Playground Politicos

After I voted this morning (#181), Miss Bit proudly smacked an I voted sticker on her lapel. I reminded her that should anyone ask who her Mom or Dad voted for, a simple I don’t know would suffice. Miss Bit already had her own response and she used it just the day before when a classmate on the playground was pushing politics. Sweet little A. pretty much sounded like the Barrett ad I heard on the radio yesterday morning. The ad that was so filled with vitriol it made me choke on my coffee. To A. Miss Bit said, “This is private and I don’t think we should talk about it.” Sista’s got some sense.

You see the political landscape in our state is acrimonious and divisive at present. I love that my 7 year old is interested in this election, knows the gist of why it is occurring and cannot wait until she can cast her own vote one day. I hate that it has perpetrated this us and them mentality, that the heated issues are causing deep rifts and that divergent beliefs are dividing friends and neighbors. I believe it when I read that 1 in 3 state residents are no longer talking to someone because of their politics. It’s my opinion that these are adults behaving like children. It’s also my belief that children should be children and the political beliefs of parents have no place on the playground.

During the drive to school, I shifted the conversation ever so slightly. I talked about Democracy and how lucky we are to have a government by and for the people. We marveled at how the ideals upon which this great nation was founded are alive to this day. The more I talked about Democracy in terms a 7 year old could digest, the more I was struck by how spoiled and childish, selfish and stubborn we the people are behaving. It saddens me to see how what we have is so forsaken…so egregiously taken for granted.

I’m tired of the trashing, the badgering, the blatant lies and the harmful manipulations. I can no longer stomach small minded thinking that what was should always be. It astounds me that so many refuse to see the big picture, the world view, the looming future. The relationship between cause and effect, the debacle that is Europe and the relationship between inflows and outflows cannot be ignored. I cannot believe that this is the legacy we want to leave our children.

Voting today was a bit emotional for me. It gave me a rush. That's because I believe very strongly in what I am voting for…in who I am voting for…and in what it means to have the opportunity to do so.  And I also believe that casting my ballad is the best way to see my beliefs come to fruition.