While the changing nature of electoral issues may explain, somewhat, a parent s waning interest in civic life, one New York-based author and social activist is convinced there are a host of societal barriers to parental participation in the political process. We make it very hard for parents to vote, states Sylvia Ann Hewlett, co-author with Cornel West of The War Against Parents and founder of the National Parenting Association. I was out in Iowa during the caucuses and those were especially horrendous because they were two-hour evening meetings.
Most parents couldn t go.
Hewlett s group has created a Parents Bill of Rights, an attempt to get the presidential candidates to address key issues for moms and dads like paid parental leave. The group s platform calls for up to six months of paid leave, at the minimum wage rate, that parents could draw upon, like a bank account, at any point during childhood. Hewlett s own research shows more than 80 percent of parents support the concept of paid leave. It s an issue that s got great stats, no traction, to quote one of Bill Clinton s former speechwriters, Hewlett says. There is no history of parents being organized in this country.