The Soccer Mom Vote

Political Ideology: Who's Your Candidate?

I think many of the contributors and readers here at The Soccer Mom Vote know who we will probably vote for next year. However, I love this matrix because, well, I’m matrix-y like that. I think it’s a handy little tool. Even if you think it’s oversimplified, it’s a good place to start if you have questions about who thinks what about which issues.

If you don't stand for something...

As yet another Bush administration official exits stage right, more debates are held, and states scramble over each other to increase their influence on the nominations with their primaries, I realize how much I am looking forward to the end of this presidency no matter who gets into the White House next. I've been a student of the political game for 20 years, scoring the verbal thrusts and parries with glee, but this is the first time in my voting life that I am undecided, and yet never before has the decision seemed quite so important.

This is not the country I grew up in, and while it's easy to say that 9/11 changed everything, I really disagree.

The poison started seeping into the body politic in the 90s with the inexplicable hatred for Bill Clinton, the rise of Rush Limbaugh, and the millions of dollars spent on useless investigations and shameful impeachment proceedings.

By contrast, 9/11 was a tragic and terrible but unifying moment. I will never forget the candles of 9/13, lit across the country in mourning and solidarity. A devastating thing had happened to us, but we were strong, we would stand together, solve the problem, and rebuild. Don't Tread on Me.

We all know what happened next; a stunning success against the Taliban in Afghanistan gave way to the ill-conceived folly of Iraq, and it is there that we truly lost our way. We broke with many of our Allies, squandering their support. Abu Grahib, and Guantanamo belied our commitment to human rights. Subverting the Geneva Convention robbed us of our moral authority; no longer that city on a hill, that shining light upon the world.   

At home, any chance we had at unity was shattered. Words like "traitor" and "treason" were leveled at those who dared question the wisdom of going into Iraq. Power seemed more important than freedom or honor. Our can-do spirit got submerged in the floodwaters of Katrina, and we may still be looking for it.

The next president will have to move us beyond all this. Even if we are in Iraq for another decade, post-Bush America will require some redefinition. Arrogance and indolence must be replaced with honor and action; no more "do as I say, not as I do." Diplomacy must accompany defense. It can be done; one can work collaboratively with others and still be a leader.  

This is a challenge, not just for the candidates, but for our citizens as well, to come together, commit to dialogue and problem-solving, dispense with the red and the blue, the dirty tricks and the name-calling, and find our way back.  I picture a flag, torn and trampled in battle, but carried nonetheless, by a soldier who still believes in the ideals of the nation it represents. 

What are those ideals again? Do we remember? Who are we now and what do we wish to become? No doubt we will continue to stand against terrorism, no matter who gets elected, but what will we stand for? 

Citizen Josh Review

It's always hard for me to figure out how to explain Josh Kornbluth. In the interest of full disclosure, I produced three of his monologues back when I was the managing director of a local alternative theatre and after spending three weeks with the guy, still couldn't figure out how to nutshell him. He's funny, in an awkward kind of way; smart, abet failed to graduate Princeton because he thought maybe his graduate thesis would write itself if he just kept himself "available to it"; he's a political activist who insists that his contribution to the democratic process has usually been accidental and instead professes to be a master of wasting time. Josh is just... Josh. But the thing about him that matters to those of us at The Soccer Mom Vote is that with his new piece, Citizen Josh he manages to bring politics to the forefront in such a way that we all want to get involved and feel like we could actually manage to accomplish something in the process. After all, if funny little Josh can pull it of, why can't we? And, as an added bonus, the work just happens to be his graduate thesis, so he kinda takes care of that whole diploma thing in the process. Nice.

At its core, Citizen Josh is about starting right here, at the beginning, right now. While so many of us see the word "radical" and think of people acting out in rash and sometimes destructive ways, Kornbluth tells of his first meeting with his mentor at Princeton and his understanding that "radical" really has more to do with starting from the root or origin. We can at every moment in our life, simply start right now to implement radical social change. Sometimes just showing up turns out to be a radical event. A trip to the park leads to his involvement in Project 3650 and ultimately finds him sitting next to Al Gore in a conference room (where he informs our former vice president that he feels it's too hot NOW, so we better do something!), witnessing the beginning of a project aimed at taking the approximately ten years left before global warming becomes an irreversible problem we cannot overcome (thus 3650 days). A bike ride by the capital building in Sacramento, finds him accidentally attending a PTA rally where, by dialing a senators appointment line over 100 times on the leaders cell phone, the group gets a much needed signature on their petition. Even at home in Berkley, he accidentally stumbles into a meeting to erect new playground equipment and sees how persistence gets the neighborhood exactly what they need. The common theme he pulls from these moments of democracy is that all it takes is persistence, something he is not, he claims actually known for. And yet, by actively bringing his story to the stage it turns out Kornbluth is radically altering our perception of our own ability to make a change in the world. He's spreading the kind of democracy that you and I can totally grasp, even without a trip to the capital.

