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Maybe the most damaging aspect of the political culture around here is the absolute determination of politicians like Patty Murray to make everyone feel like they’re a victim. I think that is crippling for kids; it makes them think they need government to take care of them, when in fact it is they who are responsible for their own success.

That’s why I found the press conference Sunday morning with our two U.S. senators, the mayor of Tacoma, and U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Captain Megan Rapinoe to be reinforcing this culture of victimization. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell are demanding that the female players get paid as much as the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team.

First off, we learned that when the Women’s World Cup games were being played, Patty Murray’s office, in her own words, “was not doing a lot of work during those games.” Why do U.S. senators think it’s an appealing message to taxpayers that they and their staffers were not doing a lot of the work that we pay them to do during a sporting event? You know what? Sports games happen every day. We still have to do our jobs.

Then Patty Murray said this:

I believe the only way to truly honor our national team is to pay them with what so clearly they deserve, equal pay, for their far more than equal hard work.

Desperate Jay Inslee trying to recruit Jay Inslee, Megan Rapinoe

Let’s talk about the ridiculousness of the argument from an economics standpoint. The total prize money for the Men’s World Cup is $440 million. For the Women’s World Cup, it’s $30 million — about one-14th of what the men get. That’s because it’s commensurate with the revenues. In fact, the women get a higher percentage of the revenues than the men. The Men’s World Cup is the most-viewed television event in the world — even bigger than the Super Bowl — and there are multi-billion-dollar television revenues worldwide that go along with that.

Look, I’m a fan of women’s sports. This is not at all a criticism of female athletes. It’s just that equal pay is not the way economics works. If you are a participant in an endeavor that has one-14th the revenues of another endeavor, you’re probably going to get paid less. That’s just math.

Sen. Maria Cantwell called Megan Rapinoe “an American hero” and said the USWNT’s win would be one of the all-time greatest sports moments in history for the country. Uh, no. It was no “.” It’s a nice sentiment to say in front of the team, but I think you can come up with hundreds of greater sports moments.

Then Maria Cantwell said something with which I actually agreed (yes, that does happen on occasion).

The best thing that ever happened to female sports was Title IX, when we guaranteed women in our school system equal access to train and be prepared for sports.

I agree with her 100-percent on that. Title IX has been wonderful for female students. Kids who participate in extra-curricular activities — whether sports, drama, music, or school clubs — statistically have higher GPAs, lower drop-out rates, and lower pregnancy rates.

Here is why this is so confusing, however. Cantwell’s own party is trying to gut and destroy Title IX. Here in Washington, biological boys must be allowed to play on girls’ high school sports teams if they say they identify as girls. We are seeing girls’ records topple as biological boys play girls’ sports.

Right now, in D.C., there is a bill that would mandate every state allow boys to play on girls’ teams. In a few years, this will effectively end girls’ sports in schools. That is not hyperbole. Nobody thought that records would topple and boys would be able to set state records in girls’ competitions, but we are seeing that happen all over. So considering that you and your party, Maria Cantwell, are effectively working against Title IX for reasons of political correctness, don’t stand up there and talk about the wondrous benefits of Title IX.

But it was the Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards’ words that got to the heart of how damaging this message is.

When will there be a day when we don’t have to have this conversation? When will there be a day when we don’t have to talk about equal pay because we’ll just have it?

It was kind of bizarre to hear that from the mayor of Tacoma, who is a woman. The two U.S. senators from our state, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, have been women for many years. The mayor of Seattle is a woman. And you have the audacity to stand up at this press conference and tell girls that women don’t have a chance in this country?

That is a damaging, crippling message of victimization. Instead, we should be teaching our daughters to be self-sufficient, to realize that they can be anything they want, and to know that they can overcome any challenges through force of will.