crum-bum is my new favorite word.  “Duh”  I love it!  I think you are totally right about the “indoctrination” thing.  I do think, however, for children of liberal parents they may not get a chance to ever question and re-examine.  If they go from liberal-brainwashing home to liberal-brainwashing college, they will be well-washed!

@Anita….. Staying neutral here…..you would hear the same of people speaking of “conservative-brainwashing home to conservative-brainwashing college”.  I’m sure all the kids will come out just fine.
Cheers

Well my parents always taught me to think for myself which is why I always write in my own in name on every ballot.

My oldest (15) doesn’t really care about politics.  She gets upset when people get angry or say or do mean things.  She also responds very well to jokes.  She has her dance practices in a very liberal, depressed part of the city.  As we were driving through after Obama won, I used to joke we should just roll down the windows and start throwing all our money out (cut out the middle man).  Anyway, we make sure our kids understand that money is not our primary motivator in voting.  They understand that our primary duty is to protect the least among us.  Our 14 year old son sees things in black and white.  I do try to tone him down a bit. 
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The younger kids?  They know we’re not crazy about Romney, but we’ll probably vote for him.  I say probably, because while my husband has decided he will, I have not.  We live in Pennsylvania.  If it looks like our state is going heavily one way or the other, I’m going third party so I can register my disgust with the Republican establishment.  If it’s close, I’ll go Romney. 

At least Paul Ryan has to give you some hope.
@Karen:  I agree with Simcha.  It is my responsibility to “brainwash” my kids.  If we don’t hear about the “sanctity of human life”, who will teach them.  What is the message they will hear out in the world?  My daughter was the only one in her (small-town public) high school history class who would challenge the liberal message coming from her teacher.  To his credit, the teacher did not penalize her for daring to disagree, but then again, he didn’t have any hope of changing her mind.  He was more worried about influencing the rest of the kids who had never thought about the particular topic before and had no perspectvie from which to judge the nonsense he was spewing.

Most of our kids are 6 and under. Even though my husband and I are practicing Catholics who would love nothing more than to see President Magic HopeandChange get booted out of office, we don’t really get to talk politics at the table. We are too busy saying things like, “Johnpaul, quit scratching your head with your fork!” or “No! NO! Stop pouring your milk onto your spaghetti!!!!” (Why does my husband insist on doing that? Lifelong habits are hard to break… KIDDING!!!! I KID!!!)Anyway, I think for me, I am having trouble knowing *what* to say to my little ones, like how much to tell them. My oldest is a senior in high school…I feel like when he was little, I gave him way too much info, which I think gave him alot of anxiety. So now I wonder…when do you explain things like abortion to your children? I honestly don’t know. I would love some advice, Simcha. And great article, as always:)

I work pretty hard on the concept that “reasonable people can disagree with you and not be stupid or evil; but that is exactly why it’s right to reason with them.”  The level of discourse is so rotten today that I’m desperate to teach my kids to remain above it.  I want them to spot people who can’t think above the level of “Your candidate is a doodoohead” and steer clear of them, and enjoy engaging with real debate with reasonable people.

Besides, I think the deep underlying problem in American discourse is this bizarre mix of relativism (“There is no right or wrong, all ideas are valued in their okayness”) and ad hominem attacks (“You are wrong because you are a doodoohead, and I can’t put it any better than that”).  We have a real problem with people trying to shut each other up so that they will not have to listen to thoughts they don’t like.  Kids need to grapple with the fact that smart people they love can support the most awful things, and we need to teach them how to stand up for what’s right, including speaking the truth in love.  So hard.

I have never married but it is my impression that the youth are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Re: explaining abortion to your children.  I think the younger ones will pick it up sooner (they always do, from their older siblings) but the time when I sat down and had a heart-to-heart, ask-anything-you-want discussion with my oldest—10-year-old boy—I did it in the context of homeschooling US History, which is his favorite subject. 

