#76 A response to blog 70 or

“Why I am a Democrat” by kdiaz1@ameritech.net

Well, I certainly recognize that having children changes perspectives. I remember holding my daughter, my first-born, in my arms the first time, and having an overwhelming sense that my beliefs in her self-determination, and freedom over her own body were more important concerns for me now more than ever.

I believe this self determination should also regulate any relationships she has (she should have too much respect for herself than to be exploited by anyone) as well affording her the ability to make her own decisions about how to manage mistakes she has made or hardships life has brought her. As a parent, I see that it is my responsibility to infuse her with as much confidence, self esteem and self respect as I can. But, I don't want the govt. coming along when she is 18 or 20 and suddenly telling her that her judgement over her own life and body is not good enough. (Nor do I want some guy doing that for her.)

Perhaps legalizing abortion has not done great things for society...but it has provided more self determination for individuals. Having multi-billionaires in our society while others are starving has done nothing to better society, and yet no one is curtailing these individuals rights to accumulate beyond all possible semblance of justice.

I also can't characterize George Bush as being "smart" in his handling of this dilemma we face with terrorism. I am not demoralized or angered because I think he is showing strength I didn't expect of him. On Sept. 12, 2001 he had me in the palm of his hand. I was ready to follow. I was prepared for him to be strong.

When he asked me to go shopping as a sacrifice for my nation I felt terribly disappointed that I was not needed for anything other than consumerism. When he took us into a war and my nephew into Iraq I felt sad, scared, and wondered if this was really necessary. When I found out that in fact there were no weapons of mass destruction, and that in fact he realized the threat was not as imminent as he portrayed I felt betrayed.

When I was told I should be happy anyway because a horrible dictator had fallen and we had freed a people, I wondered why I was not trusted enough to be told that was the reason we were going in the first place. When I was told this would be easy I thought these people in Washington were full of arrogance and ignorance to think that simply by removing a dictator (with no weapons to speak of) you could build "America light" in a region of the world where the culture is completely different from our own. When he asked for $87 billion I wondered how much debt we were going to pass on to our children and how much assistance we were going to deny our own impoverished citizens and educational systems. (And how much of this money is going to Halliburton?!)

My sister owns a small business, so I understand the tax burden of which you speak. I agree that small businesses should get a break. However, why should the multi-billion dollar corporations who are taking all their jobs overseas get a tax break? Why is it so wrong for them to support the infrastructure of this nation (the phone lines, electric grids, educated masses, highways, middle class consumers, etc) that has allowed them to accumulate beyond belief? Why is it so wrong for them to handle the financial spending our govt must do now...rather than requiring that my children and their children should pay for things they never saw or enjoyed the benefit of?

I send my kids off to Columbus Public Schools every day. I want my tax dollars to go toward making those schools better, not siphoned off to the Catholic church to propagate their dogma in the name of halfway decent education. Why can't education in public schools be halfway decent? We want immigrants to this country to blend? How are we going to do that without public education? That is how all the generations before us were assimilated. How will my children learn about differences among people if they are not led through the public halls of society?

And while I long for a truly color blind society...it just ain't reality. A people that has been enslaved and exploited for 300 years (what is that...5,6,7, 10 generations?) who have never been given any sort of proper restitution for this atrocity is just supposed to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and move on in one or two generations?

And even so, it's not like they are taking over the country. The percentages of African Americans who graduate from college is actually slipping in recent years. The percentage of African Americans living in poverty is still higher than the percentage of whites. Affirmative Action is not about enabling unqualified or lazy people. It's about putting in the minds of people to reach their own true potential. Making it doable. It's about diversifying schools and workplaces so all cultures can learn from each other. OSU has created a more diverse AS WELL AS more prepared class of entering freshman than ever before. It didn't happen by chance. It was planned and worked for.

However, if George Bush has done one thing for me, he has made me a more political being who can not keep quiet. All this and I am not a secular humanist. I'm a deacon in a Presbyterian Church...full of like-minded souls I might add.