The Soccer Mom Vote

I'll side with the airline

Have you heard about the Muslims who were reportedly kicked off a plane for "praying?" The thing is, they weren't just praying  quietly, like I do every time I'm about to be completely against all natural, physical forces and launched in to the air in a multi-ton vehicle. Instead, witnesses report they were shouting "Allah" and changed seats from their assigned seating to that of the 9/11 terrorist. I understand they are upset and outraged at this "institutional discrimination." But, honey, you can't whisper the word Bomb or Knife on a plane without being taken to jail, regardless of what you're wearing, who you're shouting out praises to and where you sit.

How quickly we forget how banned together we were after 9/11 and the war we are in this very minute. I'd like to see more actions taken to prevent suspicious behavior. And if suspicious means shouting Allah and changing seats to the pattern of those who killed over 2,000 people, then yes, I'm all for it.

Smack a Label on Yourself

In my family, I'm thought of as the token liberal -- and since the town we live in is full of them, my in-laws like to refer to our fair city as the "People's Republic".  Yet another label.

When I was teaching English to junior high school students, we spent a fair amount of time discussing "connotation" and "denotation".   While denotation refers to the dictionary definition of words, the connotation refers to emotions or associations we have with those words.

Before I joined this site as a guest author, Nicole asked me to describe my political viewpoints and background.  I had a difficult time identifying how others would interpret my own labels.  For instance, if I tell people my voter registration card reads Republican, then would they imagine an evangelical patrolling the border?  If I mention I'm a Liberal with a capital L, what does that really mean?  I have loose morals and hate God, not to mention our troops? 

In my quest to find a way to express my political philosophy, I happened upon a fun website.  VoteMatch is a quiz willing to label me in less than two minutes.  It is only one opinion, but I found it interesting.  Taken a week apart, my quiz scores show I'm either a "Hard-Core Liberal or a "Populist Liberal".

Basically I fall into the liberal realm, the site claims, because I believe the government should not interfere in people's personal lifestyles, but it should be involved in people's lives economically. Conservatives feel the opposite, and Libertarians feel the government should have minimal intervention in BOTH.  Populists?  I'm not so sure, but from what I gather, Bill O'Reilly refers to himself as a Populist.  Which has all sorts of connotations.

Take the quiz for fun and -- as they recommend -- a grain of salt.

Balance of Power

While I suppose Pelosi's new role as Speaker of the House should make me feel elated because she's a woman, I have other reasons.  I'm happy any Democrat is in the position, but not because she's a member of the better party.  Because she's the voice of opposition, and she is ready to throw down.

I learned two main lessons from my social studies classes:

A) Cramming names and dates into one's brain does little more than exercise short-term memory.

B) Checks and balances are the cornerstone to our democracy.  Perhaps, more accurately, checks and balances are the KEYSTONE, holding the entire arch together. 

After the 2004 election, Bush declared his 51 percent of the popular vote was a mandate to advance his agenda.  In particular, he assumed the people were asking him to "stay the course" in his war on terror.

Personally, however, I have watched in dismay as he eroded the balance of power in subtle ways.  For one, his signing statements have been declared "contrary to the rule of law and our constitutional  system of separation of powers" by the American Bar Association.  He has utilized these attachments to new laws as his way of interpreting the law to HIS discretion more than 750 times, yet has wielded his power of veto only one time (last I checked). 

From Schoolhouse Rock and Civics, we learned the role of the legislature is to create laws, with the president and judicial branch each staying on their side of the playground.  In contrast, Bush has taken it upon himself to edit the laws after the fact, something unprecedented at the scale we've seen in the past six years. 

Bush has also had the opportunity to shape the Supreme Court judges with a socially conservative agenda.  The Democrats' control of the House and Senate makes me feel hopeful there will be more dialogue about key issues. 

I've always been one who felt dissent was the most American of all activities.  Having a party dominating all three branches -- I assume dominance of the judicial branch because seven of the current justices were nominated by Republican presidents -- can not be a good thing for the country.  It means power remains unchecked...the dialogue gets controlled by one group alone.  Now, at least, the people will hear actual debates about issues.

The most damaging revolutions are not ones where someone storms the gates one Tuesday evening, but when the freedoms and protections promised us are slowly taken out -- piece by piece -- right under our noses.  I'd hate to have to explain to my children the reason our generation didn't notice the loss of our Constitution was because I was more interested in TomKat's wedding or the release of the latest iPod.

The mandate of the recent mid-term elections is interesting, saying a lot about our nature as a country.  Whether it's a response to corruption (sad for many to realize that Clinton's fallibility when it comes to moral lapses pales in comparison to attempting to seduce high school students or being seduced by the likes of Abramoff) or a dis-satisfaction for staying the course, we have spoken.