As you have to when you learn and teach history, we’d been periodically covering all sorts of crimes against human dignity anyway—slavery, racial discrimination and lynching, and discrimination against disabled people including forced sterilization.  I put the curriculum together myself, and I had a unit on “How life changed for children during the 20th century.”  We had a lesson on child labor followed by child labor laws, on the availability of schooling, on the increasing diversity of “heroes” available to children—so far, everything’s getting better—and then we started talking about the sexual revolution and how it affected children everywhere—the explosion of divorce, of fatherless families—and finally of Roe v. Wade, which of course is usually put in terms of how it affects “women” but any Catholic fool can see primarily affects *children*—unborn ones—who lost their legal status as persons.  I wanted to disengage RvW from the distracting “women’s rights” context that it is always placed in, and firmly teach it as a travesty against children’s rights.

This was an extremely effective way for me to teach my very cerebral, history-and-politics-fascinated 10-year-old.  He wept in disbelief before me as I explained, even in neutral terms, the law of the land.

@Heather - I’m of the mind that there is always an age appropriate way to convey information.  Even things as horrific as abortion.  But as I sit here and type that out, I don’t think my five year old has any idea about the word.  I haven’t been intentionally keeping things from him.  I know I’ve had the discussion with him.  e.g.“You can wear this sticker rose and that means you want all the babies God puts in their mommies’ tummies to be born!”  But I think it’s gone in one ear and out the other. 
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And that’s mostly because it’s not on our radar screen the way it was back when we only had our two oldest.  Those days we could go to an abortion clinic and pray the Rosary on Saturday mornings and still get to a noon soccer game.  These days we’re getting one kid to soccer, another baseball, another to dance, etc.  Life’s much more hectic with a houseful and when there’s a slow day, the last thing we’re thinking is “let’s go to the clinic and pray.”  We’re busy thinking let’s stay home and work around the house or enjoy doing nothing for a change.

Back when we used to homeschool, I’d take the kids along to state conventions & straw poll events.We met Pat Buchannon, Col. Oliver North, our state’s governor, & others.My oldest son served as a page at one convention & led the Pledge of Allegiance at a governor’s workshop on Faith Based alternatives to govt. assistance.Our local parish offered a “scholorship” to cover the cost of attendance.
It beat studying Civics out of a textbook.

I also have an eight year old boy who is FURIOUS that he is unable to vote in the election.  He has decided that he and his nine year old sister will just have to become president & vice president & “make abortion illegal”.  Seems like a good plan….if only he were older than eight!  Great piece.  Thank you!

Absolutely we need to “indoctrinate” our kids with our beliefs. When they are old enough to make up their own mind, they will! (And their opinions may not be the same as yours. Surprise!)  This goes for politics as well as religion.
My boys were oblivious to the evils of abortion until last year when our parish held a Respect Life Fair one Sunday. It was a good way to introduce the topic (which isn’t talked about much in our home, because, well, it just doesn’t come up.) It was refreshing to see that my sons were outraged at the injustice of abortion.

I don’t have kids, but I would hope to discuss these things with them if I did. Unfortunately, I’m not terribly involved in politics right now; I find it all very frustrating. I took several poli-sci courses in college and loved the theory behind it all, but the practice of it recent decades doesn’t even remotely look like the Constitutional Law or Catholic Political Thought classes that I took. In fact, it all seems like a sick and sorry joke. :(  I’m not sure what the solution is; sometimes I get a fresh spurt of interest and follow things for a while, but it’s emotionally exhausting because SO many people focus on entirely the wrong issue and I cannot handle the total lack of logic that accompanies modern political thought.

I know it’s all the rage to empower children to advocate for themselves and to make their own choices and form their own opinions, but please.  What are they supposed to form those opinions from?  Yo Gabba Gabba?

Favorite part of the piece.  Right there.  And it so wonderfully touches upon something else that doesn’t just apply to children, but to all of us:  I know it’s all the rage to talk about “going with your conscience,” but please.  What does that even mean?  Seriously now, what forms our consciences?  Consumerism and materialism?  Advertising?  Our political parties?  Our libidos?  Are our consciences merely what we “feel” ever so strongly about?  And yes, we can say that our “faith” or “God” helps us form our consciences, and we see in “in God we trust” on our currency, but faith in what, and what do we even mean by “God”?  Those are good discussions, I’m sure, to be having with older kids, and for those who are teaching their kids history and government as well as the Catholic faith in a homeschooling environment, these are important questions, which I’m sure you’re already discussing.

