In Support of Childless Cat Ladies

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

There is an old television clip from 2021 circulating across the internet which focuses on an interview of JD Vance by Tucker Carlson on the Fox News channel.  At the time Vance was running for the US Senate from Ohio, an election which he ultimately won.  In the clip candidate Vance was promoting the notion that the country should be run by people who actually had a stake in its future, and Vance viewed that stake in the future as being biological parents.  He derogatorily referred to some of America's political leaders as "childless cat ladies," or people without a biological stake in our country's future.

At other times JD Vance has enhanced his view on the importance of having children by suggesting that all children should be given votes, and that those votes should be controlled by their parents until the children reach adulthood.  If a couple has six children, and the neighboring couple has one, the first couple should control a total of eight votes and the other couple only has three votes - and the childless "cat lady" living down on the corner would only have one.  The future of democracy as hatched in the mind of JD Vance:

"Let's give votes to all children in this country, but let's give control over those votes to the parents of those children.  When you go to the polls as a parent, you should have more power - you should have more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic republic - than people who don't have kids.  Let's face the consequences and the reality:  If you don't have as much of an investment in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn't get nearly the same voice."

The problems with that statement are numerous.  Not everyone wants to have children, but the decision to remain childless has no bearing whatsoever on on the level of one's patriotism or on a person's interest in the future of the nation.  Childless people have links to the future through nieces, nephews, the children of friends and neighbors, and all manner of young acquaintances.

Even people without children benefit from good government, so why shouldn't they be allowed to participate at the same level as anyone else?

Blake Masters, a GOP politician who is running for a congressional seat in Arizona and who, like Vance, is nestled comfortably in the deep pocket of billionaire Peter Thiel, holds essentially the same view as Vance on the subject of childless politicians.  Masters is quoted in national media as saying:

"Political leaders should have children.  Certainly at least they should be married.  If you aren't running or can't run a household of your own, how can you relate to a constituency of families, or govern wisely with respect to future generations?  Skin in the game matters."

Vance's (and Masters') outrageous position, one that Tucker Carlson seemed to revel in, also gives short shrift to people who are unable to have children due toper-existing conditions or medical complications, and many conservatives, like JD Vance, favor doing away with options to help them conceive a pregnancy, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).  Actress Jennifer Anniston tore into Vance's "cat lady" remarks and his position on IVF in a tweet this week:

"Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day.  I hope that she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option.  Because you are trying to take that away from her, too."

The internet blowback to Vance's "cat lady" remarks has been fierce.  Common rebuttals have included references to historical figures - like Jesus Christ and George Washington - who had no biological children of their own but still managed to have a considerable impact on the future of civilization.   It's also been pointed out that these comments are, at their base, sexist attacks on women that have originated in, and been nourished by, the patriarchy.

The focus on "cat ladies" is chauvinism writ large, and now it is up to Kamala Harris to show these sexist and racist blowhards that it is possible to love your country and be a highly effective leader without creating a child.

America is embracing the future while JD Vance is still stumbling through the backwoods of 19th century Appalachia.