Citizen Josh is peppered with references to Berkley locations and history; a large portion of the setting being what was formerly called People's Park Annex and the incredibly odd structure that he first sees as a death trap for children and latter discovers is a vital part of Berkley's political history. Performing at Berkley Rep provides Kornbluth with an eager and responsive audience with similar political temperaments. One does have to wonder how well Citizen Josh will translate to the larger political climate and if it will read as poignantly to some of the nations more conservative audiences.

Ultimately, the work is tight, keeps you on your toes, manages to entertain, inform and proves to be an excellent next step in his career of monologues. If he's not heading your way anytime soon, check out his collection Red Diaper Baby. If nothing else, be persistent in making the change you want to see happen in the world. That's all it takes to be able to wear the title of "radical" activist. Even accidental democracy can change the world.

 

For more information of Citizen Josh, now showing at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, click here.

For more information on Kornbluth, see his website or check out one of his blog or podcasts.

 

The Politics of Affection

Over lunch with a couple of coworkers recently, the topic of kissing came up. My coworker, a man from the Midwest, mentioned that he never kisses any family member other than his wife on the lips. Unfortunately I responded a little too quickly with a long rambling diatribe about how uptight Midwesterners are, as compared to say, Texans. Further, I informed my friend that he must be severely repressed and his parents are clearly Puritanical. How could he have grown up in such a prudish environment? Normal people kiss. They show affection. And to further prove how smart I am, I did a little survey. My survey was simple and very informal, nonscientific, circulated only among people I know. Here were the questions:

• Do/Did you kiss your mother on the lips?
• Do/Did you kiss your father on the lips?
• Do/Did you kiss your grandparents on the lips?
• Do/Did you kiss your children on the lips?
• Where are you from?

Then I tallied the results. And what do you know? It turns out that I am the jerk. Apparently, according to my informal survey, my friend is not repressed but completely commonsensical. He and his parents represent not chaste inflexibility, but the relative norm. My family, on the other hand, is clearly a freak-show of over-affectionate wantonness. God, I hate it when that happens. I’m going to need more therapy. That said, here are the survey results…

The 19 respondents included ten men and nine women.*

Eleven are Texans and the rest are from Ohio, Nebraska, Louisiana, Kansas, Washington D.C., and New York. Regardless of where they are from, the vast majority of people do not kiss family members, beyond spouses. What’s more, I was very surprised at the number of people who responded with shock to even being asked. I received lots of “No way!” and “Ewww!” when a simple “No” would have sufficed…

Only two respondents reported kissing their mother on the lips (11% of those surveyed). One is a man from Ohio, the other a woman from Texas.

Only one respondent reported kissing their father on the lips (5% of those surveyed). She is a woman from Texas. (Not surprisingly, she is the same woman who kisses her mother.)

Only three respondents reported kissing their grandparents on the lips (16% of those surveyed). You guessed it: the same kissers previously mentioned and another woman from Texas.

No respondents reported kissing their siblings on the lips. Incidentally, of our previous kissers, two out of three do not have siblings.

Of the 19 respondents, 12 have children. Here’s where it gets interesting. These 12 respondents are broken into three neat groups of four people each:

• Four respondents who reported always kissing their children on the lips
• Four respondents who reported never kissing their children on the lips
• Four respondents who reported that while they did kiss their children on the lips at one time, they had already stopped or intended to stop “when the kids got/get older” although no one specified a particular age.

What’s more, of the 12 respondents with children, four were men and eight were women. It was the men, all four fathers, who reported never kissing their children on the lips. The mothers were equally split into two groups: those who always kiss their children on the lips, and those who kiss their children on the lips but would one day stop. 

I can’t help wonder if American men are conditioned to be a little stingier with their affection, to be a little more conscious of what is and is not appropriate given today’s headlines. Just last week, a Florida man was sentenced to death for the abduction, rape and murder of a nine year old girl and in France, President Nicolas Sarkozy promised harsher sentencing for sex crimes after the scandalous release of a convicted pedophile.

There are bad men out there who do bad things to children and in today’s incredibly global community, we are hearing more and more about them. Could this increased awareness of sexual predators be impacting the average father’s willingness to demonstrate physical affection with their children? Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe a kiss on the lips should be reserved for spouses only? Or maybe it’s acceptable too for mothers and their small children? There’s a pretty long history of kissing and it’s very culture-specific. It’s a personal question. When and who is it OK to kiss?