@bearing:  keep up the awesome job!  I think that your focus on children in your homeschooling U.S. History lessons is a good one.  And you’re spot on in your description of the nature and level of discourse in our culture.

I was hesitant to discuss politics much with my kids because it gets so ugly. Obama supporters/social progressives (even children) seem to have given themselves permission to behave disgustingly towards anyone who disagrees with them and I didn’t really want my daughters exposed to it. But I guess politics is in their blood because they were listening during the election and they heard Obama say that he wanted to extend the school year over the summer. That was it. They were voting for McCain. It didn’t matter that I told them there were more important issues to consider. My oldest even asked me if she could walk out of his address to school children (she was 9, I said no). She and my youngest sat on their hands when he was finished, refusing to applaud. They’re older now and pro-life issues are far more important to them, but I still laugh when I think about their first political statements.

In regards to explaining abortion to children: when our family prays the Rosary every evening, our first intention is always “for an end to abortion”, but I dicovered that the 8 year old had no clue what abortion was. So I told her “,Sometimes, when moms don’t want their babies, they kill them when they are still inside of her, and it is very terrible to kill a baby.” 8 year old responds:“Oh, I thought abortion is when moms leave their kids on the street.” Anyways, now that she knows, she will kow what we are praying for!!

I think the real worry is not with teaching kids what you think, but with enforcing that they *have* to believe that to be welcome.  Here’s an example:

I come home to my parents one day and say “You know, I’m really not sure about this election.  I don’t support Obama’s stance on abortion, but I really feel like Romney isn’t willing to address the way our society treats women.  I’m not sure if I’m comfortable voting in this election.”

Do my parents say “ok”?  Do they say “let’s sit down and talk about this”?  Or do they say “How dare you not vote for Romney?”  I know entirely too many families in which that last one would be the answer.

My kids hear a lot about politics from me; and I think if they have to hear what Larry only somewhat affectionately calls my “Norma Rae” speech one more time, they might just run away from home.

Kudos to you for teaching that the people you disagree with may be wrong, but that doesn’t make them evil.  I do the same.

Indoctrinate is a tool to force a view on the masses. I prefer teaching truth to my children. Truth that comes from the mouth of the Lord…you know, truth-truth. Not the “my personal truth” or “popular truth”, but the good old, it hurts to hear and live it kind of truth. With that, Obama is out of the picture, as all our kids know that he is trying to take out their beloved church. They see that we werent too excited over Romney, but with Ryan on the ticket, at least it looks and sounds better. I pray that Ryan keep the faith in office, and not back down as so many others have.

Kids that are developed with good consciences have that gut judgement about these politicians and the too good to be true promises. Sometimes kids are better judges of character than adults. They see through the false fronts and put it straight, “how can she support abortion”, “if he is taking all that money from so and so, wouldnt he have to do what they say?”, or “if he is such a good guy why did he cheat on his wife?” Kids arent afraid of the truth.

Love this!  This is our perspective too.  Excellent.

When my first born was 5 he heard me say the word “abortion” one day and asked me what that was. First, I was surprised he asked what that meant. Second, I remember thinking I have to answer in a direct but kind way.  Third, (I wished I remember my exact words which were brief)I said something like, “Abortion is when a woman doesn’t want her baby growing inside her and goes to a doctor to end the baby’s life.”  It wasn’t any longer than that.  But what I remember the most is what he said next, “That’s wrong” and he went back to playing.  And I thought, “Out of the mouth of babes.”

