John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Daddy vs. Mommy Parties

“I –seriously–believe that an appeal of the Republican party is to appeal to people with a father-deficiency (or “father hunger” as Robert Blye calls it). It’s the father-party. Hierarchical, protective, tough, male-dominated, etc.”

This is a verbatim line form an email sent to a friend [Editor’s Note: Me] who asked me if this meant that Democrats had “mommy issues.”‘

I said, yes. And I really do think you can divide the two major political parties into a patriarchal and matriarchal divide in how they approach problems and appeal to voters.

Republicans are, as described above, the party more inclined to have a convention speaker accuse the competition of being “Girly men.” It’s crude, dated, and ham handed but also fills a need we all have for a strong sure father-figure. Ronald Reagan mastered this role in a way that Schwarzenegger only caricatured.

By contrast, we Democrats are viewed as the more nurturing, compassionate, and patient party who “feels your pain” as Bill Clinton famously said. A banal statement that became famous because it so well symbolized a key difference between Clinton and his opponent; Democrats from Republicans.

A conservative will tell you to quit whining and fix a personal problem yourself. A liberal will go on a long walk with you to help you talk through it. Both approaches have their excesses and extremes. But both parties, in my opinion, do have this primitive distinction between them at their core.

Of course, the gender characterizations I make are outmoded and crude. But then again, that’s a very liberal thing to say.