A conversation that took place 5 minutes ago, while I was putting the boys to bed for the night. The boys got to "vote" at school today, and we had been talking about the election and the electoral college.
Eli (9 years old): I'm ashamed to say that my home state of Idaho is voting for John McCain.
Adam (7 years old): Haha! I was born in Michigan, and Michigan is voting for Barack Obama!
Eli: Dad, what about California where you were born?
Dad: California is totally voting for Barack Obama.
Adam: I forget, where was Mom born?
Eli and Dad (in unison): Massachusetts.
Adam: Who is Massachusetts voting for?
Dad: Barack Obama for sure.
Adam: How do you know?
Dad: Massachusetts always votes for the Democrat.
Adam: There's one thing I don't like about Democrats. It sounds like that crat stuff you put on hot dogs sometimes.
Eli: Sauerkraut?
Adam: Yeah!
4 comments:
Big guy, one good thing about not feeling well enough to get up and actually do some work is that you get to catch up on things that you would not have had the time to do otherwise.
I had no idea that you had a blog or that, by looking at Janie's blog, pretty much everybody in the world has a blog! I enjoyed reading your blog and thought the Mormons in Ann Arbor section was interesting.
To add my own contribution, my great aunt, Winifred Amacher Johnson, got her Master's degree here in the time around the second world war. She passed away before we moved here, but my uncle thought it was neat that we'd be living where his wife lived prior to their marriage.
On a separate note, your latest post reminded me of something that I've been meaning to talk with you and Andrea about for a while and that is, Why on earth would ANYBODY be a Democrat? Poor Eli having to feel sorry that Idaho is voting Republican! I hope to give Eli a few reasons to be proud of his state by giving my political philosophy and thus, an understanding of why I lean Republican (although not as strongly as Janie wishes!).
So, here it is:
I believe in the individual above all else and the purpose of the individual is to find happiness. The only purpose of government should be the protection of the rights of the individual, because the only real crime is when another seeks to take away the freedoms of another. The problem with a more socialist approach to government is that it requires, at some point in the chain between individual and government, the elimination of the rights of the individual.
Having stated that, I believe in capitalism and the idea that the needs of society will be taken care of by a pure free market approach. In addition, I feel that social programs cripple the individual by tying people to a system that does not reward him/her for what they do or what they don't do.
Economically then, I believe that a PURE free market system is the only system that is sustainable and fair (my money is MY money--not the government's!!!).
Socially, I believe that any issue that doesn't infringe on the rights of others to seek their own happiness, should be the business of only that individual.
In summary, I know this sounds essentially like a Libertarian talking and that is really what I am; however, they have no chance of winning and would be a wasted vote and so I mostly stick to the Republicans.
The other reason I almost always avoid Democrats as candidates is that I get totally grossed out by the way they use class warfare to scare others, i.e., "I'll tax the rich while giving lower- and middle-class families tax cuts." Why should one be punished for making more money? I'm close to running off on a tangent here b/c I'm a huge flat tax fan so I'll stop now.
Democrats also offend me when they think that THEY, as our leaders in government, are the ones that will come to help US, the regular guys out there who aren't smart enough to get a job on our own, pay our mortgage on our own, or do whatever thing a populist would do. This arrogance makes me sick!
I know that this probably made no sense, but forgive me because I've got a terrible fever and am not thinking clearly.
I'd love to hear your response as to why you're a fascist/socialist, errrr, Democrat. I can maybe even talk to you about it sometime once my head clears.
Take care,
Dan down the street
I'm with Adam. Maybe he and I can be independents together. It just sounds better.
No Heather, wrong again--you HAVE to pick!!! You can't cop out ans say you're independent just to be nice.
Adam picked and I have only a short time left to convince him of the error of his (parent's) ways. I need to let him know that the only way to be happy is to think of himself first. As Rick Nelson said, "You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself."
And also, if Adam is going to pick something derogatory for socialists, errr, Democrats, I'd suggest just going all out into the kindergarten lingo with the term DemocraP!
I hope you all know I'm joking and just having some fun.
Take care,
DDtS
Well, tell Eli and Adam that my family will love them no matter who they eventually choose to vote for (even though we agree with them, at least for this election)
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