I might just have to change my name to a user name…Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, my kids aren’t brainwashed.  There are some iron clad principles they hold on to, like the sanctity of life, and protecting the rights of the powerless, but their education in these matters have been all over the map.  My father is a radical Libertarian. I grew up with the likes of Murray Rothbard at my house, and a father who tried to get me to read “Atlas Shrugged” in the fourth grade.  My mother is the granddaughter of a founder of the AF of L CIO.  Naturally my father didn’t get along with his father-in-law, who was a cigar smoking, bohemian, socialist, whose (French/Scotch) wife gave birth to my mother on the beach in Puerto Rico. Really. LOL. My mother is named, interestingly enough after a Puerto Rican prelate who graciously befriended them.  My father despised Abraham Lincoln, so naturally, I was confronted with some raised eyebrows.  I received some nearly non passing grades on some history papers.  There was lots of eye rolling in my house. My mother presided over my father’s antics with a long suffering sigh.  My Dad would gnash his teeth and say things like. “Ceasar Chavez actually WAS eating during his hunger strike at the mission.  The fraud.”  He was especially proud of *me*, because I, his sweet Doodle Dumpling once asked him, as we passed Richard Nixon’s estate in San Clemente, “Dad, does the head pig get to live in a castle?” I really thought the president of the United States, present or past should be referred to by that title.  Why?  Because the government IS YOUR ENEMY! (pat on my sweet compliant head.)  The good news is that my Dad is really just a spoiled softie, almost-only-child, (that explains a lot) off the charts genius who has mellowed with age and grace.  He’s no longer a middle of the road anarchist.  He has gravitated more and more to a faith that makes sense of people and injustices.  I figure that all that angst was caused by the vacuum of religion in his life when he was a kid.  I guess it’s really no surprise that given the example I had, *I* would marry someone who was the polar opposite of me, and my family.  It must be a rebellion gene, but I can’t even begin to describe what managing THAT side of the family entails. (Long sigh) I guess I’ll just cut to the chase and say that I’m delighted to report that our own kids have been taught to see the world of politics through the lens of their Catholic faith.  This has caused some bellowing and consternation to erupt from their grandfather’s dinner table.  To which I roll my eyes, and bite my tongue—but only half the time (heh).

What a choice:  you can vote for somebody who fails to attempt to stop mass murder (and indeed publicly denies that mass murder is even taking place) or you can vote for somebody who repeatedly and publicly prays to false gods and couches it in Christian-sounding terms intended to draw others down the same path.

If we don’t indoctrinate our kids, someone else will!
I indoctrinate with every fiber of my being.

@Darth Snuggle:  Yeah, pretty much.  And as usual, we’ve got pundits telling us for the umpteenth time that *this time* a vote for the GOP will end Roe v. Wade. 
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I really wish we had an actual pro-life party to vote for in this country. I mean, at least the Democrats are honest about wanting to kill the unborn.  As it is, I guess I’ll vote for Romney and hold my nose while doing it.

The other night my oldest (5 years) was watching TV with me and she looked at me and said “Mom, he lies!” I asked her who and her response was “Obamney” which was her mixing up Romeny & Obama. I don’t think she could have said it any better.

You may have just coined a new slogan for the Romney campaign.
Obama:  A crumb-bum who should lose.

We came home this afternoon, and there was a recorded political message on our answering machine. My four-year old said, “Well, we won’t be voting for Obama.” So, I guess the indoctrination does seep in! I think she asked something about why he was a bad guy, and I simply told her something about his lack of support for pregnant moms and babies. When my 9-year old asks, he gets more details and more issues, but he knows for certain how mom and dad feel about President Obama and while we’re less than thrilled with Romney, that’s who we’ll be voting for.

I think we do a better job teaching our children while leaving the name-calling out of it. I prefer to stick to age-appropriate facts - sans the insults - and teach that there are many candidates. The older kids should use the research skills they learn in high school to study the facts of the issues AND the candidates and begin developing a sense of what it means to vote responsibly. It’s important that they know WHY they’re voting for whoever they choose, and they should learn to defend those choices intelligently, without tossing out insults. And of course, all that begins when little ones learn to speak. But, hey, that’s just my two-cents.

