Women and the 2-Party Memory Hole

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, whom one might call a "feminist," evidently places the 2-party monopoly even above feminism. Palin’s National Press Conference Announcement With John McCain was a tribute to Democrats, but flushed at least one woman down Orwell's "Memory Hole":

To serve as vice president beside such a man would be the privilege of a lifetime. And it’s fitting that this trust has been given to me 88 years almost to the day after the women of America first gained the right to vote. I think — I think as well today of two other women who came before me in national elections. I can’t begin this great effort without honoring the achievements of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984... and of course Senator Hillary Clinton, who showed such determination and grace in her presidential campaign. It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America..but it turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.

It should be noted that women being nominated for Vice President did not begin in 1984. In 1972 the Libertarian Party vice-presidential nominee Tonie Nathan was the first woman ever to receive an electoral vote. But Palin's loyalty was to the 2-party monopoly, not to women.

In 1972, Roger MacBride, a Republican elector from Virginia, cast his electoral vote for the John Hospers/Tonie Nathan ticket. MacBride, a former Vermont legislator, then became the LP nominee for President four years later.

Probably my favorite class in college was a Political Science class with Prof. John Hospers, whose book on Libertarianism was our text. He provided a list of questions, keyed to pages in the book, which revealed to students exactly which points the Prof. felt were most important (read: "testable"). Prof. George Reisman used the same pedagogy.