Sue Lani Madsen: Washington has potential Warrior Queens

Two town hall forums a week apart, same venue, same format, same audio problems, in front of what seemed to be many of the same participants. The opportunity to ask a question was drawn randomly. The odds were ever in the favor of the progressive activists who had successfully worked their supporters to attend, boosting their chances at the microphone.

Consequently, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R) faced tough questioning. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D) mostly coasted, except for pointed questions on her sponsorship of Senate Bill 720, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act. One earnest young fan of Sen. Cantwell wanted to know if calling and sending postcards really makes a difference. (Answer: It does.)

Washington the state is well represented by women in Washington, DC. Both United States Senators and four of our ten Congressional Representatives are women. Sen. Patty Murray serves on the Senate Democratic Caucus leadership team, Rep. McMorris Rodgers on the House Republican leadership team. Both the Washington State Republican and Democratic parties are chaired by women. Women have served Washington as governors, county commissioners, mayors and state legislators, representing both major parties.

The two events highlighted capable women in positions of leadership. Voters don’t have a problem supporting women at the ballot box. So why has the United States never elected a woman into position as Commander in Chief?

Each major American political party has nominated women as vice-presidential candidates, and of course the 2016 Democratic nominee for president was a woman. All were unsuccessful, although three is a small sample for broad generalizations blaming glass ceilings. Each campaign had its own peculiar context.

Mondale/Ferraro fell to President Ronald Reagan at the height of his popularity in 1984, easily re-elected for a second term during a time of peace and prosperity. McCain/Palin were up against the American tradition to flip parties in the White House every eight years, plus a charismatic candidate in Barack Obama. And Clinton/Kaine were fighting the same party flipping tradition, plus a differently charismatic outsider running in a year when rebellion against insiders was a force.

Our British cousins elected Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1979 and she served until 1990. We’ve had international role models, but how did Sri Lanka, India, Israel and even Pakistan manage to elect women as heads of state before us?

According to acclaimed British author Antonia Fraser in her book “Warrior Queens,” what the United States is missing is a Queen Boadicea.

Queen Boadicea led a coalition of Celtic tribes in a nearly successful revolt against the occupying Roman Empire. Fortunately for Elizabeth I, texts written by the Roman historian Tacitus describing a warrior queen nobly leading the Iceni from her chariot were translated just as Elizabeth I needed to push back skeptics and consolidate her hold on military power. Queen Victoria and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would both lean on the same warrior queens to answer critics who claimed women are unqualified as commanders in chief of military forces.

It’s one of the ironies of having abandoned a hereditary monarchy for a democracy that we’ve never had women in top leadership. Nations of Europe, Asia and Africa have a history of leadership by women who inherited real power even when the women who were their subjects had little. Their glass ceilings were already shattered. We have no legendary American women with the same impact on our culture as Queen Boadicea in Britain.

But most American voters aren’t going to support or oppose a candidate based on sex. Goals, values and ideology matter. And we claim we want representatives who will work together to put country over party.

When asked at Tuesday’s town hall for three ways she would fix government, Sen. Cantwell called for greater collaboration between houses of Congress. Sen. Cantwell and Rep. McMorris Rodgers have a reputation for working together as often as possible, given the partisanship in the other Washington. Hearing both answering the same questions would be more informative than last week’s events.

Or invite the town hall averse Sen. Murray to join Rep. McMorris Rodgers in a Spokane forum of Washington women in national leadership. They aren’t token faces at national press conferences. They’re potential warrior queens.