If you think Mr. Romney is for you, your family, or your Catholic values you had better think that one through again.  Apparently you have not been paying attention to what he has said and what he has not said.  Be careful what you wish for my dear…

You forgot to say, “Stealth, economy-wrecking Ninja”, before the Crum Bum part—Gotta give credit where credit is due.

@Dee:  Well, neither is the current president, so as I said, we’re kind of stuck…

@Anita I didn’t read most of the comments here, but I want to respectfully address your concerns about children going from a liberal home to a liberal college. I am one of those kids, as are a few of my friends, and I think that an encounter with Christ makes all the difference. Our very liberal school has an amazing Newman Center, and our location in the nation’s capital makes political sparring a nearly every day occurrence; but what makes us question parts of how we were raised is our faith. Many of us look back at our parents’ views and question them through a Catholic lens only because we are where we are. I agree with you that the chances of a child raised in a liberal home questioning their parents’ views if they are transplanted to a liberal university are not great, but there is a chance that it will happen. It depends on several factors, one of which may actually be ending up at a liberal school.

*laughing* I’m now picturing a future Yo Gabba Gabba political party. tee-hee! Anyway, it can really vary from child to child on politics. I was always very aware of it - I can still remember doing a magazine “children’s vote” in the 1988 campaign (2nd grade? something like that), and in 1992, I was SO MAD that Clinton won, and even madder that my classroom had the highest in-school vote for the winner, and so I refused to eat any of the treats at the party and wore a black scrunchie on my arm - until the teacher made me take it off, then I just sulked. *laugh*
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It’s also funny looking across my family how we all turned out. I’m even more conservative across the board than my parents ever were, try to be active, and I’m trying to drag them with me. My brother pretty much is conservative on the basic issues, but he doesn’t get involved most of the time. Our middle sister has become a full-blown San Francisco liberal (truly, she lives there!), and not afraid to say so. Our baby sister is really quiet, so most of the time we don’t know what she’s thinking, but she’s piped up with a few things lately that sound like she’s leaning left of center.
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So the idea that teaching your kids isn’t allowing them to form their own opinions? Hogwash. The need to HAVE an opinion to start with, and then learn the alternatives, before they can decide what their opinion is!

My 9 year old just had the abortion conversation and he could not believe it.  Here was his reaction, that I wrote about in my blog:  http://www.livecatholic.net/2012/09/id-want-to-live.html

I am SO perplexed by people who say “yeeeeah, I don’t believe in teaching my beliefs to my kids. I want them to grow up and make their own decisions about what they believe.” It’s like saying, “I don’t believe in teaching my children to speak English. I want them to grow up and make their own decisions on which language they want to speak.” The whole point of teaching our kids what is right and true is so that they have the freedom as adults to use the “tools” we give them.  Otherwise what are they? Lost souls…with really bad grammar .

Totally agree, Simcha.  I laid down the law to my 6 yr old son the other day.  I forbade him to ever marry a Democrat.  I need to add - “and only a prolife Republican.” PERIOD.
A couple years ago my 7ish yr old daughter let the Library Ladies know during story time, which was all about presidents, how bad Obama was because he supports “abooooorrrtion.”  She made me a proud mother that day!

I hope my children grow up realizing that in our country right now, politics never presents much, if any, of an answer, and that an oversimplification of issues on both sides of the aisle leads to stalemated idiocy. Presented with a choice between a party that openly espouses intrinsic evils and a party that openly espouses illegitimate (and occasionally QUITE immoral) means, I recognize that one kind of evil trumps the other, but my political stomach is still pretty sour. As a parent, my only real aim is to make sure my children realize that being forced to vote for people who are simply a lesser evil does not mean one should assume that the rest of their platform is either intelligent and wise, or in the worst cases, even so much as excusable. I see this mistake far too often, and it leads to a lack of independent and intelligent thought.

