This past summer, my youngest daughter attended a conference for college-aged conservative women. She came home with this book, by Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, who spoke (virtually) to the conference, and gave it to me (“since I probably wouldn’t really be into it”).
Well, while I don’t know much about Marsha Blackburn (although in my mind I’m thinking she was impressive in the Kavanaugh hearings … I hope I’ve got the right woman here?), I was sold after reading she was conservative. Reading a book about the mind of a liberal woman just might make my head explode, and none of us wants to be around for that.
“The Mind of a Conservative Woman” is part autobiography. We learn about Marsha’s younger years in Laurel, Mississippi, which I enjoyed a lot and could relate to in many ways. “Conservatism was woven into the everyday world that made me,” she writes, and I could agree. From “dinnertime conversations I knew as a child, from the example of parents and the warm values of a loving southern community, I came naturally to what I believe today and to what I hold most dear. I cannot tell you how grateful I am."I would agree with this.
Marsha’s dad “made the living, but Mother made it worthwhile." Marsha discusses many thoughts and values perhaps not being specifically taught, but being modeled and absorbed, and I relate to this as well. Two childhood principles that have stuck with her to the current day are to 1) Give back more than you take, and 2) Leave things in better shape than you found them. I feel the same, and I still remember gently scrubbing the covers of my school textbooks with a bit of Comet and a damp rag the night before turning them in. It was just what you did, or at least what I did.
Marsha then veers into some history of conservatism, telling stories of Alexis de Tocqueville (“The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other”) and Edmund Burke. I liked Burke, who saw “the folly of putting the rights of the state above the rights of the individual. He hated all socialism, all communist ideas … he spoke of the obligation of politicians to serve the people while not caving in to the opinions of the people.” These anecdotes are in a chapter titled, “A Noble Heritage — For Women, Too!” I kind of hate the tagging on of “for women, too!” First, the exclamation point bugs me — and I’m just tired of tagging on “women too!” to everything. I have never felt insecure as a woman and have never assumed history doesn’t include me. I do understand though that many women out there, I guess, feel aggrieved on a daily basis so maybe the editor felt compelled to add on that subtitle?
The final part of the book deals with advice for women, purportedly younger conservative women. This part was probably the least helpful to me. Let’s face it, most advice of this type is pretty much common sense (make lists — be organized — find a mentor — etc). I always have to wonder whether some poor struggling girl would ever pick up a book like this, read the advice, and be struck: “WOW! I think I’m going to start making checklists RIGHT NOW!” I suppose it could happen, but it just seems like preaching to the choir much of the time.
I did enjoy most of the book, just knowing that Marsha was a kindred conservative spirit. As a US Senator, she has faced a lot of criticism — unfairly, but realistically, much more than a liberal senator would in today’s America. She speaks of using time wisely: using spare minutes in a carpool line or waiting for an appointment to read, make a mental plan for another task, etc. I am a similar proponent of not wasting a minute of our precious lives.
I enjoyed this book and would love to have lunch with Marsha. I think she and I would have a lot in common (she even played piano for her church in her teenage years!). Recommended if you’re interested in the topic.