The Presidential Race

This Presidential Race is very different in many ways. There is Omaba on one side and Palin on the other. However, in my house, this is the first year my children have become involved. They have taken a great interest in both candidates and what they stand for. They are watching news programs, looking information up on the Internet and having discussions. They both watched both the Democrat and republican conventions.

While in the beginning I was not crazy about either of the two candidates, I leaned towards McCain because the last thing I want is higher taxes and some of Obama's proposed policies scare me. When McCain announced Palin, and she was "introduced", and also her speech at the convention, I began pushing for him more. Big Son said, "Mom, how crazy do you think it is making people that she is a hunter." Obviously pretty angry. The tricks that have been played on this woman is incredible. She is labeled a bad mother because her 17 year old daughter is pregnant. This could have happened whether her mother was Governor or not. Her email account is "hacked" into, made public and private pictures from emails of her children are released. Her husband is put under a microscope. Their family is put under a microscope because of hunting, snowmobiling, living in a rural area, and not being in Washington. I say YOU GO GIRL!! Shake up those old men in Washington and finally give "real" people a voice.

The boys are starting to realize that politics can be nasty and you need to be informed to have a intelligent conversation. Almost every night we talk about the Presidential Race and Big Son has begun to bring his friends into his debates. Yes, he talks politics with his friends. He has come to realize that unfortunately you are judged on the way you live. One of his friends over the weekend made the mistake of saying Palin isn't qualified to be a VP since her family hunts for their food. Big Son asked his friend if he liked Husband. His friend said of course, I like hanging out with your dad, he does a lot with us. Big Son said, my dad hunts. We have eaten what he shot. Does that make my dad less of a person? His friend got embarrassed. Big Son said, a lot of my family hunts. My great grandfather and great great grandfather hunted raccoon. My great grandmother cooked them. Are we bad people? His friends looked at big son like he was crazy. Then big son continued saying that when he and little son were in elementary school a lot of their friends weren't allowed to come over because they had dirt bikes and raced go-karts. All true. He finished with saying that you should never judge somebody by what they do, only on how they act. FINALLY!!!

That conversation made me so proud. It has been what I have been trying to teach him or years.