We are in agreement.  We have open conversations, and constant prayer for God’s will. Nightly we pray out loud as a family and each of us state our intentions.  Political issues are always covered by someone in the group.  In the “indoctrination” process of educating our kids,we discuss God’s laws, the teachings of the Church, and ... facts.  Period. Facts.  It never ceases to amaze me how the wisdom of a child will suddenly be proclaimed - when the lightbulb goes off in their head and they figure out that “that” or he/she”(whatever it is) is wrong!  They put it together many times themselves.  The first time my fourth grade son watched a pbs presentation that interviewed a death row inmate, and I had to explain capital punishment, he proclaied “But that’s killing someone.  Thats’ wrong!”  Of course, there’s a level to just war and the rare instance that the Church has defined, but for the most part, he already knew it is wrong. He’s 21 now, and consults the Church and then us for guidance.  Our 19-yr-old daughter is not willing to delve into the political world so deeply, but plans on voting, after she talks to us.  While it sounds like she’s “brainwashed” and “dumb”, that’s hardly true.  She’s a double major Biology/Theology.  She’s simply to busy, and she simply respects us… which is really nice to know.

Ummm, Emily, you’re joking about what you told your six-year-old, right? Don’t you know there are pro-life Democrats?

I agree that we need to teach our kids the truth when it comes to religion and morals, but I think when it comes to politics, there are not necessarily right and wrong answers. If you’re talking about an issue like abortion, then sure, there is a definite right and wrong. But that’s a moral issue, not just a political one. I do want my kids to make up their own minds when it comes to politics. When it comes to religion, I’m going to teach them “this is the truth,” but when it comes to politics, I’ll tell them my opinion but also tell them that other people see the issue differently, and it’s possible my opinion could change.

Thank you so much for this article, Simcha!  You have much nicer names for our current administration than we do.  Well, actually, we do try not to call him bad names but frankly, his given name is a bad word in our house.  ANYWAY—I grew up in a large extended, politically divided family.  Sundays at Grandma’s, the kids were relegated to the basement while Grandpa, dad, uncles and the older male cousins (late 60’s mind you) would discuss politics (lots of union arguments) well into the evening.  I would sit at the top step of the cellar stairs and listen to every word.  And it gave me a sense of security to know that dad, his brothers and their sons were taking care of worldly things.  And in many ways, it was a true sense of security.  So many people are just clueless today about what is going on with our government.  I offer that it is BECAUSE people stopped talking/arguing about things that we got to where we are today.

So, to the question, raising my own kids in a political climate?  You bet!  In fact, 12 y-o-daughter is in a very long ‘debate’ with another 12-y-o via email on why as Ron Paul supporters they should or should not vote for Romney.  We talk about the election on a daily basis—with the kids at home (15 down to 3—yeah, she’ll vote Womney, too) and especially with the two away at college—some of those phone calls have gone into the late hours of the evening.

We are not a ‘head-in-the-sand’ family.  Second to politics is high school FOOTBALL!  What else is there?  Oh yeah, we pray and all that too—;)

Why the name-calling? You seem to be teaching your kids arrogance and self-righteousness. Everyone is is need of conversion. You can point out that Obama is wrong on moral issues without judging his soul and name-calling.

There are indeed many Pro-Life Democrats. I am so turned off and insulted by the sanctimonius tone and posture of Republican Catholics. You do realize that the Candidate you promote is in support of “qualified” abortion. That is, abortion allowed in the case of rape, incest or the health of the mother. An intrinsic evil is always an evil and has no party affiliation.  The Republican Party is more the Party of lip service than the Party of Life it would seem. With venomous mouthpieces like Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter and a host of other haters it’s apparent that extreme right wingers have hijacked the GOP and Republican Catholics right along with them.

Miko and James

You are going to burn in Hell with your defense of intrinsic evil and those who make it make it possible.

stilbelieve :  ?

James the “pro life democrat” is a political heretic (or not pro life at all) given that the democrat party platform is for all abortion, all the time.  Read it for yourself.  Or did you not watch their convention?

Ummm, Sarah, you are a relativist.  You create two different realms; the moral and the political.  In the moral realm there is absolute truth but in the political realm there is not?

Your confusion (and James’) is why you can call yourself a “pro life democrat” and think that is actually reasonable.  It is not.