This Thanksgiving, I am grateful that there may be shifts in the status quo.  The mandate today? Staying the course only works well if the people behind the wheel know how to navigate rough waters.  And frankly, I want a captain who has a crew with the power to tell him when he's headed toward an iceberg.

 

politics and basketball

There is a reason that I haven't been glued to the television and computer, watching the tickers change and the analysis ramble on, despite the fact that I am quite interested in the election results.  That reason is the same reason I don't like basketball.

It never made sense to me that you needed to watch hours worth of the game, as all the excitement happens at the end.  Honestly, the first half is completely unnecessary.  If it's a close game, it always comes down to the last couple of minutes.  And unlike some of friends who are more dedicated fans (and who also need to work through some control issues), I do not think that the end result depends on whether or not I am watching.

As such, last night I was happy to dance and sing with my daughter to a Barney video instead of tuning into CNN.  I checked online to confirm that, indeed, the Democrats had secured the House and the Senate was still too close to call.  This was not exactly news.  It had been predicted for weeks.  With three states still undecided at midnight, I headed to bed.

Twenty-four hours later, the Democrats are claiming victory of the Senate with the win of Virginia.  this makes me quite happy.  But the races in Virginia and Montana are close.  Murmurs of "recount" can already be heard. If there's anything we learned in the 2004 elections, the final verdict may not come for weeks. 

It isn't over.  Just like good basketball coaches will save their time outs, consult the playbook, and try to strategize a win in the final seconds, both parties are going to be working carefully to make certain that they give 110% in shaping the outcome of this election.  At this point, the Republicans are down by two and looking for a last-second shot from behind the line.

My bets are on the Democrats, don't get me wrong.  And when my team wins, I can celebrate with the best of them.  I was an undergraduate at the University of Arizona in 1997 when the Wildcats won the NCAA title.  I ran through the streets with adrenaline-fueled abandon and danced in celebration with the rest of the city.  If a Democratic majority is certified, I will be doing a jig.

However, we can't overlook the fact that this was a close game.  Yes, the Democrats took back a huge number of seats.  The House has a clear majority.  But the Senate is almost 50/50.  Almost.  The Republicans maybe almost won.

If the Democrats win, they would be smart to review the tapes, so to speak.  Take a critical look at the close races and the issues that divided one candidate from another.  It is easy to say that this is a mandate for change, but how to set the priorities?

I'll advise three strategies: recruitment of some strong team leadership, an active offense, and a good hard look at the other side's playbook.

A beginning

Tomorrow is Election Day. Tomorrow, citizens across the United States -- Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, Greens, and others -- will go to the polls and cast their ballots. They’ll leave having participated in the 2006 mid-term elections. And if they’re lucky, they’ll get a little sticker for their lapel that says so.

I’ve heard some people say that they are ready for the elections to be over. People are tired of the campaigning, they’re tired of the phone calls from party leaders reminding them to vote, and they’re tired of hearing that “I’ve approved this message.” A good portion of the American people are jaded by all of the politicking, and quite a number of those people are my friends.

When I started talking to other mothers about this site, I was surprised by the reaction. “I don’t really follow politics,” one would say. “I don’t know enough about that stuff,” another would comment. One after the other, otherwise smart, witty, opinionated women would shy away from the idea of “politics.”

And yet, as I pressed them a little harder and started talking about social issues that affect our families – education, healthcare, the environment, reproductive rights, taxes, the economy – they had much to say. We mothers are good at one thing for certain: we worry. We worry about our families, about our livelihoods, and about the world in which our children will grow up.

It seems to me that there are a lot of people in politics who get attention for making outrageous claims, quoting flawed statistics, and screaming at each other on television and radio. They argue ridiculous points. They kick and scream and throw tantrums. They don’t listen, and they don’t compromise. No wonder so many mothers are turned off by politics. We referee self-centered children all day. And at least they have the excuse of developmental immaturity on their side.

While politicians are busy revising talking points and courting voters, we’re working. Inside the home and outside the home, we’re busy. Really, really busy.  We’re making decisions about our jobs, and our budgets, and our health insurance, and what schools our kids will go to. We’re facing crises and dealing with them the best we know how with the resources at hand. We’re teaching, and healing, and leading. We are what drives this country.

Our representatives spend a lot of time talking to advisors and lobbyists and very little time talking to those of us in the trenches. It is time to talk to the people.

Better yet? It is time to listen.

Here, we'll be sharing our perspectives.  We won't always agree with you or with each other.  We won't always have the answers, and sometimes we may be so lost we don't even have suggestions.  This is a space for us to put fingers to keyboard to try to make sense of it all: for our families, for our children, and for ourselves.