The US election will be a referendum on masculinity, nothing more – International Website

Despite significant increases in polls for Kamala Harris and her fellow delegate candidate Tim Waltz, these elections will not be a referendum on how the current U.S. administration is performing on inflation, immigration, or foreign policy. Instead, they will be a referendum on what kind of masculinity will prevail in America.

First, masculinity is a set of qualities or characteristics that are considered unique to men or boys. Harris’ Jewish husband, Doug Emhoff, and her deputy, Tim Waltz, embody enlightened masculinity. Both men are progressive, good fathers, “good guys on the left,” who engage in masculine tasks like football coaching, but have liberal and feminist virtues like “respect,” “feminism,” and “committed to partnership” in both marriage and politics. Waltz in particular is the poster child for liberal parenting: a “regular guy,” who, incidentally, needs to be reminded that the world is actually wonderful.

On the other hand, there is a dark side to masculinity, or “toxic masculinity,” epitomized by Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, who represent what has been called the “new patriarchy.” This system claims to allow for more feminist rights than the old patriarchy, but it urges men to be strong and women to bear children without explicitly saying that women should obey their husbands or stay at home.

The new patriarchals argue that we live in an age where men put self-actualization first. They claim that young men live through a long adolescence, and as they age, happiness is replaced by a focus on money and career. Followers of this system argue that the liberal model has corrupted men and women, making society unable to produce the children that the country desperately needs for its future. So for them, the solution is to go back to the past. The state should play a role in encouraging this regression by changing policies to foster “manly” virtues and encourage marriage and raising children.

Liberal and left-wing movements see a problem with the new patriarchy. If more children should be born and men should be more masculine, then who is going to raise these children? The answer, of course, is the wife. Granted, the new patriarchy does not explicitly call for this, but this is what it essentially seeks. The idea that men should be housewives (doing housework and raising children) is rarely raised, but it is often argued that women are happier at home.

However, it’s not just feminists who have a problem with the new patriarchy. There is a segment of conservatives, mostly men, who actually despise the left because the left tells them what to do (don’t stare at women, or don’t use male pronouns for trans women), but that same group enjoys partying and sex outside of marriage, and resents those who tell them to stop having marriage.

However, neo-patriarchy is not necessarily opposed to women’s rights, as evidenced by the fact that Vance, an advocate of neo-patriarchy, is married to a very successful lawyer. Sociologist Brad Wilcox and demographer Lyman Stone have also confirmed that neo-traditional families show a relatively equal pattern in terms of burden sharing between spouses and the strong involvement of fathers in raising children.

But has the new patriarchy found a solution to all of society’s problems? The answer is no. Conservative fathers are clearly still toxic compared to liberal fathers, but liberalism has also failed to develop a model of modern masculinity. Why? First: After Bill Clinton and Eliot Spitzer (the Democratic governor of New York who resigned over a sex scandal), we can certainly say that deviance plagues (enlightened) feminist men and conservative men alike.

Second, a calm, progressive father in raising his children may create problems during his children’s adolescence because he has a misguided notion that children should be more enlightened than their parents and that good fathers listen to and learn from their children, when in fact most children first need more discipline, adult guidance, and a psychological and religious foundation.

Russian delegation

American Enterprise Institute

Translated by: Yasmin Abdul Latif