Welcome back to Mothers of Intention, the place for moms who don’t usually get all political to talk about politics and issues, after last week’s vacation hiatus! This week, please welcome my guest Mother of Intention Christina from A Mommy Story!
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I’ve always been a good little voter. Ever since I turned 18 and had the chance, I’ve participated in most of the elections I was eligible to vote in. But the truth is, I wasn’t exactly a well-informed voter. Sure, I’d read the issues, learn a little about candidates, but generally I voted on what side of an issue sounded the best to me in the brief blurb, and for candidates I would either vote for the democrat, the woman, or if I knew nothing about a person (such as voting for a judge), I’d vote for the Irish last name. I cared about what was going on in my government, but I didn’t care enough to spend the time investigating my options.
However, I realized the other day that something has changed in me over the last eight years. I’m not the unconcerned voter I was before. Now I’m nearly rabid in my searching for information on candidates and issues. I want to know all sides to the stories, and I want to see how candidates stand on issues ranging from war to the environment to fiscal responsibility to hey, can you help with this expensive gas? problem. I read political opinion editorials – something I never would have done ten years ago. I fact check when I hear numbers and statistics thrown around in a debate. And perhaps most spectacularly, I will actually campaign for a candidate if they prove themselves worthy of my vote.
I’m not sure how I ended up as this person. Politics has always bored me to tears, because it’s not like the government ever gets much done, right? Big ship, small rudder. So what could have caused me to suddenly take an interest and help grab that wheel to turn the ship?
Part of it could be that I’m a mom now. Having a child brings the world view more clearly into focus. Now it’s not just me and my interests, but the interests and future of my daughters. And suddenly those crazy extremists around the world have new importance to me. People who threaten to build nuclear weapons matter to me. Those who misspend my government’s money and sink the country into debt matter more to me. And those who ignore the warnings and continue to pollute the earth, further hastening global warming and destroying the environment are not only mildly affecting me, but now they’re taking away some of the inheritance of my daughters and their generation.
But what I think is the biggest factor in my new-found political junkie nature is the current administration. George W. Bush and his political friends have given me a clear picture of what happens when the nation as a whole gives a big sigh of disinterest and votes on the guy who seems most like one of them (could you have a beer with this man?) instead of really looking at what he stands for. In the past few years, I’ve watched environmental protection policies be trashed, necessary programs like national paid maternity leave be dismissed as unnecessary, funding for further children’s health insurance go ignored, and women’s rights slowly chipped away. I’ve seen the needs of the people be put aside in favor of corporate gain, and I’ve watched our nation’s current and future wealth drained away on an expensive war that we shouldn’t have started in the first place.
You can count me as one of the 74% of the population who is unhappy with the direction the country is going, and it’s that unhappiness that has spurred me to action. When everything is going well in the world, you’re less likely to question authority. Seeing how my husband was recently laid off, we’ll soon be losing our employer sponsored health insurance, our home has lost value so we can’t even move to a cheaper home, and food and gas are rising so fast that we can barely afford them, you can be sure I’m doing a lot of questioning lately. In April, I told the presidential candidates exactly what was important to me, and those still hold true. I’m holding each candidate up to a hefty ideal, searching out their records on each topic, and going beyond myself to consider what is best for the nation as a whole, not just me.
I don’t think I’m the only one, either. Quite a few of those who disapprove of the current administration are finding themselves asking questions and educating themselves about politics. I’m seeing more of my friends – people who also never thought they’d put so much mental effort into politics – taking up the cause to determine who really is the best choice to lead this country. So in some strange way, I think I have to thank George W. Bush and his buddies – without their mishandling of this country over the last eight years, I might never have understood the true importance of my vote, as well as the need to look beyond myself to consider the impact policies made today will have on others and on future generations. Bush will never go down in history as a great president (probably only slightly better than Andrew Johnson), but he may just have a small historical footnote of being the president who screwed up enough to make the people of the United States take an active role in their government once again.
In addition to finding Christina at A Mommy Story, you can also find her at Being Savvy.
Thanks for joining me here are Mothers of Intention!
Next week, my guest Mother of Intention will be Veronica from Viva La Feminista!
July 9th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
The more we let them know what we want the better.