GOP Debate Thoughts

I'm watching the GOP debate at the moment and I think it's probably raising my blood pressure.  I cannot fathom how people are supporting Donald Trump.  Part of me wonders if these supporters understand politics.  Do they understand how government works?  I sit here and I lament the fact that being properly educated is not a requirement for enfranchisement.  Perhaps, just as immigrants need to pass a test to become naturalized, the electorate should have to pass a test to show their suitability to cast a vote.

Maybe I'm being an elitist or something.  I don't know.  I have a degree in political science and so much of what I'm seeing lately reminds me of things my professors would say in their lectures that makes me cringe as I see the disaster that appears to be unfolding at the moment.  The vast majority of my professors talked about how uninformed and uneducated the majority of the American voters are.  They essentially likened them to mindless sheep or lemmings that had no real idea of what is really going on.  Now at the time, Republicans and Democrats were not so far apart.  I believe today that there is a bit more a chasm between the two sides given that we have a socialist running as a Democrat in the primary.  That's alarming.  But as alarmed as I am about that, I'm even more alarmed by the number of people claiming to be conservatives who are supporting Donald Trump.

The angry mob vote concerns me.  I realize people can honest and truly have a conversion and change.  There have been politicians who have switched parties.  I don't doubt that one can switch affiliation and be true to the new party line they've ascribed to.  What I do doubt very much is the authenticity of Trump's political affiliation.  He's not a conservative.  And, even if he wants to pretend he is, and he winds up winning the GOP nomination, he will have every unsavory thing he's ever done pulled out before the election.

Trump is not a man who can run on any kind of family values.  He has zero experience in government and given how he pompously handles himself when debating his "fellow" Republicans, I cannot see how he can possibly deal with foreign heads of states without creating a myriad of gaffes and disasters.

If you disagree with me, that's fine.   I do my best to avoid discussing politics with people because I am not a fan of getting into heated debates with people over politics.  Ordinarily I can remain silent about politics but presently I feel I simply can't do that.  I feel that too much is at stake with this upcoming election.  I sincerely wish there was a viable third party candidate who was capable of winning the election at the present moment.

Democracy is Risky

I have to say that I'm very concerned about where our country is going.  The upcoming Presidential election really worries me.  At the moment, the GOP is infuriating me and I'm convinced that because of the ego and pride of certain candidates still running in the primaries for the GOP ticket that we will not see the best person win the Republican nomination.

I've been growing annoyed with the Republican party and their poor handling of many of the past Presidential elections.  From choosing the wrong guy for the Presidential nomination, or choosing the right guy only to have him choose the worst person as a running mate, they have flubbed it up time and time again.  Sometimes I wonder if they really want to get their guy in the White House.  McCain blew it when he chose Palin, when he should have tapped Alan Keyes who would have done far more for him than the gaffe machine from Alaska.  And now, somehow we've got someone who I really feel is an egotistical Democrat pretending to be a Republican as the front runner for the upcoming election.  It's scary stuff.

I've had many professors who would talk about what a tremendous risk a democracy is and how it doesn't take much to unhinge one.  I do worry if we aren't about to look at the unhinging of ours.  It's scary when you think about how we enfranchise our citizens to vote even if they are largely uninformed and have no understanding of the gravity of their vote.  Some of what I see going on make me cringe.  Just go on social media and read some of the unfiltered thoughts of people who will be voting for our next President.  It's frightening.

Our country clearly needs prayers.  I don't want to be a fear monger, but I don't think there's anything great looming on the horizon for our country....at least not in the immediate future.

Signs That I'm Doing My Job Right

If your a conservative minded person like myself, chances are you've realized at some point in time that educators are typically liberals.  I can recall as far back as fourth grade being down graded on my papers about conservative politicians.  Did that make me change gears and write glowing reports about FDR or JFK?  No.  Instead, I decided to call the teachers on their liberal prejudices and point out precisely why they were wrong. I must have been an insufferable student for the super liberal teachers.

Madeline came home today with a social studies assignment.  She has to pick a President and write an essay about him.  She knew right off the bat that Obama was off the table.  So she started to look at the list of presidents I had pulled up on the White House website.  She was mildly interested in Abe Lincoln, another President who shares our last name, Ronald Reagan (probably because I love Ron) and George W. Bush.  I pushed for Nixon because I had written several papers on him in high school and college (and still have them).  Then I tried to sell Reagan telling her that he liked jelly beans, got shot and lived (that makes him super hero cool, right) and was one of my favorite presidents.  My selling points on Nixon and Reagan didn't succeed.  Then I pointed out John Adams and tried to sell her on a founding father.  No dice.  Taking the know-it-all angle (I'm a know-it-all just in case you didn't know) I tried to sell her on George Washington telling her we could overturn all the lies they teach the kids about him in school.  No, he never chopped down a cherry tree and said "I cannot tell a lie."  She decided instead that she wanted to write about W.   While he wouldn't have been my pick, I'm not going to stand in her way. I'm just thrilled she happily selected a Republican.

