Dear AOC Readers. We are a complex and unusual group: international, gender-balanced, progressive and also conservative? “Did you say ‘conservative’, Anne? You have conservative readers?”

In fact, AOC has a significant group of conservative women readers, many without college degrees and living in non urban parts of America. I joke that AOC is their closet progressive read.

While we’ve quantified the existence of these women readers, I’ve never sat down with them for a chat. My business career has often brought me into contact with women featured in last week’s NYTimes read: Crucial Subset: Female Voters Still Deciding.

President Obama’s support among white women voters is eroding among a group demographers call ‘Walmart moms’.

America’s shrinking middle class and just-getting by families includes many of these Walmart moms, and they are struggling at the end of President Obama’s first term as president. Many of these women voted for Obama in 2008 but are now drawn to Romney.

Behold the coveted female swing voter of 2012. She has slipped a rung or two down the economic ladder from the soccer moms of the more prosperous 1990s, as indicated by her new nickname — waitress mom. Rather than ferrying children around the suburbs in minivans, she is spinning in the hamster wheel of a tight economy and not getting ahead.

My own views of the Republican War on women are clearly established since 2010. But I understand that not every woman sees it that way. To be honest, I can’t change your mind in many cases.

The woman we’re talking to — hurricane or no hurricane — is a woman like Emmakate Paris, a voter featured in the NYT article, a woman disappointed in President Obama but afraid of Mitt Romney and what his presidency and a Republican Congress will mean for her and her family.

You see, Paris “is not thrilled with Mitt Romney either. She said he would set women back because he did not understand their needs.”

“Women worked so hard to get where we are today and to take our rights away from us is — no,” she said, shaking her head.

Each day until the election (Internet connections permitting with this horrific weather), we will feature a longer essay or group of thoughts to AOC readers from one of our other readers about the upcoming election.

I’m calling this feature Dear Walmart Moms. Our first letter came almost immediately on Facebook from someone I don’t know in person. Pat Kennedy is a friend of a friend, and she jotted down her thoughts sitting in a Viennese coffee shop. Pat is a good writer and clear communicator. She is also a businesswoman and job creator.

Many of us Democratic women ARE job creators and still find lots to respect about decisions made for workers and non-elite people by the Obama administration. Mitt Romney would have you believe that progressive women want government to run the show. This assertion is so far from the truth, that I want to launch Dear Walmart Moms with a businesswoman’s perspective. ~ Anne

Dear Walmart Moms #1 by Pat Kennedy

Hi Anne,

We don’t know each other, but met ‘virtually’ through an email by Monica Day. My name is Patty Kennedy - and you kindly complimented me on summing up Monica’s challenges.

I am writing because I just read your post and love the idea! I am also very dedicated to what have become termed ‘women’s issues’, which, I have always argued are actually world issues. With that, I will share some of my thoughts with you….in the event they are helpful.

First, to put my thoughts in context, I am a mother of two young boys, CEO of a communications company headquartered in NY and with offices in Vienna, Austria. I split my time between NYC and Vienna. Life is purposefully full, and good….which is not to say it’s easy.

The War on Women Is Real and We Must Join Hands

Now that I’ve given you my brief bio, I want to get to the point. I applaud that you are reaching out to Walmart Moms. I think it is necessary and I too am appalled by what’s going on politically around women. But here’s the thing: until we collectively unite our voices as women, I don’t think we’ll get very far. Society, the media - and especially several Republican candidates - have set us up to define ourselves a certain way, structure our lives in a certain way and then judge other women for not doing the same. It is a battle — that divided — we can’t win. I wonder how we became afraid of our own power? A self power that I’ve seen women from all socio-economic, SAHM, WOHM, race, religious, sexual orientations eschew for the ‘greater good’, which to many, has been named ‘children’. I disagree with this.

I find it incredibly ironic that so many women - regardless of what we think differentiates us from one another - often face the same challenges professionally, personally, financially. Through a women’s lifecycle, we not only have to dramatically change our lives, but often, our identity, in order to simply survive. Yet, instead of support, we divide and, it is blatantly obvious that’s exactly what the Republicans want us to do. I don’t see it that differently than when women were pushed back into the kitchen after WWII so the men could get their jobs back.

What Does It Mean To ‘Value Life’?

The GOP message that the choice to ‘value life’, preserve a fetus, and bear a child is the moral and ethical thing to do makes me sick. Having a baby, if all goes well, is the easy part. If this life was truly valued, then so too would be the caring, education, support of that child. Yet our maternity policies are worse than ANY developed nation in the world, our healthcare budget is quadruple that of other countries, but we have one of the highest maternal death rates, our education costs are significantly higher than every other country, and more than 50% of our kids are failing - failing - school. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by the GOP, as what they’ve doing to women and children, they’ve already done to our veterans (Go to War for us, but screw you once you come home).

I want a President that understands the incredibly difficult decision to have an abortion should be between the mother and her doctor. I want a President that further understands, if you truly ‘value life’ then you also will provide the support that ALL mothers and children need - in order to create more independent, confident, curious, strong-minded and bodied children AND mothers, BOTH of whom will contribute more productively to society.

What the GOP is talking about is no longer a personal, private decision. And we can no longer afford to be private and quiet on the subject. This is about choosing a President that supports the real needs of mothers and their children. A President who can show by his policies that he very much values life by investing in our children, our schools, our future.

Social Benefits and Economic Growth Are NOT Mutually Exclusive

Interesting that I’m writing this note to you from Vienna, Austria as an American business owner. In Austria, every Austrian or EU citizen is entitled to monthly childcare support, healthcare is free — and better than I experienced in NYC even with private insurance, and maternity leave can be up to two years. (Coincidentally I was entitled to zero maternity leave in the U.S. as a small business owner, despite the fact I founded a company and created jobs.) Yet, despite the Eurozone crisis, Austria is one of the strongest economies in Europe.

We need strong women and strong children to create a strong society. Investing in us - not judging what we should do with our bodies - is really the only way forward. Mothers everywhere are already extremely challenged in their daily lives. And most mothers I know, have had to — and know exactly how to — stretch a dollar to make it work. What we truly CAN’T afford, and won’t be able to manage, is a government that takes away our rights and our children’s opportunity to succeed and prosper.

Vote Obama!

Hope the rant wasn’t too much for you! Clearly, I feel strongly about this!!

All my best and good luck with the article,
Patty Kennedy
Kennedy Spencer