And this makes sense.......how?
Time for one of my sporadic pondering/ranting posts.
It's probably just a sign that I'm getting old but more and more I find myself just shaking my head at this country and world.
Lets start with politics. I'm a democrat, have been since I switched during the Reagan years because I simply couldn't tolerate a president who opened the doors to our nations mental institutions and said, in effect, good luck y'all and then proceeded to sleep through office. Even though I'm a democrat, that doesn't mean that there aren't some facets of republicanism that make a lot of sense. I'd honestly be a republican too if I were blissfully married to a hard working white man who was madly in love with me and we lived in either northwest Iowa or anywhere in Utah. If I had someone to take care of me in the way I've always dreamt of being taken care of (yeah, I grew up with the princess/knight in shining armor dream)---someone to fight my battles for me. God, however, had other plans for my life and I've had to battle my way through most of it.
The "idea" of social conservatism really does make sense---I do believe that kids stand the best chance of adult success by growing up in a loving, 2 parent home and yes, I even believe that it is best if there is one parent present of each gender. Mothers and fathers DO each have something valuable to contribute to the upbringing of children. In essence, if we could guarantee that every 2-heterosexual-parent home were loving and non abusive, we would eliminate some of todays social ills, maybe even most of them. Problem is, for whatever reason, this simply isnt' reality now and I'm not sure that it ever was. Even during the Leave it to Beaver era. The social conservatives preach this family ideal but for most of us human beings, it is something that we will never experience for reasons most of us don't really even know or understand......perhaps we're dealing with the mental fallout of our own childhoods, perhaps we're just plain mean, perhaps we are attracted to unavailable men, who knows? Maybe its just that God wants a little variety in His world but the reality is that there are kids and even some adults out there that need help evening the playing field a bit and there is simply no room in the republican party for that.
As Iowa demonstrated last week, most of the repubs here are evangelical Christians. It is primarily because of my religious beliefs that I am a democrat. I just shake my head when I listen to the self-serving folk like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and try to equate them with the "Christian" party. I think there are many good reasons to like guys like that so long as you are rich and non-religious. They have a 'look out for number one' mentality that sounds mighty good if you're the one at the top of the heap. Lately I've been listening to Hannity quite a bit and what he says makes a ton of sense....if you are wealthy and don't want to lose what you have and get frustrated helping those who keep needing help. In my Bible I do not read of this theme anywhere...in fact it is directly opposed to most of what Jesus taught.
Nuf picking on the 'red' folk. The 'blue' don't have it all right either. Nor am I in a position to judge because I have 2 kids w/2 guys as well but I'm sick and tired of girls between say 15 and 22 having sex and having babies with whomever. Guys they have no intent of staying with for the duration of their lives. I wasn't married when I got pregnant the first time but I was 27 and gainfully employed. Art and I eventually got married (didn't last) and did our best to make a family. When I got pregnant at 36 knowing Ray and I would never marry, I had successfully raised 3 children for a decade, including 2 I adopted. Even though I support a woman's right to have an abortion I personally would not do this except in the most dire of situations were health of either I or the baby were threatened. That wasn't the case and Jaden has been truly one of the most wonderful things to ever grace my life. Unfortunately I think it is because of people like me (older, financially and generally emotionally and socially secure, employed, Murphy Brownish types) that all of these working class girls are getting pregnant. We've made it look easy (I have financial and social advantages and I'd never describe the past 16 years as easy) and they think they can do it too. In the schools now we are seeing that they really can't. Public school kids' behavior is out of control. What used to be relegated to the inner cities is now throughout every place except the upper rung suburbs---overweight kids' whose parents have never taught them self control or respect muddling through their special education classes and dropping out to create a new generation just a tad bit worse off. It's gotta stop. It's sad that a high school in what 10 years ago was in a decent part of town now has over 50% of its kids on free and reduced lunches. Yes, we certainly can put some of the blame on Dubya and his tax cuts/job losses etc. but not just on him. Stop having babies without educating yourself first. Stop having babies you'll never be able to afford. Just stop already. If you've already had the baby realize that you'll never be able to give them a good shot at life unless you 1) get an education and job to support yourself and your child, 2) stop dating---once you're a mama, that's gotta go on a shelf and the kids gotta come 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 3) establish YOUR own home, can't live with mama or the boyfriend of the day forever. Give that kid stability. Teach them that adults deserve respect--yourself and teachers and all others. Help them learn from your mistakes. Even though I've raised 4 girls as a single mom most of their lives, I do not wish this for them. I want them to still hold out for the dream.