I thought about emailing her teacher and asking if I should expect a lower grade on her paper since it's going to be about a Republican, but I'll be nice and wait for the grade.  It will certainly go into the school as an A paper (I have the grading rubric).  It will be impossible to keep this Republican mom with a degree in political science away from such an appealing assignment.  I shall do my best to not take over this latest project, but I'll still be very much involved.  I'll be playing the role of proofreader, writing coach, and in house historical fact consultant.  Perhaps I can get her to put in a line or two about how the liberal media has done their best to down play GWB's accomplishments, but history will remember him as a great President.  I'm becoming my dad, who also has a degree in political science. He was always my sounding board on all things history and politics related when I was in school.

Sitting like a lady

Maybe I'm too prudish (I doubt it.), maybe I'm old fashioned or maybe I'm just aware that there are a lot of perverted people in the world. Anyway, the bottom line is I teach my daughters to sit like a lady. That is, legs together or crossed at the knees or ankles. We're not in the business of giving what they call in the dance school world a "crotch shot" to anyone who may be looking in our direction.

Do I have a point here? Why, yes, I do, thanks for asking. I seldom get to watch the nightly news since the girls monopolize the family room TV. (Smart girls that they are, they prefer the big screen TV to the small basement TV.) Tonight while they ate dinner I got to watch 30 minutes of the news. During one segment they showed Mrs. Obama at the Washington [D.C., I presume] Children's Hospital. She was reading a story to some children assembled there. I was stunned when I saw how she was sitting. I'm sorry, but if you are First Lady of the United States you need to sit like a lady. And, you should be instructing your young daughters to sit like ladies, too. I guess it's a good thing none of them were wearing skirts or dresses.

I'm beginning to wonder when modesty went out of style.

Got hope?

Yesterday I blogged about my feelings on Mr. Obama and his scheduled address to our nation's impressionable youth on September 8th. Those of you who have been reading my blog are aware that I've been sick most of this week, and this little tid bit of news was not making me feel better.

I decided this morning that I needed to call Madeline's school and ask if my child was going to be required to watch this speech which I firmly believe is a propaganda video. For some reason, our school hasn't been answering the phones since last week. It's a mystery. They're there, but no one is picking up the phone.

I don't want to bother the class room teacher and create a situation where the teacher dislikes my child because she's got the annoying mother. (I suspect this was part of our problem with the 1st grade teacher. That and the fact that the woman clearly had some serious issues to work out with herself.) So emailing the new teacher was out. I already emailed her last week asking what if anything I could do to help out with classroom supplies. (I'm a kiss-up, I'll admit it.) And, I'll be emailing her before school starts to see if I can send cupcakes in to celebrate Madeline's birthday next Friday. (Her birthday is next Saturday.) So I don't need to make a pest of myself before school even begins.

I decided to look up the principal's email address on the school website and ask her about Obama's speech. I met her at church during Madeline's First Reconciliation last February when she was the vice principal of the school. She seemed very nice and I liked that she had a son Madeline's age. I sent an email to her asking if the children would be required to watch the speech, and if so how can parents who are concerned that their children are being indoctrinated opt their child out of watching the speech without parental supervision. I expressed to her my concern that I did not feel any children should be exposed to speeches from politicians at such impressionable ages without parental consent. I hoped that I would not come across as a right-wing extremest. I don't believe that I am. Given my experience in public schools, both my own and my child's, I am well aware that most educators lean to the left. I was not hopeful that I'd receive a response from the principal, nor was I expecting one that would be favorable.

Imagine my shock when I checked my email a few minutes ago. I actually got a response from the principal. As I went to click on it, I braced myself for a response that would get the back of this feverish (101.1) mom up. I was shocked and delighted when I read a response that told me that I didn't need to worry. Our class rooms do not have access to cable, and (here's the best part) teachers were advised not to show it to the children online. Sounds like this school is not going to bend it's knee to Obama. I am very relieved. It is probably the most cheerful news I have been given in the past 4 days. Now if this fever could just break I'd be over the moon.

I'm feeling politically charged

If there's one thing about me you should know, it's this: Don't dare to politically indoctrinate my children. It's an issue that I take very seriously. Don't presume to tell my child that our current President is great or wonderful. Don't tell her to come home and talk to me about his latest and greatest scheme to destroy our great country that members of my family have fought for since the Revolutionary War. In short, watch your step around my kids when you talk politics.