_______________
* I might have had 21 respondents but chose not to include my own or my twin sister’s answers in the final tally for fear of skewing the results. She and I answered the same to all questions. We kiss our father, grandparents, and children on the lips, but not our brother, our mother, or each other. 

Race and Politics

I remember when Jesse Jackson took Michigan in the 1988 presidential primaries. I proudly supported him at the time. He was very popular at the University of Michigan, where I was a Junior. Later, he handily lost to Michael Dukakis, whom everyone knew stood no chance against George Herbert Walker Bush.

Then, I remember Alan Keyes in the 2000 primaries. He came to my town to speak, and everyone in attendance was very impressed. When I voted for Keyes in the primaries, I suspected he had no chance against G.W. Bush, but I was surprised by how little of the vote he actually took in my district.

Now there’s all this buzz about Barak Obama. Just say I am under whelmed. I know this is a new day, etc. etc., but I would be very surprised if this country elected a black president in 2008. Putting his politics aside, we have the fact that his name sounds very like the man responsible for the World Trade Center going down. That may sound petty, but it is a factor.

 

I have heard that the media questions or downplays Obama’s blackness, commenting on his complexion, or his parents. Now we’re splitting hairs. If we have to justify his identity, to make potential voters more comfortable, then this country is not trying to elect a black president.

I, for one, appreciate her bluntness

I planned to follow up on my original post about the House passing the Children's Health Plan earlier this month (a bill that will provide insurance coverage for over four million children in our country) after reading this update in the New York Times. It details how President Bush is proposing severe limits on family income for the program that will make it nearly impossible for states to extend coverage to middle-income families. But then I ready Izzy's post today about the same topic and, as she's someone living with ridiculously high (actually, scandalous) insurance premiums herself, she summed it up better than I ever could. I urge you to take a few minutes to read her poignant post and the lively comments that follow.

American Value

I was working out the other morning and watching the news headlines scroll by on the screen at the front of the gym.  I say “working out” because I was on a treadmill and the treadmill was moving.  A large headline flashed up on the screen saying that 40 people had been killed in a suicide bombing in a crowded public area.  My heart skipped a beat as I imagined the victims and their families, all the pain and suffering they were going through.

 

Where did this atrocity happen?  Certainly a terrorist attack of this magnitude would receive nonstop media coverage for the next several days and I would learn all the sickening details.

Then came the second headline.  The bombing had happened in Iraq.

“Oh.  Iraq.  Again.”

And I kept going with my workout.  No one seemed much ruffled by the news.  We were all burning a few calories and waiting for Matt Lauer to interview some interesting celebrity.

Thinking about the incident later, my mind drifted back to the shootings at Virginia Tech a few months ago.  We were a nation united in outrage, terror and mourning.  Those innocent students and professors’ lives had been ended in a tragic and violent manner and we were touched deeply.

How then could I casually wipe the sweat from my face, turn up my MP3 player and walk on when the victims were not killed on American soil?

A suicide bombing at a mall in North Dakota or a public market in Seattle would bring this country to a standstill, if only for a short time.  Do we value the life of an American civilian that much more than the life of an Iraqi?  How many Iraqi college students would need to be killed to merit an equal reaction in the American public to what happened after Virginia Tech?

Is it because it’s a warzone?  Is it because it’s so far away?  Have we simply given up on the Middle East?

I think I’ve shut off an emotional connection to the violence in Iraq to save myself from living in a constant state of anxiety and fear.  If I give that Iraqi mother lying dead in the street a name and a face, then I have to do something about it.  And I don’t have the first idea what to do.

“My name is Kathryn and I’m sorry your country is torn apart by war with my country.  We really wanted to make things better for you.  Would you like some blueberry muffins?”

It’s not enough.

Malls to Teens: Keep Out!

I was listening to NPR the other day, as I often do, and the reporter was doing a story about shopping malls instituting curfews for children under the age of 18.  This particular mall (I can't remember where it was) had recently adopted a policy that required anyone under the age of 18 to exit the mall by 7 p.m. unless accompanied by an adult.

So I was curious.  While I had never heard of such a policy in my area, I wanted to know just how many malls were doing this.  After all, it was getting national media attention.  So I found this article in Time magazine that gave some interesting statistics and arguments.

According to Time, 46 of the 1,200 indoor malls in the United States have some kind of curfew or parental escort policy regarding shoppers under 18.  While many of these policies are aimed at early evening/late night potential for trouble, one mall in Milwaukee has restricted access to teens on Fridays and Saturdays starting at 2 p.m. 

