Raising Good Americans
This is the first election year in which all four of my children can vote. It feels historic for our family, for sure.
Politics has been our family sport. I have worked hard to make sure our political conversations over the years have been about process and policy far more than partisanship.
I've tired never to demonize any other party or imply their views were wrong, evil or bad. In fact, I would often talk about the positives of the other political parties and would event identify good people my children knew who were in those parties. I would talk about an uncle, a neighbor or a friend and why they were passionate about the subject and party in question. As a family, we’re all over the map when it comes to political ideology, but we listen to each other, we respect each others’ views and above all, we are always civil to each other.
When my children were young, their father was in the state House of Representatives and we were invited to a family picnic for county Republicans. I had dressed the kids in red, white and blue and even put ribbons in the girls’ hair. They were looking pretty darn patriotic. The woman who checked us in at the picnic took a look at my kids and gushed, “You’re raising such good Republicans!” My visceral reaction surprised even me. “No!” I corrected her kindly but emphatically. “I’m raising good Americans.”
I have never expected or even hoped that my children would have political views identical to mine or their father's and I welcome the political diversity that has emerged in our family. I care far more about finding the best ideas and supporting the process of allowing those ideas to surface than I do about supporting one party and what it stands for at any given moment. I realize the ideas and beliefs of my adult children will not always be mine. If I forced my kids to become Republicans, I would stifle their discovery of new, important, relevant ideas and rob them of a precious aspect of being a good, open-minded, free-thinking American.
As we cast our votes today, I hope we’ll all seek out the best ideas, the best candidates and best solutions to make this a place where we can continue to raise good Americans.