My mom and I were famous at waking up the house early in the morning. I always wanted to make it clear to her that those arguments over foreign policy and government assistance can always get heated, but I always wanted her to know that I never took it personally. I always made it a point to say, “I love you” before she had to rush to work. I could always tell that she was relieved when I said that. I never realized where that relief came from.
You see my mother grew up in a southern Baptist family with very strict rules. And while my mother bares no grudges with God, Jesus, or her family specifically, she does tend to snarl at people pushing their morals on her. She does, however, know how homes can become broken and what it feels like to be unwanted. But she does not judge. Quite the opposite. She embraces and is empowering, by loving each member of her family. She has not lost her faith, but she can question the knowledge of we mere mortals. She loves the south, but only from a distance. It’s kept her pleasant, smiling, and kind. She won’t ever absolve any church run by man if that church is in the wrong.
Our mother taught us to channel my anger at hypocrisy and blind bigotry.
My mom doesn’t respond well to anger or hatred. She can usually keep her cool but sometimes it can take her a few seconds to calm down after the dust has settled. I wanted her to realize that “yes, I do get angry at state of the world but you do too and that’s okay. I’ll still be home by three.” To us, here at lack of command, we view politics as a game. But we have no choice living in a generation that is obsessed with spectacle rather than substance, but luckily so did our mother. Our parents’ generation is trying to find itself just like the rest of us. To me, being an American is the constant struggle of finding ways to better ourselves, learning from each other, and trying new ideas. Rewarding them, rather than exploiting them.
Our mom wrote this letter and gave it to us and asked us what we should do with it. Unfortunately mom, this is the best we do. Yell out of the only soapbox we have at the moment.
So without further a due…
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I am a former, solid Republican is now ashamed of “my” party. As a result, for the first time in 2008, I voted for the Democrat. This is only my note of introduction, in hopes the Republicans might pay attention to how they lost me (and evidently others since the Democrat won).
My perspective had always been that only the Republicans supported FREEDOM, which included freedom from taxes and government interference in both personal and corporate endeavors. I’ve been willing to overlook the portion of the Republican platform that opposed abortion because it has never been an issue for me personally, although I support the FREEDOM of individuals to choose the best of action based on their individual circumstances. I support the FREEDOM of a child to be born into a life in which he or she is wanted, loved and supported by at least one parent.
Republicans, who believe in self-reliance (aka not reliance on the government) demand that the woman bear that child, despite the circumstances that only she fully understands which would prevent her FREEDOM to become self-reliant, in fact demanding that she become reliant on the government in order to raise an unwanted child or to rely on some government program to raise the child for her. Not only is FREEDOM denied, but government assistance becomes required to raise, feed, and eventually imprison the tragic soul who is brought into the world unwanted, unloved and unsupported.
How fiscally idiotic is it to demand the birth of an unwanted child while protesting the government assistance needed in the years ahead. An abortion costs $300-$1,000 while the cost of raising that child is easily $300,000 if by some miracle the child doesn’t then move into the same tragic circumstances as the mother requiring further government assistance or incarceration. From a fiscal standpoint, it’s a wonder that government doesn’t require (even pay for since it’s so much cheaper) abortions of mothers who are unable to financially raise a child, but because we support FREEDOM we don’t make that decision for them. Why don’t the Republicans get out of the way and support the platform, “If you oppose abortion, never have one.” Isn’t that true FREEDOM?
Through the recent health care debate, the hypocrisy of the Republicans as they oppose a “government takeover” of health care has exposed the Republican insanity. They oppose the FREEDOM of elders to make end-of-life decisions and they oppose the FREEDOM of doctor-patient privilege when it comes to the abortion decisions. What happened to FREEDOM? How much of the health care debate has been about supporting the FREEDOM of insurance companies to collect premiums without delivering health care to protect profits. It is as if the Republicans now support corporate FREEDOM of robbery.
Republican FREEDOM seems now to be limited to corporate FREEDOMS. Republicans protected FREEDOM to make/sell bad mortgages, which led to the banking crisis of 2008.
How much of today’s unemployment is attributable to the FREEDOM afforded corporations to replace minimum wage American workers with $1 an hour Mexican or Indian workers? How about the FREEDOM of credit card companies to change the rules after extending credit, raising fees and interest to usury levels? Now the Supreme Court has given the FREEDOM to corporations to spend the enormous wealth of investors and profits earned by employees to support the candidate the corporation deems “best” for them.
Then, there is the Republican denial of FREEDOM toward gay marriage is just another in a long list of Republican denials of FREEDOM. What happened to FREEDOM?
Republicans want FREEDOM to carry guns (which I support but don’t exercise), but how safe do we feel when Republican tea parties display symbols of Nazi and Ku Klux Klan support? They are given their FREEDOM of expression, which openly opposes the FREEDOMS of Jews and Blacks.
I have always been proud to be born in a country that supported FREEDOM. From the day the teacher explained that your FREEDOM only extends to the end of your own nose, I understood that I was FREE until my FREEDOM encroached upon another. The Republicans are now defending their right to encroach on the FREEDOM of others. How can I support that?
I should think the Republicans should be proud of a President who can put two sentences together, can answer a question without assistance, and can accept responsibility for errors in judgment. After the Bush debacle, I was as embarrassed to be an American as I was when living under Jimmy Carter.
Under the Bush (George W.) administration, after a 24-year career, my husband was laid off in a corporate downsizing. It took a year and a half to find new employment, which he lost after two and half years in a corporate takeover. It has been nearly two years searching for work, finding odd menial jobs. We managed to get three boys through college (with no government assistance), and only one is employed as a part-time parking attendant. After a year with a Democrat at the helm, the promise of job opportunities are finally starting to emerge. I have pledged to my liberal sons that if my entire family is employed again by the end of 2010, I will exercise my FREEDOM to re-elect Obama.
The Republican you’ve lost,
Jane Carlsen
So there you have it. I can’t say it’ll have any impact in the white noise of the blogosphere, but I hope it shows that we’re proud of her.
Our mother, despite our vastly different practical solutions, the core is the same. That we call no man master. And there is nothing, my friends, more American than that.
SOUTHERN COMMAND
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