Mall management and security cite incidents of violence that sometimes arise when teens have nothing better to do than loiter at the mall - and we're not just talking about fist fights anymore.  Some of this violence can include handguns.  Yet, I wonder how prevalent these incidents actually are.  I'd like to see the statistics.  Have things gotten so bad that people aren't going to the mall for fear of their lives?

The Time article also stated that another reason for instituting curfews stemmed from complaints from older customers.  The loitering of teens was creating an unpleasant shopping experience because some blocked doorways or were fooling around forcing shoppers to have to find a way around them.  I don't know.  Have we forgotten how to say "Excuse me," or "Hey, guys. Can you take it outside?"  I am, after all, an adult and know how to use my words.  If they're fighting, then by all means mall security, escort them out the front door.

But wait a minute.  Don't some of these teens go to the mall to shop with friends?  Or to get some much needed time away from their parents?  Is that a crime?  Shouldn't they have the same opportunities to spend their money that their parents do?  (Isn't it often their parents' money?)  And if we don't like the behavior of some, then is the answer really to make them disappear?

I guess after reading this story I'm left with two BIG questions: Are we afraid of our teenagers?  And if we are, what does that say about them, and us? 

Lance Armstrong is hot (to know what the '08 candidates think about cancer)*

I'm a Lance Armstrong fan not just because he's attractive (although, there is that) or because he won the Tour de France SEVEN times (which, come on, is pretty amazing) or because he seems to be a great dad to his three darling kids (awwwww). But I'm also a Lance Armstrong fan because we have something in common. We're both cancer survivors.

I was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 26, nearly 10 years ago. I was lucky. We caught my cancer at an extremely early stage and while I did have to have two surgeries to remove and then repair a lengthy section of my colon, I didn't require chemotherapy or radiation. I am a survivor.

Just two years prior to my own diagnosis, we lost my grandmother to lung cancer. One year after my diagnosis, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. And only a few years after that my aunt was diagnosed, for the second time in her life, with a type of breast cancer different from the one she survived ten years earlier. Like me and Lance, my aunt and my mom are both survivors too. Cancer's a pretty important topic in our family.

While fighting and surviving his own battle with testicular cancer, Lance Armstrong founded (LiveSTRONG) The Lance Armstrong Foundation to carry out his commitment to support and inspire cancer survivors:

"...we’re about the fight. We’re your champion on Capitol Hill. Your advocate with the healthcare system. Your sponsor in the research labs. And we know the fight never ends. Cancer may leave your body, but it never leaves your life. This is the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Founded and inspired by one of the toughest cancer survivors on the planet."

According to LiveSTRONG.org, cancer is the number one killer in this country for people under the age of 85 and this year close to 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer and about 560,000 people will die from cancer in the United States - more then 1,500 per day, or one of every four deaths.

With cancer so prevalent, chances are you know someone who has it, or you will, or you may be diagnosed with it yourself. In this coming election year wouldn't you like to know how our 2008 presidential candidates plan to fund cancer research? If and how they plan to promote early detection programs? And, most importantly, if they even consider cancer a priority in this country? Lance Armstrong would like to know. So he and his Army over at LiveSTRONG.org created the LiveSTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum:

"A two-day event featuring 2008 presidential hopefuls from the Democratic and Republican parties in Cedar Rapids next month will be co-moderated by Lance Armstrong and Chris Matthews of MSNBC. The forum provides candidates with an opportunity to detail their respective policy plans for fighting cancer, a disease that kills nearly 1,500 Americans every day."

Democratic candidates confirmed to participate in the Forum thus far are: Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator John Edwards and Governor Bill Richardson. Republican candidates Senator Sam Brownback and Governor Mike Huckabee are confirmed to participate as well.

The Democratic candidates will discuss issues surrounding cancer on Monday, August 27th from U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from 10 A.M. until noon CDT. Republican candidates will gather on Tuesday, August 28th (same time and location). The Forum will be broadcast on MSNBC but for those in the area, free tickets are available here. And you can participate, even if you can't attend, by submitting your questions in video format here.

This is a wonderful opportunity for us to educate ourselves about our candidates' positions regarding cancer in the United States. I hope you'll mark you calendars and join me in watching the Forum on August 27 and 28.

* And he's also hot, like H-O-T hot! Just had to get that in, in case there's any question as to how I truly feel about him. ;)

Pulse of the Soccer Moms

While recognizing that it is still very early in the 2008 presidential campaign, we thought it might be interesting to see who the Republican and Democratic leaders are among our readers right now.

Pretend you have a vote in both primaries, if you like. And just vote once, because it would be plain silly to "stuff the ballot" on a blog poll.

 

Yes, this only covers the two major parties.  If you have another candidate you'd like to see discussed here, feel free to tell us about it in the comments.