TIME, Syphilis, Google, and Parenting… ER… Politics?

A few interesting tidbits that I found in my March 14th, 2016 TIME magazine… Nevada currently has the highest syphilis rate is the western US, after an outbreak in… you guessed it… Las Vegas, a Google-owned, self-driving car caused the first at-fault accident for this type of vehicle when it slammed into a bus in California, and lastly that I have more in common with Bernie Sanders supporters than I previously thought.

Sam Frizell’s article is describing Sanders followers. He says, “They often said they were angry about Wall Street bailouts, disappointed in President Obama and wary of trusting Clinton. ‘I don’t believe a word that comes out of her mouth,’ says an Arizona resident with ties to Sanders’ campaign'”. I agree! I agree with it all!

Bernie Sanders and his followers want to see improvement to the middle class, our environment taken care of, they want a fair and humane immigration system, they want to fix the social security system, they want everyone to ‘pay their fair share’… I want these things too!

It has donned on me that people from the far right, the far left, and everyone in between agree on many of the problems we face. We just have very different ideas on how to solve them. Much like a household with a parent that coddles, and enables their child in order to protect him from pain and discomfort, and to give him everything he ‘deserves’. While the other parent practices ‘tough love’, and raises that child to understand that there are consequences to every choice he makes, in doing so raises a responsible, hard-working, contributing member of society. A child that can be proud of what they’ve accomplished through hard work, and not hand outs.

My last paragraph makes it very clear in which parenting style I lean towards, but honestly, I’m somewhere in between. I think the winning parenting style is one with a mix of softness and hardness, love and discipline. It’s not always easy to discipline the children that you have raised and love more than life itself. It’s not always easy to make them ‘earn’ something that you have the money to just pay for. But if I want my kids to be successful, that’s what I’ve got to do sometimes.

And if the people leading this country want its citizens as a whole to be successful… they need to learn some balance too. Softness and hardness… for instance, a welfare system that temporarily holds the hands of those in need and leads them to a place to get on their own feet, and then lets go and expects those people to walk on their own dang feet! Love and discipline… Protecting our individual, Constitutionally-guaranteed rights (even middle-class, Christian, white people), making America’s safety a priority, and upholding the law when someone breaks it, even if they are an American Congresswoman.

Look at good ‘ole Tip and the Gipper. Politicians from both sides of the aisle can be respectful of one another, can compromise, and can put the best interest of America ahead of partisan shenanigans. We need that. Now more than every. We need that. Enough with the games, and the Hollywood-style roasting of anyone that disagrees with your solutions. You’d think the Republicans and the Democrats were in the boxing ring… both parties vying to rip the other’s ear off. With the Socialists waiting outside to jump the daughters of the other parties. Let’s go back to just being Americans. What came first, the American or the political Party? 🙂

I want a president that will come out time and time again to say that he’s proud to be an American. This country may have some ugly stories in her past, and she may not be perfect, but she’s the best this world’s got, and I’m proud to call her my home. And if you’re not… move to Germany… they’re happy to take you.

Ok, I got a little off topic. But, I can do that. Time for those on the left and those on the right to hold hands and create a sustainable system where people can still pursue the American dream and not be penalized (or demonized) by success, where families that genuinely need help can get it, and where we’re patting each other on the back with genuine affection regardless of party affiliation. I’ve been told I’m an idealist, go figure. Maybe I’ll start my own party.