek the presidency that vice president Kamala Harris will run in his place. I am not alone. Party officials have the same concerns according to a recent article in The New York Times. She is not considered a strong vice president or a strong contender. But she could do well in the early primaries which now include more diverse states such as South Carolina. Biden did so well in his State of the Union speech that he convinced many he is up for four more years.
While these stories are in the news I have been reading Cokie Roberts’ book “Founding Mothers.” It’s about the wives of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence and the wives of some of the famous generals. They include Abigail Adams, Mary Bartlett, Deborah Franklin and Martha Wayles Jefferson. These stories remind us of how hard life used to be for women. A married woman could expect a baby every two years. Even when she was a grandmother. Many women were uneducated and could not read or write. But this was not the case for the women in this book. Most were educated because they came from families of means.
What has enabled women to rise to power is birth control, higher standards of living and advances in medical care. Few women in power today have 10-12 children as their grandmothers did. In fact, few women today in the United States and other industrialized countries have a dozen babies. My grandmothers did but in both cases only six or five survived.
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Recommended for you
A citywide recall petition is underway in San Mateo to recall Mayor Amourence Lee. It is headed by five former mayors, some of whom once supported her including Jerry Hill, Carole Groom, Maureen Freschet, Claire Mack and Eric Rodriguez. The venom is real. The former mayors feel she is destroying the city. One went so far as to call her a compulsive liar and pointed to her theatrics over the potential appointment of Cliff Robbins to the open seat on the council. She publicly named Robbins as the person suggested by another that she support for the fifth councilmember in exchange for her getting the mayor role.
Robbins is a well respected member of the county’s Democratic Party and a former member of the city’s Park and Recreation Commission. He is now suing Lee for character defamation. Recalls rarely produce removal from office. They were successful in removing several members from the San Francisco school board, the San Francisco district attorney and former Foster City Mayor Herb Perez. Lee has many supporters, but also many who would be happy to see her go. We will have to wait and see.
Lee said the recall effort is divisive and wasteful, and could cost the city $1 million,
“Tax dollars should go towards city services,” she said. “I’m focused on the real work of helping our community access opportunities for affordable housing, getting emergency relief to flood victims and post-pandemic economic recovery.”
Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.
Good question, Sue! The NY Magazine “crises in masculinity” you initially refer to, seems to be getting worse, possibly due to the very bad example set by the previous occupant of the WH, a public p-grabber so childish that he even bragged about his unmanly gestures. What kind of man does such a thing? Same shameless character used to walk into beauty contest changing rooms, been married three times, and divorced twice, so far, with multiple rape charges. Who does such a despicable character appeal to? Both you and I know the answer to that one, which is what you are dancing so cautiously around in your article!
Sue, everything revolves around money, power and sex – not necessarily in that order. I recently had a discussion with a father of students in a local high school. He said out nine (9) of the top ten (10) students in a local high school were female. I thought, how is this happening? We need equity. Five should be male and five should be female and we will live happily ever after.
Well, that may be a backlash, tarzantom! Partly because of insecure males, partly because of religion, women have had to curtail their intellect for too long. That seems to change though, although we are far behind the more progressive and equality leaning countries in Northern Europe, where for example there are female mechanical and electrical engineering graduate students, and half of medical students tend to be female. About half of government tend to be female as well, while female prime ministers have been common for decades.
I am a male, my ancestors came from Northern Europe, I believe in God, but I am not for limiting intellect. BTW, I prefer female doctors. Their digits are smaller.
On the bright side, per another article in today’s DJ, San Mateo has a budget surplus so spending $1 million on a recall should no longer be an issue for Ms. Lee.
Councilmember Amourence Lee couldn’t wait to confirm resident reasons for her recall. Among the litany of Lee’s transgressions read aloud at last week’s press conference, conduct unbecoming a councilmember included her bullying, lying and name calling. Lee’s response? To label anyone supporting her recall as ‘conservative anti-abortionists.’ I guess that would include the 5 former San Mateo mayors who came out against her, too. As a councilmember serving the entire city, Lee chose this action against the very constituents she serves rather than to address a single one of their concerns.
