Corporate Wife

Juan Williams said Ann Romney looked like a “corporate wife.” Evidently this is a person whose husband takes care of her.

Horror filled me.

I realized that this weekend my Dad took care of my Mom this weekend. She looked happy, healthy, and flourishing. My Dad after fifty-two years of pastoral ministry left my Mom thoughtful, opinionated, and competent.

He had turned her into a ‘corporate wife.”

You might wonder how Dad did this terrible thing since this year we celebrate the one-hunded fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Was is possible that my Mom failed to consent to her fate? Was all her writing, church service, and raising Dan and me mere unpaid menial labor?

Of course, it appeared to me that Mom chose this life. Her consent seemed real, but her work, massive amounts of work, was unpaid. Only unpaid labor matters, I realized given Juan Williams belief, and she had done little paid labor.

At first I was cheered by the fact that if only paid labor mattered, then Mitt Romney, who now gets paid more than most human beings due to his earlier success in business really matters. In fact, doesn’t this mean Mr. Romney matters more than Mr. Obama, who wasted time as a community organizer? Perhaps, in Mr. Williams’ world, Mr. Obama was a Community Husband. Mitt Romney, however, has gone too far in Juan Williams’ world. He matters, but too much.

Mr. Romney made and kept too much money and has now become a rich man. His very support can now demean a person: his children are now Corporate Children, his employees Corporate. Even watching him on television may have risked incorporating me into the Romney corporation.

Imagine if he becomes President of the United States! He might lower unemployment, allow parents to choose whether to work, lower debt on our children and grandchildren.

The entire nation might end up looking like Ann Romney: happy, flourishing, and successful.

Of course, the absurdity is that Mrs. Romney had no free will and that for one person to help another person be happy is evil. My wife makes me happy: am I kept man? Isn’t it sexist to assume that my wife, my mother, and Mrs. Romney did not really choose what they believe they chose?

Then I realized that Mrs. Obama, a marvelous first lady, was also happy, flourishing, and successful. She too had not worked for money. Was Mrs. Obama a corporate wife? Or are only blondes corporate? Is this entire term racist? Mr. Williams himself makes huge amounts of money compared to me or to most Americans. Is he harming me as he talks? Am I at risk when I listened to him?

Instead of worrying about Mr. Williams and his opinions, perhaps I should labor at making friends and my family flourish. I should maximize their choices . . . and not minimize them. I should not turn them into anything, who would want to do that? Instead, I will ask Jesus to bless them with healing, hope, and jollification.