Five-Minute Time Out: Ralph Nader
What the childless politician has to say about parenting.
by Madeline Holler
September 7, 2007
You praise your mother for not complaining about the work of raising kids. First, are you sure she didn't complain about it? And would that have been a problem? Are today's parents too whiny?
It was a different generation, they didn't complain. They knew it was part of the job — just like a doctor doesn't go to work and complain that they have to take care of patients. Mothers were active in the community, they were raising kids. These were fulfilling tasks. When the latest women's rights movement came on, [they] made a lot of homebound moms feel guilty or feel inferior, which I think was a big mistake by the Gloria Steinem types. They lost a large constituency that way. What they should have done was enlarge the function of staying home to include the neighborhood and the community and civic engagement. Where the people who have to go to work don't have time for that . . . What's the most important work? It's civic engagement by far — state, local, national, international level.
Let's bring your early professional life around to my young one. My sister and I loved riding in the back of our grandmother's red convertible Corvair, top down, no seatbelts, tearing around Western Kansas. One day she parked it in a barn and never drove it again. Should I be thanking you?
[Laughs] At least it was a convertible. You wouldn't have been exposed to high levels of carbon monoxide too.
Give me an exclusive, are you running in 2008?
No . . .
No, you're not running or no, you're not saying?
It's too early to tell . . .
Are you up for it?
It's not up to me entirely. If IWhen the latest women's rights movement came on, [they] made a lot of homebound moms feel guilty or feel inferior, which I think was a big mistake. can't get on the ballot . . .
Let's say you run. What can government do to help American families?
Affordable housing. This idea that we can produce endless numbers of iPods and computers and hamburgers but somehow there's always a shortage of houses is an example of inverted priorities. There needs to be more participatory recreational facilities in the cities — instead of just turning kids into spectators, without being scheduled in leagues. There's a lot of tax dollars being put into stadiums for billionaire sports owners, but the little basketball courts and recreation facilities for kids are not well-maintained and there aren't enough.
You sound like a city councilman.
Well, there's universal healthcare. That would reduce a lot of anxiety. Living wage. People should be able to live on one job instead of being away from home for a job and a half.
Universal childcare?
Sure. That [affordable, quality daycare centers] should be part of the neighborhood, part of our lives, just like the fire station.
©2007 Madeline Holler and Nerve Media
About the Author
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Madeline Holler is a writer and mother of two. She lives in Long Beach, California. |
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