Is that as opposed to Mr. Romney’s some abortion. some of the time?  Wake up Jason, the Republican Party does not possess the moral high ground though their leaders would have you believe they do. I’m no more of a heretic than you - that is, not at all.

This is a great piece.  I like it.  As traditional Catholics, our family does not shy away from political issues.  We homeschool, so we have the freedom to be honest with them about our governments leaders and what is happening in the world.  But we have also taught them that the Lord Jesus Christ is Our King and we have a duty, as Catholics, to bring about His Reign on earth.  We haven’t taught them that “the lesser of two evils” is a criteria for voting.  Instead we have taught them to measure every single politician against our Catholic faith.  If that politician does not espouse Catholic principles, then its on to another candidate.  We’ve also taught them that, while voting is a privilege and a duty as good citizens, we also have a duty to consider the good of all society.  We have also taught them that the only thing that matters in this entire world is the salvation of souls.  Period.  There will always be people who are poor and impoverished.  We are called to care for them.  There will always be war and threat of war.  We are not to be afraid.  We are not to concern our selves too much with economic collapse.  We are to trust Our Lord and be prepared.  We are always to pray our Rosary and for our politicians to make choices in line with God’s will.  We are also to pray for their conversion.  With that, they know we won’t be voting for either presidential candidate in November.  Why?  Because as Catholics, our duty is to Our Lord first.  Neither candidate is worthy of the Catholic vote.  Whatever the outcome of this election, I will still make it to Confession on Sunday and meet My Lord at the Altar.  That’s the only “voting” booth that matters.  Peace.

@Tim in Cleveland: I’ve been looking for a candidate to vote for.  Please provide your last name so I can write you in, too.  “Laugh about it, shout about it, when you’ve got to choose.  Either way you look at it - you lose.”

Great opinion piece, Simcha.  Even those of us with adult children, most of whom with their spouses disagree with our values, both religious and political, need to be reminded once in a while about the importance of instilling your values in your children, even if they make decisions later in life that reject those values.  We must also remember that love in a family is more than ones political affiliation and, while being clear on why we believe as we do, do not let our politics become an obstacle to love.

I had no idea that calling someone a crumbum was judging his soul. Besides, just say it aloud! Crumbum! It’s a good word.

James ,
I’m personally turned off by the media on all sides.It’s all been politicized. But why single out FOX News commentators?
Even an occasional glimpse of MSNBC shows the same level of bias & even more “venom.” At least in my opinion.
I’m very sorry that John Huntsman dropped out of the race,he was my favorite, but I think Mr. Romney’s a decent man & I supported him back in 2008.

The talking heads at MSNBC - Maddow, Matthews and Sharpton in particular are easily as biased and vitriolic as their Fox counterparts barring Coulter and Hannity whose vicious shrillness is unlistenable in my view. Limbaugh is right off the charts and not only does he not add anything worthwhile I find him to be destructive to both civility and decency.  I do think that MSNBC does more to present representative points of view in their choice of simultaneous guests and that is probably the closest either network comes to genuine dialog.  Baier and Shepard Smith are two I can watch with little cringe factor.  In any case it is all opinion and should simply be a supplement to the hard news, events and actions of our society.  Being well informed with context and facts is one antidote for the avalanche of propaganda launched at us daily.  I do not trust either Mr. Romney or Mr. Ryan and will not vote for them but since the HHS mandate was presented I cannot in good conscience support my party’s candidates but not voting is not an option.  To abstain from voting is the same as casting a vote for the incumbent and exercising the right to vote is our duty as citizens even if it is a write-in.  There remains a great deal of prayer and honest reflection to be done between now and Nov.

James ,
I think Rush is very funny, but I do not excuse his vulgarity & I don’t always agree with him on every issue.
I enjoy Stephen Colbert-who I think is Catholic & from a large family? I don’t always agree with him either, but then it’s hard to know when he’s serious.He & Rush are more into the entertainment side, Colbert more obviously.
Seriously, it all about selling commercial air time.Rudeness & humor= ratings.
Ann Coulter is very bright & can be funny, but she’s her own worst enemy.I don’t know if folks would respond to her as negatively if she were a man.

