The Hubby State: The Life of Julia

"Julia is Mary Tyler Moore on the government’s dime. "

 

Unless she meant the actress, the character's name is 'Mary Richards.'

The Mary Richards character has no children.

Terrible, artless comparison.

 

If there's a miscalculation on "Julia," it's that there are certain people who get upset BECAUSE they know how much they rely on government, and they get particularly pissed when you point that out. Especially if they are collecting Social Security and benefitting from Medicare. Or they live in some rugged part of the country where everyone is allegedly self-sufficient but whose economies are based on government jobs (like those places that beg for prisons to be built).

The Wall Street Journal had a great story a number of years back where a reporter detailed all the things along his morning commute -- and generally, things people like -- that were paid for or exist because of government. I don't remember all the details, but suffice to say it was a lot.

 

Of course, the counter is that a lot of that stuff comes under the "government is supposed to spend money only to protect us and keep our infrastructure" rubric. I try to tune out this sordid political season as much as possible, but I do recall Romney going after the typical targets: National Endowment for the Arts, public television, etc.

 

The thing is about the column, it had a valid point about the struggles of single women with kids and poverty. But it acted like all of women's problems can be solved if they just got married.