I guess they couldn’t announce that they were putting Hillary on the $10 bill as the first female President because she isn’t dead. This also ruled out such equally worthy possibilities as Sandra Fluke, Gabrielle Giffords, Mattress Girl, Caitlyn Jenner and, of course, Michelle.
Yesterday’s announcement by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was inevitable the second a feminist started lobbying for it. Never mind that that her effort was ignorant and self-refuting: the list she generated of women proposed as potential faces on the currency contained none whose historical contributions to the nation come within miles of the achievements of Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, George, Tom, Abe and Ben. Some of the women—Patsy Mink?—are footnotes at best, one (Margaret Sanger) balanced her leadership of the birth control movement with ugly advocacy of white supremacy and eugenics, and one of the most qualified candidates, Abigail Adams, didn’t make the list at all.
In a year in which President Obama’s party is trying to justify running a corrupt, unqualified, untrusted candidate for President on the sole justification that she has a vagina, nothing was going to stop his administration from putting someone on a bill for the same “reason,” as well as the other reasons, affirmative action, cynical group identification politics, and trying to deflect attention from this crew’s utter incompetence in matters of national interest and substance.
For example, the week has been filled with the jaw-dropping story of how the Office of Personnel Management was hacked by China as a result of utter, unforgivable management incompetence. You know, like the utter, unforgivable management incompetence (or worse) at Justice, HHS, the Secret Service, the IRS, the Veterans Administration, Homeland Security, the TSA, Hillary’s State Department and others—I don’t want to rub it in by running the whole list. You can read about the OPM calamity here, here, here , here and here for a start, then watch this to clear your palatte, as in throwing up.
To be clear, I don’t particularly care who or what is on our currency. I could argue for placing Babe Ruth, Marilyn Monroe, Thomas Edison, Elvis or Mickey Mouse on our money. We’ve had women honored on money before: Martha Washington was on a bill long ago, and Pocahontas, who deserved the honor about as much as Patsy Mink. What is annoying is the embrace of the entire affirmative action mindset by an administration that owes its disastrous existence—race relations are going well, don’t you think?— to that mindset, the tangible embodiment of the unethical principle that actual ability, character, industry, success, demonstrable accomplishments and experience are all less important than artificial “equality” measured by sanctified group membership.
The Obama adminstration does this sort of thing to send thrills up the thighs of its auto-pilot supporters and target voting blocs, calculating that such empty and nakedly pandering gestures carry more weight with them than such trivialities as transparency, honesty, accountability, foreign affairs competence, budget management, or effective governing in general.
The horrible reality is, their calculations are correct.
Ethics Alarms 
Coinage has had women before so this is not exactly setting any precedent. IMO they should treat the bills/coin as a way of honoring Americans – just as it is now done. Maybe a five or ten year span and then a new selection. Post office does it with their stamps.
Then, as you pointed out, is the selection process and when I first read the article I thought Abigale Adams or Eleanor Roosevelt.. Might be interesting to toss it out on national elections with a list of potential candidates. .
That’s the plan, in fact. Watch the ballot get stuffed, like in the current All-Star Game vote, where 8 members of the Kansas City Royals are leading in the American League vote.
I’m going to KC for this weekend. That stuffing brings back memories of ’57 when a Cincy DJ got “fans” to stuff the ballot box. Only Mays was the non Red in the lineup. Fans lost the vote for years.
And that KC management! Total bush league in that great ballpark.
I can just imagine the list drawn up. They’ll be Palin, Jane Fonda, Nancy Pelosi……I know you’ll be pushing for Kim Kardashian.
Kansas City Trouts! Well, my team is National League anyways.
The system of electing All-Star players is obviously a measure of enthusiasm, and we’ve got a lot of that in KC. It’s not stuffing if you’re voting by the rules, and they have found no evidence of hacking or voter fraud. Still three weeks to the All Star Game, so start voting for your favorite players and get your friends to vote, too. Still almost four weeks til the game!
Obviously, the game is between three and four weeks away.
Aren’t you glad you’re not a young man and won’t have to tolerate this crap as long as the few conservatives in their 20s will have to?
The more I think about it, the more grateful I become that I turn 70 on Saturday.
No. If I was 20 years younger, I’d be running for office. I wish I could now.
Funny and sad that the people who could do a decent job when elected have very good reasons *not* to run. I’m not chiding you, just complaining about that sad reality.
I’m not sure that having “very good reasons” quite is the problem. My guess is that the people who are smart enough to run for office are also smart enough NOT to run. From observation over the last few years, the opposition from either party tends to focus on personalities rather than issues. Hillary, of course, makes it difficult NOT to.
I suppose the obvious choice would be Eleanor Roosevelt which would make Hillary very happy but not many Republicans. Although she was an important advocate for African-American rights, her role in being Alger Hiss’s defender makes her a questionable choice. Frankly, after the postal service printed the Kwanza stamp, I don’t care much anymore.
I don’t understand why Sacagawea could not be the lady on the paper. Young, strong, crucial to the success of an early American venture of exploration and discovery that led to a young nation’s future expansion – and: a Shoshone citizen; bride of an interracial marriage; mother of an American citizen, and survivor of captivity and slavery at the hands of a third nation. What more qualifications in a woman could anyone want?!
It’s been noted that two women have previously appeared on U.S. currency: Martha Washington and Pocahontas. That was back in the 19th Century, though. Neither would be acceptable today. Martha was the wife of a Greedy Slave Owner and Pocahontas married a white guy! Of course, many coins throughout history have pictured Lady Liberty (French!), Columbia (the feminine portrayal of America) and, more recently, Sacajawea (a breeder carrying a baby!!). So those won’t work, either.
Is a puzzlement!
I’m on a tablet this morning, which is easily cleanable, so luckily you don’t owe me a keyboard for my coffee mishap at reading Mattress Girl’s name in that list 🙂
Someone should get to Photoshopping, because Mattress Girl on a $10 bill is comedy gold.
A two bit whore… adjusted for inflation!
Someone seriously suggested Margaret Sanger? A racist with Nazi ideals? Any one of the slaveholders on our current money would have been better. I don’t recall even Andrew Jackson wanting to wipe minorities off the face of the earth.
Check my link: she was on the list. Luckily, she didn’t win.
I love the faux Hillary, er, bill. I bet she wins. From here on out, the sitting president will routinely put their party’s presidential nominee’s face on printed money. Kind of like wrapping busses with advertising for cell phones or using the Lincoln bedroom as a fundraiser. Brilliant. It’s all about building the brand.