Should Michelle Duggar be VP?

[JVS]

I see a lot of people saying that questioning how Palin manages to balance personal life and work is beyond the pale and that anything having to do with them is none of our business. I have two points to make. First, I think there is massive hippocracy in the fact that Palin's decisions are off limits, but ever time Duggar conceives (just wait for #19) there is all kinds of whooping, hollering, and bashing. And in Duggar's case, she's not even seeking public office.

My second point is that eventually one must face the fact that there is a limit to how much an individual is capable of performing. While it is not our place to decide how many children anyone else has, it is stupid to believe that the pressures of having a large family would in no way make it more difficult to perform work related duties. Similarly, the idea that a parent can work 70-100 hours a week without sacrificing the relationship with their children is unrealistic. While there are nannies and other arrangements, simply ignoring the estrangement that such absence on the part of the parent could lead to is an exercise in fantasy. Look into the 19th century European boarding schools especially the military academies, or the rearing of members of the British Royal Family if you want to see some really fucked up examples of what childrearing by proxy can do to someone. In Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine", Moore points out that the mother of a young child who shot a classmate was not properly supervised because his mother was working two jobs on a welfare to work program. Is neglecting a child more defensible just because the parent wants to rather than is compelled to by a punative program. Ultimately the amount of time and effort we have as humans is limited, which is why such things as reasonable hours and wages are so important. Because while we may have reached the point where we can choose to do anything, the limitations of time and energy make it impossible to do everything, and to ignore those limitations is to deny our humanity.

[progdonkey]

1. Duggar, though, really is nothing more than a brainless baby factory...

Palin at least has been mayor of a town (however small) and the governor of a state (however sparsely populated), so she has actually achieved something and exists outside of being just a gestation vessel for more offspring.

It doesn't qualify her to be VP or president, but it's still something.

Palin's child-bearing "record" is really no more radical than a devout Mormon or Catholic family; i.e., having a large family is important, but it's not so extreme as the Duggars, where the wife's so raison d'etre is to produce children. She doesn't even do much of the raising--that's left to the older girls--as she goes from one pregnancy to the next. They're freaks, plain and simple; and their children are emotionally and educationally hobbled.

Both of the Palins work (in the same job, apparently); they're not struggling, so I don't see where the concern is.

Lastly, why so much focus on Palin's workload? Would you be asking the same things if she were a male? If not, then it's a fundamentally sexist discussion. Her husband has been officially on leave from work while she's been governor, so he's basically being a stay-at-home dad; and besides, they can afford a nanny if necessary.