The New Right thinks women have way too much power in today’s America; as Mark Robinson says in a Josh Stein commercial, men should be “leading the charge.” This is primarily an economic phenomenon; the shift to a knowledge-based economy has devalued the male advantage in strength in the marketplace, to the benefit of women. Ideology also plays a role, however; women have argued forcefully that they are entitled to the same rights as men to exploit their talents and enjoy sex, which is incompatible with traditional American notions of family life.
What can the government do to reverse these trends? The New Right economic solution is to use tariffs and deportations to raise wages and revive dead manufacturing jobs, thereby making it possible for a single male breadwinner to support a family. I will discuss this prescription at more length in a subsequent post. On the ideological front, the idea is to use government to discourage sex, but encourage procreation. This includes limitations on abortion and the active promotion of traditional Christian values.
The mainstream of the GOP has done its best to distance itself from efforts to eliminate access to birth control because they are hideously unpopular. It is difficult for me to see how the apparently self-contradictory New Right agenda item on sex and procreation can be accomplished without birth control restrictions, however. Look for the GOP to start pushing them as soon as it believes its grip on power has become unassailable, particularly in red states with gerrymandered electoral districts.