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Obama or McCain One will be YOUR President

Well I guess it could be someone else, but not likely.

I want you to take a minute and think about this from the standpoint of your children. Are you sending mixed messages? Are you expecting them to respect authority, and yet setting them up for failure?

If you hate one of these candidates and are very vocal about that in your home. What do you think will happen if the one you hate is elected? Are you teaching your children to hate "The President of the United States"?

Please, please be very carefuly what you are teaching our youth and future leaders. Respecting the office and not the person is a very difficult concept for a child to grasp. Don't badmouth politicians on one day and then expect your children to respect their Country and its leaders the next day. That is too hypocritical for a child to come to terms with.

My "MOM" soapbox for the day :)

Posted by ARDELL DellaLoggia on 09/12/2008 01:54 PM

Comments (21)

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21 Comments on Obama or McCain One will be YOUR President

SEP

2008

Ardell, a very good point. I don't think I've ever said that I "hate" one candidate or the other. In this case, I'm sure both Obama and McCain are swell guys. It's the policies of one of them that I don't like. There's a big difference between a disagreement on policy and a hatred of a person -- in fact a huge gulf. It doesn't need to get personal. Unfortunately that seems to be the nature of politics these days.

This post is in such contrast to the 1,000 other blog posts I read each day. ARDELL, thank you for sharing this wisdom - so, so, smart.

Boy do I love you as my mom today :) :) This is the whole thing.....what are you teaching your children??? What are you telling the public???

HUG!

Ardell, Great post. Our country has become so divided, it makes me sad. I am sad to say that the media, the people we watch speak to our leaders, have not shown respect for the office of the president in decades.

SEP

2008

Ardell

President bashing began with Richard Nixon's second term (as the facts about Watergate started to emerge) and has not abated since.

I've witnessed Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton and W all villified in one way or another.

The respect for the office is no longer what it was.

But Louis, that has more to do with information being more public than the politicians becoming more corrupt. In fact I'd venture to say that there was more corruption back in the days when the only source of info was the Pony Express and the only news source was rumor and legend.

How many past presidents had some girl under their desk? We will never know. But it's possible that Clinton wasn't the first.

The expansion of the media is why...not the quality of the candidates.

Agreed. The media first flexed its muscle with the Watergate investigation which exposed the foibles of president nixon. It hasn't abated since.

Prior to the Nixon presidency, the press corp looked the other way on Presidential peccadillos.

With the enhanced press scrutiny, we learn more about the human errors of our public servants and Presidents.

It would be unthinkable for any president in the early part of the 20th century to have endured the constant press coverage of missing segements audio tape, stained cocktail dresses, etc.

Great Post....sometimes as parents we dont realize that our children are hanging on our everyword whether those words be good or bad. Thank you for the reminder.

You've pointed out something that I never thought about before. Children truly so as we do NOT as we say to do. Therefore, we should be very tactful and tolerant in our political beliefs.

ARDELL - Unique perspective and probably the right one. I'm not a parent just yet, but I don't have to be to recognize that this is wisdom at its finest.

SEP

2008

Ardell- Now that's a novel concept...:) In our diversified culture we really need to watch what we teach our children. Very well spoken, thanks.

My husband and I have often discussed politics with our boys now 19, 20, and 21, and I have found that often we don't agree on policies even within our household but we do agree on the fact that the country needs to present a united front and that respect should be shown to other's opinions.

I found myself wondering why a well know conservative talk show host was so "lenient" on a candidate one evening, the next night he clarified that he would not be disrespectful of the person who may be our next president and the light bulb went off in my head. It is important to teach you children how to form opinions, but it even more important to teach them respect for others. Your post is awesome!

Ardell: This is exactly why in my household, we focus on the issues and the candidates stand on those issues. This is what everyone should do when it comes to picking a candidate for office. The choice should never be emotionally charged, but unfortunately it often is. If we get emotional about the issues, we eventually get emotional about the candidates as well. Benjamin Franklin is once quoted as saying "Passion governs, and she never governs wisely!". That is as true today as it was in Franklin's day! If we can wisely train our children to respect authority, learn and vote their beliefs on the issues, politics can once again become a civil event. We live in a country where every one has a right to their opinion, and a right to vote based on that opinion. We need to get back to the fact that the game needs to be civil, respectful and based on facts related to issues. It must not be based on a person's personal life or anything else that has nothing to do with a person's ability to serve in a representative form of governmental office.

My $0.02!
Steve

So true - no matter WHO becomes President we have to support him/her. There are many decisions that Presidents in the past have made that I personally did not care for - but my opinion is that person was elected by the majority of the people or the majority of the representatives that the people voted in and it is our duty to respect that person and their decision. Personally I think we should go back to calling them, out of respect, "PRESIDENT So and So"....not just "So-and-So"....when did we take the PRESIDENT off her/his title?

I teach my kids to respect the principles that this country was founded on. Love the country but always keep an eye on the people running the government.

I teach them to have a healthy distrust of most politicians. Always consider their motivations and always follow the money. I teach them to not trust most of what comes out in the main stream media. Always get multiple sources and trust your commone sense.

I teach them about the importance of civil disobedience and standing up for what you believe in and what is right. Just because something says so in a law doesn't mean that it is right.

For all of that, somehow they seem to be fanatical about following rules and follow orders from their teachers and coaches. I guess they get that from their mother.

Ardell, this is a great lesson about what we say around our children. I think the "hate" needs to be eliminated altogether. This is a great opportunity for parents to talk w/ their children in an age appropriate way about the process and why they are for or against one candidate. Too often the emotions rule the day and I'm afraid the way this election is going it will be no different. Here's hoping in another 4 years we'll be talking a different tone.

SEP

2008

Thanks for this post. I want my children to think about the issues, to explore alternative ideas, and to listen to those who hold postions counter to their own. These are the qualities of leaders. They are the characteristics that prove humans are a superior life form. Rhetoric, talking points, twisted truths and outright lies are not and do not.

BTW, in your comment above, you stated that Clinton may not have been the first to have an affair. Most certainly he was not. Jefferson, Cleveland, Wilson, Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Kennedy all have been linked to extramarital activities. Some of them even fathered children with their mistresses.

SEP

2008

I'm so with you on this one. I don't know that it's possible to look at the two major parties and say "this one" suits me perfectly... or to blindly proclaim "I align myself completely without any need to think beyond the party line." All too often, such thinking causes us to neglect our power to choose... to think rationally and to see past cheap name-calling and innuendo. In close elections, and this will be one, the decision will come down to the swing voters- the people who decide to cross over and vote for someone outside their party. I try to find the good in every candidate. I also try to see if "the bad" I hear or read is a result of spin. My goodness it's difficult to extract the truth from the rhetoric. In the end- it does us very little good to make this choice about bluster and reputation attacks. Very good post Ardell... you made me think this morning.

OCT

2008

Ardell, Wow this was a wonderful post. I have always had an issue with young children waving signs with their parents. Let it be their own choice when the time comes. Let them educate themselves on what is important in their life. Let them question.. I too am on the fence this year. I tend to keep my vote confidential. So that both canidates can be presented without bias. It is going to be interesting that is for sure. I have a child who will be voting age soon. She may/maynot have a different vote than mine, but I know it is hers.

OCT

2008

Ardell - that is so true - and how important for us to realize that what we say and more important how we say it...........will be reflected in how people listen to us...

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