Now, I admit, our kids get a healthy dose of Pro-President Obama propaganda in our house. My wife and I both are strong liberals/progressives who try to get our news not from the MSM T.V. drones (except for Bob O'Donnell and Rachel Maddow) but from satallite radio and other sources (NYT and WaPo amongst others) that are a tad more reliable.
Back to the comment... we are in the car, driving down the road and listening to the Romney speech with (of course) editorializing from dad when my Eight year old (soon to be Nine) son, who is also listening and not plugged into his DSI Gaming device says: "You know Dad... you are right, that man does want to destroy our country. What is up with Republicans, why are they like that?"
Here is what prompted him to say that when he heard this (from Romney's speech):
But there was a more chilling part to Romneys speech that bothered me even more:
This is what this election is all about. Protecting America from one group of people that want to completely destroy the social safety net that was put in place to protect Americans from the ravages of the unregulated free market.
As a nation we cannot allow this safety net to be destroyed for the millions and millions of Americans who need it just to survive.
Take the advice of my Eight Year old and stop these people from trying to destroy our nation.
Here is what prompted him to say that when he heard this (from Romney's speech):
The President has run out of ideas. Now, he's running out of excuses. And tonight, we are asking the good people of South Carolina to join the citizens of New Hampshire and make 2012 the year he runs out of time.I get that he doesn't really understand what is happening BUT, he knows that President Obama has a lot of ideas and that he is not making excuses. He knows that the Republicans are the ones who block bill after bill that the President proposes in order to get this country moving again. His comment following the one above was "Why is this man lying about President Obama". To that I could only answer: "It's the way politics in our country works and it's really to bad".
But there was a more chilling part to Romneys speech that bothered me even more:
The path I lay out is not one paved with ever increasing government checks and cradle-to-grave assurances that government will always be the solution. If this election is a bidding war for who can promise more benefits, then I'm not your President. You have that President today.Basically Romney just said here: "Hey folks, Guess what... When I am President - you get no safety net"... He is saying straight out here that benefits, (benefits that millions of Americans pay into and need) will be gone.
This is what this election is all about. Protecting America from one group of people that want to completely destroy the social safety net that was put in place to protect Americans from the ravages of the unregulated free market.
As a nation we cannot allow this safety net to be destroyed for the millions and millions of Americans who need it just to survive.
Take the advice of my Eight Year old and stop these people from trying to destroy our nation.
Your kid is pretty smart!
ReplyDeleteAnd also you are man enough not to get "choked up" about it, so good on you.
LOL no... I did not go "numb" with sadness or have tears that couldn't stop flowing.....
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah he is... maybe one day he will grow up to be a rocket scientist... ;-)
What? You're not going to do all that if people don't start following you on a certain microblogging site? Scandalous, I tell you! Scandalous!
ReplyDeleteYou did good, volley.
Actually, some people get choked up and 'in tears' when their kid does something smart, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteRather than comment at Daily Kos, which is generally a waste and which would bring forth filthy replies, I find this diary sad for several reasons.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with the interpretation that Romney seeks either to destroy the country or completely destroy the social safety net. I have heard him say the opposite. He is not Ron Paul.
I am more troubled when a young child says something like that.
It is time to stop demonization from all sides, and particularly the indoctrinization of children who "don't really understand what is happening."
If people don't get what I am saying, then it's further testament to the otherwise accurate remark that, "It's the way politics in our country works and it's really to (sic) bad".
@Oldshool: I am receptive to what you say - I have become very aware of the problems with hyperbolic rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am really baffled how mainstream contemporary Republicans, including Romney, can not see the effect of their favored policies as causing to the decline of the country.
More obscene tax subsidies for the rich will result in nothing more than more unsustainable debt.
More cuts to vital Federal programs will mean that cutting edge scientific research is not carried out in the US. What will we base our future economy on? What will fund the infrastructure that we all need?
More elimination of the regulations that are the only thing standing between a complete rape of workers and destruction of the environment.
Turning Medicare into a limited voucher program will mean that seniors will simply go without health care and die. After all, if the private sector found it profitable to provide affordable insurance that seniors could buy, there would have been no need for Medicare in the first place.
I guess in the end, I agree that it might be over the top to say that Romney "wants to" destroy the country. But I just can't see, even as someone who wants to avoid hyperbole, how his preferred policies wouldn't be a step toward doing exactly that.
I disagree with this... I think my son is right, Mitt Romney really doesn't care about this country one bit. He cares about power and making money for he and his friends. That pretty much is that.
ReplyDeleteAnd while he is not a racist scumbag like Ron Paul, he is maybe something worse (if that is possible), he is a man lacking any principles whatsoever, or at least is willing to completely compromise his principles for a price.
As for the social safety net - his comment says it all. I was actually listening when he said that, and it sent chills about what he sees for the future of America.
I am proud of my son for being able to see through Romney and his bullshit.
Mitt Romney does have one principle: Say whatever needs to be said to get Mitt Romney elected president.
ReplyDeleteFizziks,
ReplyDeleteI fully appreciate what you say.
There is a lot that makes up a country, and for us liberals to think we have a monopoly on virtue is a mistake in my estimation. The Founders were both liberal and conservative.
I don't think one can reasonable suggest that I was puffing for Romney or his policies.
When we can get past the zero sum game mentality that was reflected, I think we will all be better off.
I am past the point of demonizing those with whom I disagree politically, with some exceptions, and suggest that when a child that concededly has lack of capacity to understand comes forth with an over the top statement, it helps little to spur on with extremist reinforcement.
Indeed, I think my position is the liberal and progressive one in this matter.