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Smart Girls in Politics
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Tabitha Hale, co-founder of Smart Girl Politics
When we think of women in politics, we think of Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi. Or in political activism, we think of the endless parade of angry feminists screeching that voting Republican is voting for rape and subjugation. The other side of the political spectrum - the conservative political activist - rarely gets any airplay, except in comedic skits about Ann Coulter or Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
When Sarah Palin stepped onto the scene last Fall, she was torn to pieces by the media and the liberal political machine who asked questions like "How can she raise a family, a disabled child, be governor now, and be vice president later?" They never asked Barack Obama how he intended to raise his two young daughters, Malia and Sasha, if he became president. And if Sarah Palin had been a liberal women, instead of a gun-and-bible-clinging conservative, she wouldn't have been asked, either. Instead she would have been praised as a woman who could have it all.
That said, there is a new breed of young activists who are conservative and proud of it. Smart Girl Politics, a bottom-up grassroots movement to make women more politically active on their local scene, was started by Stacy Mott and Tabitha Hale earlier this year. These are not dowdy Thatcherites with their blue rinse and their best years behind them. Tabitha Hale, for example, is in her mid-twenties, young, attractive and opinionated. Twice weekly she hosts Raisin' Hale on Radio For Conservatives - another grassroots project by the younger, hipper generation of conservatives - where she wails hell on the liberal establishment and offers smart solutions on the local level.
Smart Girl Politics, she says, is not about influencing the political scene in Washington, DC. It's about influencing the school board in Wichita, KS or the town council in Bangor, ME. It's about getting homeschooling moms and young, enthusiastic conservatives involved locally, where their voices can be better heard. It's about coming out of the conservative closet and saying, "Yeah, I'm a conservative. So what?"
Another attractive, smart and witty conservative making her voice heard on Radio For Conservatives is Dr. Melissa Clouthier. Both Melissa and her husband are busy chiropractors, also raising three young children. Melissa has been blogging for years, and takes time out to attend events like the tax protest tea parties, CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), and other local events as they pertain to school policy or local legislation.
These women are not professional activists. They do not lobby government for operating money, or spend countless hours on the talk show circuit. They are merely trying to make small differences in towns across America, and encourage others to do the same. They are young, in touch, smart, funny, brash and unafraid of being labeled "conservative".
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