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It is no coincidence that since Karens have been silenced, our public spaces have deteriorated, and our politics have become less constructive.

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Online memes have helped build and break many political movements, but few have had the lasting effect of Karen, even though she’s now being swept into oblivion by a rising tide of Democratic Socialists. Karen — the overbearing scold who lectures waitresses about the service she expects but doesn’t receive — began as a mildly insulting stereotype about an observable segment of society. People recognized the Karens among us, and it seemed harmless to poke fun at them.

Yet the Karen stereotype accelerated the decline of liberal white women’s influence in the public debate, particularly within the Democrat Party. A new wave of leaders from the left pushed them — and the perspective of millions of American women — to the side. Our politics is worse for it. 

Karens exist across political parties, but the Democrat Party of the ’90s and early 2000s was led by women who fit that mold, from Hillary Clinton to Nancy Pelosi, and driven by Karen-style organizations like the National Organization for Women, National Women’s Law Center, and Women’s Sports Foundation.

As a conservative, I often opposed their efforts to warp institutions like schools and workplaces to favor girls over boys. From my perspective, their health care and economic policies strained the proper limits of government power and warped the free market in ways doomed to backfire on women. That old generation of Democrat Karens and I used to debate these issues.

Yet underlying the debates, there was a lot that those liberal Karens and I could agree on: That the safety of our children on the school playground mattered more than the “right” of the addict to shoot up next to the swings; that regimes that force women to cover their faces and restrict their movement are evil; that antisemitism is wrong; that violent criminals belonged in jail; and that America, for all of her flaws, is still the best country on Earth. 

Beyond politics, Karens played an important role in making all of our system work better. Karens encourage businesses to keep their restrooms clean and local officials to fill emerging potholes. Karens are typically huge assets to public schools, scrutinizing school decisions to make sure that their kids........

© The Federalist