MARK PENN: Roseanne is bringing conservative American women out of the closet.

“Roseanne,” the ABC sitcom, brought in 25 million viewers and counting to the shock of elites who believed that the biggest new draw on TV was Jimmy Kimmel and comedy tilting politically left. But there are an estimated 15 million closet conservatives in America today — people who have views that are more conservative than they let on to friends and family — and series star Roseanne Barr tapped into that enormous constituency.

Hillary Clinton recently suggested that women were being in some sense forced or brainwashed into following their spouses. And yet, the real phenomenon seems to be the opposite: women who say to their friends and family that they are liberal when, in fact, they harbor more conservative views, especially on hot-button issues like immigration, crime and even taxes.

At long last millions of women feel free to strike back, even in a small way, against the progressive patriarchy.