I got a call from my mom today asking me if I heard that Madeline will likely be forced to watch a speech from Mr. Obama on her first day of school. It just gives you the warm and fuzzies that you can only get from a Communist or Socialist party. I'll be calling the school tomorrow and asking if I can opt my child out of the brainwashing session. The school already did it's best last year to tout Obama as the new god. Of course, once my child was made aware that a certain someone is in favor of killing unborn babies, she hopped off the Obama-wagon.

Here are two lovely stories I picked up about this atrocity that will happen in schools across the nation on September 8th at 1pm EST. (I may be signing my child out early that day.) Click here and here to see them. The second link has a disturbing video of a teacher abusing her authority in the classroom. I can vividly remember going up against hard line liberal teachers as a young school child. This Republican didn't back down easily then and still doesn't.

And to top if all off, I find that good old liberal Ben and Jerry's has come out with a new name for their Chubby Hubby ice cream. In the past, little old lactose intolerant me, has supported them because they don't use milk from cows treated with rBST (artificial growth hormone). I haven't agreed with their politics for a while now. Something tells me my Ben and Jerry's ice cream days are long gone. (I can't tell you the last time I ate their rBST-free ice cream.....it's been a long time.)

I need to go make sure my child who isn't even eight yet understands that as of right now, she still has the freedom to speak her mind. She understands propaganda and how it is used to brainwash people. She's been warned that the school may try to indoctrinate her again. (This bothers her, a lot.) I made sure my child understands that it is not unpatriotic to dislike or disagree with our nation's leaders. You can love your country and dislike the persons running the government. That's the beauty of a democratic free society. In four years, I hope all the freedoms I had last December still exist. For now, I worry that the very freedoms members of my family fought to protect are being threatened. I will do my best to protect the minds of my children in the meantime.

Am I a political snob?

I know I've mentioned on here a few times that I have a degree in Political Science. I think it goes without saying that I obviously have an understanding of how many different forms of governments operate. Understanding economics is another thing you gain when you study this fascinating branch of social science. For this reason, it totally blows my mind when I read a story like this one. Someone tell me please, how do you rise to the highest office in the land and not understand the basics of your nations economic system?

Apparently, this charismatic leader (When he has a teleprompter, that is.) hasn't been schooled on the subject of capitalism, nor does he seem to understand how government agencies are funded. Sheesh! And my liberal friends go on about what an idiot former President George W. Bush is/was. Mind you, I was not a fan of Bush (I still feel strongly that McCain should have gotten the GOP nod in 2000.), but I don't think the man was bumbling idiot that many feel he was. Inarticulate? Yes. Idiot? No. I think down the line, history will treat G.W. with the respect he should have been afforded while he was in office.

Why you should ALWAYS read the fine print!

I had a very liberal professor in college who told us constantly to "question everything".  It was her mantra.  "If you go to the Dr. and he says you need an antibiotic, question him.  Find out why." my seemingly out there professor would say.   At times I thought she was over the top, and truth be told, I didn't like this woman at all the first semester I had her.  But then, I came to like her.  Sure our political ideals didn't match and I can tell you lots of conservatives in her class would pretend they weren't.  I on the other hand, made sure I stuck to my gun and argued my conservative points with conviction.  I know lots of times I got graded down because I was a conservative, but when I earned an A from this woman, I knew it was because she couldn't in good conscience grade me down just because my political stance was the anthesis of hers. So because of good old Dr. Pope, I give you this clip to watch.  Read the fine print and question everything.  I believe our government is a very scary thing right now.  

So now I'm old and endangered?

I'm having a fun week with finding little things that just make me feel like my world as I know it is upside down.  Shall we review the latest discoveries?

Well, on Sunday I learned at Mass that I'm not a young adult.  Hmm....at 31 I don't feel old, but apparently after age 25 you're too old to be a young adult.  Fine, I don't have to be a young adult.  I'll hang out in the limbo age range that is not middle aged and not young for a little while.  Maybe this is why some people have a mid-life crisis.  For the most part, I'm not someone who cares about age.  Bryan and I are younger than most of our neighbors by about 10 years and their kids are close in age to ours.

Then, last night we were at BJs picking up old people stuff like laundry detergent and toilet paper.  Exciting, huh?  So I'm standing in the self check out lane and I see a disturbing magazine cover on the latest Time.  I didn't buy the magazine (because I'm cheap) to read the article, but apparently the GOP is being labeled by Time as an endangered species.  Lovely.  Given that I've identified myself as a Republican since I was a child, headlines like that disturb me.  My mom voted for Jim Florio when I was in 6th grade (if I remember correctly) and I didn't talk to her for several days because I was so angry that she would had the nerve to vote Democrat.  Might just as well tell me that sugar is going to be pulled from the market, too.  

So there you have it.  At 31, I'm no longer young and the political party that I identify myself with is said to be endangered.