It isn’t Coulter’s gender that provokes anger in people. Rather it’s her willingness to launch attacks on people such as the 9-11 widows.  I dismiss her opinions out hand at this point since their so wildly provocative, jingoistic and usually downright hateful.  It’s a poor excuse for entertainment.

If parents don’t guide children, who will? Public schools that have become indoctrination camps? Homosexual anger groups? Pro-death fanatics?

If we don’t teach our children, someone else will.

James ,
It may not be genteel to criticize 9/11 widows but widows making political statements, by default, enter into the fray. As we all do.

James

“To abstain from voting is the same as casting a vote for the incumbent and exercising the right to vote is our duty as citizens even if it is a write-in.“

I just read an article about the Pro-Life Democrats at the Democrat National Convention in which one of the State Presidents of Democrats For Life said there are 21,000,000 pro-life Democrats.  The person was disappointed that the platform committee was not willing to take any of their suggestions.  This person said they are getting warn out trying to change the party; and that person will be voting for Romney for President.

IF 2/3 of those pro-life Democrats are Catholic, and IF they registered out of the party to Independent or Decline to State AND voted for the pro-life party, the Democrat Party would HAVE to change their position on abortion and Roe v Wade or cease to have the political power to keep abortion on demand the law of the land.

The article said that in 1978 there were 125 pro-life Democrat Members in Congress; today there are 17.  Those Catholic Democrats registered voters are the only reason abortion on demand remains the law of the land.  If they would do what I suggested, they not only would be giving the gift of life to millions of future unborn babies who would have been murdered, but they would enable people like you to remake the Democrat Party freed of the intrinsic evil of abortion and other evils.

I am 72.  Therefore my top concern is the elderly. Someone I pay comes to clean my house and I hear how he and his wife have cleaned other homes of the elderly that are nearly blind or those in wheelchairs—and these elderly let the layars of grease and dirt just pile up because they can neither see it, nor reach it.  The cleaners say to me: ‘No one should live like that.”
    my husband is a veteran, so my next concern is care of the Veteran AFTER the wars are done. I take him to the VA for check ups.  I listen to other Vets talk.  They tell me that Obama has done more for them than any past president (I am just repeating what they are saying.)

    My husband is a retired UAW worker and I know that GM is still alive, thanks to Obama.  Without GM, or if it had gone bankrupt, both my husband and I would be without benefits, to start with.  But the ripple effect of such a bankruptcy would have killed this entire nation.

    I am a retired teacher; I taught for 37 years.  I come from a ‘Right To Work’ state—I do not get social security nor do I get benefits from the District. I do get a pension.  My highest salary was $42000 of which I get 50% as a pension.

    I remember (while teaching) looking at children who smiled back at me with black stubs for teeth in first grade, so that now, healthcare becomes a value and a concern that it reach out to all.  Plus, I remember the gunshots of the neighborhood kept them awake and afraid at night, so learning and focusing was hard.

    Yes, abortion is evil.  It is the cause of the lack of real leaders available today; one cannot kill over 30 million little persons and not say ‘the leader we really needed died in that holocaust’.  We are left with a very selfish Congress, and two choices for President, neither of whom sings a song in my soul.  It is a matter of the lesser of two evils.
    Our choices are few—so few as for whom do we vote—but our problems are many [see all the paragraphs above].

    Oh, one last thing: the Indian Nations and all that they need.  One woman of one tribe said to me something, and I did not know this: ‘Obama has done more for the Indian people than any other president’.

    So I say to every woman who ever aborted a child: you killed the leader we should be voting for. I don’t care if it was legal; all that is legal is not good. Yet, still we must vote.  Who will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, care for the sick—Isn’t that the basis on which all of us shall be judged?  Abortion is but one issue—one BIG issue—that leaves us with whom we are left with.
    It isn’t pretty but these are the best two guys we have to offer for whom to vote.  To me, the question is: who will do the least amount of damage?