Politics and parenting

I told someone today that my wife and I were expecting triplets. They stopped, looked at me, and then asked in a not-so-polite tone, how could we bring babies into this country? I was beyond shocked, and they proceeded to tell me about how bad our government was, that Obozo was, and then proceeded to thoroughly beat a dead horse with blatant attacks on President Obama. There were no suggestions of a better way to do things, just cries of how bad the national debt was (of course ignoring the 10 trillion that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost this country). Then, there was a pause. After this person blamed everything under the sun on Obama, and I'm sure in an attempt to cut off the inevitable, a "you can't blame it all on Bush either" was offered to me. Then he proceeded to argue that Obama was the worst President in history – I guess I’m to believe he was worse than Grant? I doubt that. A final argument was made that no other President has brought us from a recession to a depression, well, there have been many, and historically, every 20 years or so, a President takes us from a recession to a depression (even Ronald Reagan did it).

I don't know whether this person would have been behind Bush two years ago, and in fact it doesn't matter whether they would have supported that President or not. I guess what offended me the most about the conversation, was that, here is an accomplished, experienced and intelligent person that is spitting out party-line tripe to me. Everyone has their own opinion, and I cannot fault them for it, but something is happening - and it happens for Republican and Democrats alike - where thought is removed from the arena of politics.

The United States' political system is incredibly limited in nature. The democrats occupy one 49 yard line and the republicans the other 49 yard line if you envision the entire political spectrum as a football field. Republicans act like Democrats (Bush's insane government expansion), and Democrats act like Republicans (Obama's passage of a healthcare bill that ultimately benefits businesses and does little to reform a broken system that is devastating what is left of this country’s middle class). If a Republican had tried to enact healthcare, a "democrat" would have fought tooth and nail to prevent it. If a Democrat had tried to go to war with Iraq, the Republicans would have fought this (and historically this is true, see Bill Clinton concerning Yugoslavia and Somalia).

Instead of bringing rational thought into politics, it seems like the average person views the Democrats or the Republicans as their hometown football team. They root fervently for the "team" they back, and only want to see their “heroes” win the game. Furthermore, they surround themselves with “news”, thoughts and beliefs of only those that are like-minded. This behavior permeates both backers of each party. This country is polarized at the core, with each "side" believing that the other side is leading this country into a death spiral – which frankly is not true. In reality, both sides act nearly identically. The leaders of these parties pander to specific tendencies, beliefs and qualities of their respective voting bodies, but when they get into office, they act the same.

The problem is this. People hate each other for their political beliefs. Listening to any media outlet, you would think the sky is falling. However, if you stop and look around you, you might notice some things that are bad currently in this country, but most of us are safe in our homes, we are safe from our government, and we can express our discontentment without being imprisoned. However, that's not what we hear. Both parties create this type of hyper-nationalized behavior (the same behavior that launched the Third Reich), and hate mongers (an example is Rush Limbaugh), preach pure, unadulterated hatred for the other "side", yet offer no solutions or compromises. Instead of having people willing to work together, we have people in office now fearing that if they cooperate with the other side, if they concede to an "opponent's" demand, their voter base will lynch them. Therefore, we have an entire party in Congress, the Republicans, that can do nothing but vote against anything appearing to be a "democratic" initiative. This has nothing to do with personal beliefs or motivations, this is simply self preservation. If a Republican were to cooperate with a Democrat today, even if it is in the best interest of our Country, it would be political suicide for that person. This simply means one thing, that nothing will be done, and the problems of this country will widen.

So, this is a parenting blog, not a pulpit, and I will get back to the fears of raising children in a society that is being “destroyed by Mr. Obama”, or should I say “Mr. Obozo”. In short, no, the election of Mr. Obama has caused nothing to change, and it is not the leadership of this country that I fear, nor will I ever fear it as long as our civil liberties are not encroached upon again. It is the common voter that is so wrapped up in their own belief in their personal political ideology that worries me. This country is an amazing place. There is nowhere else in the world like it. We have freedom, we have choices, we have capitalism. Unlike many other countries, almost every person has the ability to become something - to achieve greatness. Crime in this country is down to the same levels as the 1960s. We are safe. People can find jobs, or choose to make their own money. We can all survive. We have programs, donations and charities to help the least of our citizens. Our country, regardless of who is leading it, operates on true Christian principles. We are going through a financial crisis right now, but because we employ the systems of free-enterprise and capitalism, we will always go through "boom" and "bust" cycles. I am not worried about this for my children, because things will come around. We will have to take matters into our own hands, place the blame where it actually resides though, and stop creating scapegoats out of our leadership for other person’s blunders.

Blaming a single person, and currently it is the recession; for "democrats" it is Bush’s fault, for "republicans" its Obama’s. This is what scares me and this is representative of an alarming trend in this country, and that is the lack of responsibility coupled with blame shifting. Everyone in this country contributed to the financial issues we are having, from the corrupt lender, to the business owner that increases their profit by 1% by outsourcing manufacturing - creating more unemployed, to the consumer that buys that crap made in China or wherever else. It is just easier to blame the President for these flaws, unfortunately, many of these are problems that are out of his control – and should be out of his control. Of course, when talking to people concerned about me brining up a child in this environment, it is the President's fault, but this is just the easy way out. Rather than accepting responsibility, rather than looking to how we can personally effectuate change, we blame one person, say its their fault and we can forget about it - we don't have to do anything.

No, I'm not worried about raising my children in this Country. I think they will do amazing, and this Country will pull itself together. I will teach my children to formulate their own opinions. I will teach them to effectuate change, I will teach them to love their fellow countrymen - I will teach my children to think for themselves and throw caution to any opinion they hear, until they have a chance to investigate, understand and formulate an educated opinion themselves about that topic. What they believe from there, well, that's their choice, I would never stand in the way, as long as it is their opinion, and not what someone else wants them to believe. Usually, objectivity and impartiality will lead them to the right choices, but that doesn’t sell ads on the television and the radio.