Guest Contributor
Joe Armendariz
Joe Armendariz is Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Industrial Association and the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association.

Memo to: the Extremes
It's the Family Stupid
[Joe Armendariz] 10/10/03

An always clever friend asked me the following question: "Why is it that you men still want to ignore 6 Million women in November and the Pro-Choice women yesterday, who were willing to vote in a guy who will not try to stand between them and their doctor?"

I think it is a shame when millions of thoughtful women are relegated to the role of amoral, ideological knee-jerks. Certainly my friend can't be of the view that most women are solely concerned about that which occurs in wombs and bedrooms.

I know several pro-choice women who are as concerned as I am about the desperate need for good-paying jobs, lower-taxes, onerous regulations and about the need to reduce crime and reform education. They have many other issues and priorities besides. I know many pro-life women who are equally as diversified in their portfolio of public policy concerns. In fact, I'm madly in love with one; she's my wife. And she voted for Tom McClintock because, in addition to his rock-solid intellect and unequalled knowledge of the issues, he shared her belief in protecting the sanctity of life.

The pro-life women I know are smart, independent minded and loyal to their faith and sincere in their beliefs. To dismiss, or ignore their concerns over the tragedy of our failed humanity, which has allowed the conditions to exist where the most innocent among us are being slaughtered, everyday, by the millions, is an indictment on the character and good-will of those who do so. And as a result of this arrogance they risk marginalizing the views of a remarkable group of women simply for the sake of winning a philosophical argument.

Memo to the Extremes: This recall election was NOT about pro-choice men and women vs. pro-life men and women. It also wasn't about being pro-gay vs. being anti-gay. In short, the election wasn't about the bedroom, it was about the family room, the class room and the board room. It was about being pro-jobs vs. being anti-jobs, about being pro-fiscal responsibility vs. being anti-fiscal responsibility, about being pro-rule of law vs. being anti-rule of law. It was about a respect for parents who work hard and play by the rules vs. those who disrespect parents by taxing us into poverty, regulating us into downward mobility, compromising our national security and dumbing down our children in order to pander to their militant, left-wing constituencies.

The old saying that facts are stubborn things certainly applies to the Recall. In spite of what some considered a rigid pro-life position, women, by a wide margin, according to a Gallup poll, held a more favorable view of Tom McClintock than they did of Cruz Bustamante. In fact, had the race for Governor come down to Tom vs. Cruz (in other words with no Arnold in the race) according to gallup, McClintock would have beat Bustamante by 16 points (56 to 37). There is simply no way for a Republican running in California to beat a Democrat by a 16 point margin without capturing a healthy percentage of pro-choice, Democratic women.

It betrays the collective wisdom of the political marketplace to assume all women voters did this or all men voters did that. Most women and most men did the following: they went o the polls and put their families first by putting the tired game of machine politics last. And that is worth celebrating no matter what Party you identify with the most.

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