Some of My Best Friends Are Republican

How did the country get so divided? Wasn’t there a time when we could agree to disagree? I disagree with a lot of people.

I disagree with my daughter who thinks High School Musical 2 is the greatest movie ever made.

I disagree with my son who thinks it’s okay that his room looks like a garbage dump.

I disagree with my mother about the need to have every single dish, knife, fork, and spoon, washed and put away before bedtime. (I tried to tell her this when I was 14 and got grounded.)

I disagree with my brother about which one of us is the least like our mother. (Please don’t tell her…she will ground me again)

And, most of all, I disagree with my husband about every opinion he has.

I disagree with these people, but I love them!

There are times when I disagree with friends and acquaintances about politics, but it doesn’t affect our relationships. There’s nothing like a good debate among friends!

Is the country really as partisan as the pundits try to make us?

I think most Americans want the same things: job opportunities (in this country), a living wage, merit pay, the ability to buy a house (and keep it), adequate health care, quality education for our children and the ability to send them to college, and something to live on when we get older. And, if we have to send our children to war to defend American interests…we want to know our commander-in-chief, his advisors, and our Congress… have thought out all possible options.

I bet most people would agree with this.

So why then can’t we come together to solve our problems?

Okay, so I guess this is a ‘naïve’ point of view….however, it doesn’t take years of ‘experience’ to know we are in gridlock as a country because of partisan divisions. Whoever is in power wastes time trying to get ‘even’ with the other side. Red versus Blue; Democrats versus Republicans…NOTHING IS GETTING DONE! Getting elected and maintaining office is more important than governing. The only happy folk are the special interests who are able to buy their own candidates.

My Republican friends share the same family values as my Democratic friends. Yes, there are many issues we disagree on, but it’s not always along political party lines. There are Democrats firmly opposed to abortion…there are Republicans who support gay marriage. It’s not always black and white….only on the news shows.

Some of my best friends (and my brother) are Republican. They are not attack dogs or part of a right-wing conspiracy. They just tend to relate more to the positions of the Republican party. I think they are wrong sometimes, (okay…many times) but, I respect their opinions.

I am a Democrat (for now.) I am not a lunatic, and my heart does not bleed for people who expect handouts. I will however, argue day and night over the needs of the afflicted, the young, the elderly, and the downtrodden. My Republican friends respect this.

Scripture tells us …..There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. This is not a season for battles. It is a season for reconciliation. The candidate who best exemplifies this will be our next president.

I believe that person is Barack Obama.

Let's Get This Out of the Way

Let’s review the arguments against President Obama and DISMISS THEM!

1. "He has no White House experience."

This is true, Obama does not have a father, spouse, or sibling who was president, so it's probably safe to say he hasn't spent a lot of time at the White House. There are probably foreign nationals and lobbyists who have spent more time at the White House than Obama.

2. "He has no presidential campaign experience."

Also true. Obama has not squandered the hopes and dreams of millions of voters by running an ineffective campaign and losing to a candidate that should have been easily beaten. (TWICE!)

3. "He has not planned this, he is just 'seizing the moment.'"

Yes he is! This is what great American leaders do. (Think Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, King)

4. "He has a 'political machine' behind him."

True again. However, the people pushing Obama to the forefront are not the political operatives and pundits we've seen for years. His 'machine' consists of vast numbers of people, many on the Internet, who have not given up on America and see him as the best of the candidates for president.

5. "We don't know much about him."

Maybe. However, his record is there if we take the time to look at it. He's written books and spilled his guts about his background. He came out against the war in the beginning, and not when it was politically beneficial to do so. He graduated from Harvard Law School, and again I don't think he had a father, or spouse, or sibling paving the way for him. He's a great orator who inspires people. (we'll never forget THE SPEECH at the last Democratic convention.) He was a community organizer in tough Chicago neighborhoods. If you need more...TAKE the TIME to listen, and visit his website:

www.barackobama.com

One more thing....how much did we 'really' know about our last two presidents?

"Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy."

Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkop

What THEY Don't Know

The pollsters and pundits are scratching their heads. For decades THEY have ‘called the shots’ on U.S. elections. THEY tell us who our leading candidates are, and who will win elections. THEY gather in groups of two and four in television studios in New York and Washington, where they yell at each other and make ‘predictions’ based on their ‘secret’ knowledge of the voting habits of the American populace.

Who are these knuckle-heads? THEY don’t know me, my neighbors, or my community. THEY don’t know the people of the world. THEY just know their small circle of pundits, pollsters, and politicians.

Now, THEY are trying to get a grip on what is going on with this election. In the meantime, THEY play the same game they have played for years…racial politics (black vs. white), gender politics (women vs. men), geographic politics (red states vs. blue states), class politics (poor vs. rich), sexual identity politics (gay vs. straight), age politics (young vs. old), population politics (urban vs. rural), and religion politics (believers vs. non-believers.) This is how elections have been written about and debated for years. This is old media and old tactics.

What THEY don’t know is…it’s a new day. Communication to and from Americans is no longer only in the hands of a select few. The Internet has leveled the playing field. We can talk to each other and discuss the issues THEY gloss over with spin and cutesy remarks.

So THEY continue to play old politics while trying to figure out what is going on. THEY still want to tell us who our front runner is. THEY still want to tell us we are either liberal or conservative. THEY still want to tell us what we believe. THEY still want to tell us how we’ll vote.

What THEY don’t know is…this is just the beginning. This is not a Youtube movement…it is a people’s movement. We are again moving toward government by the people…for the people. THEY need to get out of the way.

Tootsie

When I was a child, our next door neighbor was a woman everybody called ‘Tootsie.’ I never knew her real name, but I knew from listening to the adults around me that Tootsie was known to hit the bottle every now and then – like everyday!


Tootsie had ten children. There was a ‘Mr. Tootsie’ who would show up every now and then, but for the most part the children were on their own. Their house was in disrepair, and the kids didn’t always make it to school.


Tootsie pretty much kept to herself. Sometimes, when my mom was hanging clothes on the line, she would venture out to say hi. They would chat and laugh for a few minutes and then Tootsie would return to her sanctuary.


Even though most of us were only one paycheck from abject poverty, there were those on our street who looked down on Tootsie and her brood.


Some of the neighbors wouldn’t allow their kids to play with Tootsie’s children, but my mom let me play with the ones closest to my age. She also insisted I address Tootsie properly – calling her Mrs. Johnson (I think a couple of her kids had that last name.)


Once I caught a real bad flu and was out of school for two weeks. Tootsie made sure one of her children would go to my class and get the homework for me.


I also remember when my grandfather died, Tootsie cleaned herself up and came over to pay her respect. She even brought some food over, although everyone was afraid to eat it.

There were other “Tootsie's” that I came across in life as I grew up. Some had money, some were destitute. I always remember my mother telling me that it is a gift to be able to relate to everyone – from a pauper to a prince.


That was the beauty of the neighborhoods I grew up in. There were all kinds of people from all walks of life.


Today, we try to keep our children away from the have-nots in life. Our suburban neighborhoods are pretty homogenous, so our kids may never learn about “the other side of the tracks.” Also, they may never come to understand the saying, “There but for the grace of God go I.”


Yet, I’m sure that within our pristine, well-kept neighborhoods, there are Tootsie’s lurking behind closed curtains. Sometimes we see them at the supermarket, or picking their kids up from school. They are just waiting for a “Hi how are you?” or some acknowledgment that they exist.


Maybe, instead of judging them, we need to throw our arms around them and see what we can do to help. Someone might have to do the same for us one day.