Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/206049
THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET Boys and Girls! Attention, Please! ! by MARGARET DICKSON You and I are among the 300-million plus Americans who are sick to That is only fair and equitable, we say, but it is also smart politics, death of the dysfunction in our United States Congress. That good business and it promotes economic development. is basically all of us except those too young to get it or Women make up more than 50 percent of our state and too old to care any more. nation's populations and now represent 57 percent of Our latest government shutdown was the college enrollments. In many instances, women straw that broke my patient camel's back, are outperforming our male counterparts in and I will not beat that poor camel any the academic arena. more. All I have to say about that is that In the political arena, not so much. our collective frustration is not over Only 22 percent of the 535 members yet, only postponed. The federal of our United States Congress are government is funded only for women. In North Carolina, things another two months, and the debt are one percent better, but that ceiling will have to be revisited percentage is down from the last before Feb. 7. decade. Stunningly, the United Are you dreading the next States ranks 91st in the world in round as much as I am? electing women to a congress or There was one bright spot for a parliament. me and for syndicated columnist People in other countries must Kathleen Parker among others look at this and think, "Really?" during what Scarlett O'Hara I look at this and cannot help but might have described as the think that some of our worst messes, "recent unpleasantness." While like what we just suffered through men in the Senate, both Democrats with Congress, reflect this disparity. and Republicans, bickered and My experience is that women are not postured and called each other necessarily better legislators and policy names, several women Senators, again makers than men. Some are and some are both Democrats and Republicans, rolled not. Individuals, regardless of gender, bring up their sleeves, sat down together, and different skills and talents to any endeavor. tackled the work at hand. It did not escape All of us, both men and women, excel some of notice that while Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and the time, fail some of the time and are mediocre Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) patted themselves on some of the time. the backs and announced the eventual deal, its framework Women do bring different life experiences to the public had been put together by a group policy table. We have lived life from Like Congress, the membership of the North Carolina General Assembly and all other of women Senators who avoided different perspectives than men, and state legislatures is largely male. blustering and just did it. our skills are often more consensusNo lesser light than longtime oriented than executive decrees. Our Republican Senator and former voices enrich the public conversation Presidential candidate John McCain confessed, "Leadership, I must fully as study after study continues to show. Studies also show that women admit, was provided by women in the Senate." are perceived as less corrupt and more collaborative than our male Why am I not surprised? counterparts, which has got to be a plus in the current highly charged Like Congress, the membership of the North Carolina General partisan atmosphere. Assembly and all other state legislatures is largely male. There are many Columnist Kathleen Parker wrote recently about the positive role reasons for this. Originally only white, male property owners were eligible of women senators in resolving our latest government shutdown and to serve, women and minorities have a tougher time raising the money referenced the old adage, "Behind every great man is a great woman." I necessary to run successful campaigns, and, more nebulously, women hope that is true and that the reverse is also true. approached to run for elective office are more likely to ask "Why me?" But here is how Parker ended her column. while men are more likely to ask "Why not me?" "…may many more women invade the congresses and white houses The reality, though, is that women make excellent legislators at all of their states and nation to practice and teach the arts of compromise. levels, just as a group of senators has just demonstrated. And let it be said hereafter that behind every great woman is…probably a Women serving in elective office is often discussed in terms of fairness. bunch of other great women." People making public policy should reflect our population, including Well worth thinking about as we head into the political women, blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans, all of whom battlefields of 2014. MARGARET DICKSON, Conare represented in our increasingly diverse society. Office holders at the tributing Writer, COMMENTS? policy making table should look like the rest of our community. Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 484-0261 Book Your Banquet & Holiday Parties Early! Family & Business Groups Welcome! Banquet rooms available up to 100 guests 6 NOVEMBER 6-12, 2013 1304 Morganton Rd. Mon-Sat: 6am-10pm Sun: 7am-2:30 pm Serving Fayetteville Over 50 Years! WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM