Donald Boudreaux ponders the implications of Senator Hillary Clinton’s claim that her difficulties in the Democratic primaries are due to sexism.
So a woman who holds degrees from Wellesley and Yale – who has earned millions in the private sector, won two terms in the U.S. Senate, and gathered many more votes than John Edwards, Bill Richardson and several other middle-aged white guys in their respective bids for the 2008 Democratic nomination – feels cheated because she’s a woman.
Seems doubtful. But hey, I’m a guy and perhaps hopelessly insensitive. So let’s give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that her campaign has indeed suffered because of sexism.
This fact (if it be a fact) reveals a hitherto unknown, ugly truth about the Democratic Party. The alleged bastion of modern liberalism, toleration and diversity is full of (to use Mrs. Clinton’s own phrase) “people who are nothing but misogynists.” Large numbers of Democratic voters are sexists. Who knew?
But here’s another revelation. If Mrs. Clinton is correct that she is more likely than Barack Obama to defeat John McCain in November, that implies Republicans and independents are less sexist than Democrats.
Meanwhile, Camille Paglia says “sexism has nothing to do it.”