Aiming to dissuade the public from voting her out, Lee touts some arbitrarily high figure attached to the cost to oust her. A cost she didn’t seem to mind when she opened the door to a city lawsuit in her most recent City Hall kerfuffle, now under active DA investigation. This past weekend, Lee was corrected at a budgeting meeting in regard to this grossly inflated figure. So, what’s your cost to remove her and restore integrity and resident representation to San Mateo? It’s about $8 bucks. Sign me up.
Atop all of this, Lee's antics at City Hall involving defamation of council candidate Cliff Robbins is going to end up in a lawsuit! www.RecallAmoLee.com
Sue - what is wrong with men? Perhaps you can somehow correlate that with the recent findings that almost 60% of young women are depressive or have anxiety disorders? It seems there is something wrong with all of us.
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(10) comments
Good question, Sue! The NY Magazine “crises in masculinity” you initially refer to, seems to be getting worse, possibly due to the very bad example set by the previous occupant of the WH, a public p-grabber so childish that he even bragged about his unmanly gestures. What kind of man does such a thing? Same shameless character used to walk into beauty contest changing rooms, been married three times, and divorced twice, so far, with multiple rape charges. Who does such a despicable character appeal to? Both you and I know the answer to that one, which is what you are dancing so cautiously around in your article!
Aha, the idiom-challenged mouse has roared again.
Dirk: So, do you mean Trump is your manly ideal? That would explain a lot!
Sue, everything revolves around money, power and sex – not necessarily in that order. I recently had a discussion with a father of students in a local high school. He said out nine (9) of the top ten (10) students in a local high school were female. I thought, how is this happening? We need equity. Five should be male and five should be female and we will live happily ever after.
Well, that may be a backlash, tarzantom! Partly because of insecure males, partly because of religion, women have had to curtail their intellect for too long. That seems to change though, although we are far behind the more progressive and equality leaning countries in Northern Europe, where for example there are female mechanical and electrical engineering graduate students, and half of medical students tend to be female. About half of government tend to be female as well, while female prime ministers have been common for decades.
I am a male, my ancestors came from Northern Europe, I believe in God, but I am not for limiting intellect. BTW, I prefer female doctors. Their digits are smaller.
On the bright side, per another article in today’s DJ, San Mateo has a budget surplus so spending $1 million on a recall should no longer be an issue for Ms. Lee.
It's nothing near a million and she knows it. True cost to the voter? About the same as a cup of coffee. Sign me up.
Mayor Lee Being Sued?
Councilmember Amourence Lee couldn’t wait to confirm resident reasons for her recall. Among the litany of Lee’s transgressions read aloud at last week’s press conference, conduct unbecoming a councilmember included her bullying, lying and name calling. Lee’s response? To label anyone supporting her recall as ‘conservative anti-abortionists.’ I guess that would include the 5 former San Mateo mayors who came out against her, too. As a councilmember serving the entire city, Lee chose this action against the very constituents she serves rather than to address a single one of their concerns.
Aiming to dissuade the public from voting her out, Lee touts some arbitrarily high figure attached to the cost to oust her. A cost she didn’t seem to mind when she opened the door to a city lawsuit in her most recent City Hall kerfuffle, now under active DA investigation. This past weekend, Lee was corrected at a budgeting meeting in regard to this grossly inflated figure. So, what’s your cost to remove her and restore integrity and resident representation to San Mateo? It’s about $8 bucks. Sign me up.
Atop all of this, Lee's antics at City Hall involving defamation of council candidate Cliff Robbins is going to end up in a lawsuit! www.RecallAmoLee.com
Sue - what is wrong with men? Perhaps you can somehow correlate that with the recent findings that almost 60% of young women are depressive or have anxiety disorders? It seems there is something wrong with all of us.
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