Politics and Partisanship Gone Wrong

On September 8th, President Obama will be giving a speech directed at students about the importance of their education. And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve certainly heard the chatter about how the President may potentially mislead our children and use them as “tools” to “promote liberal propaganda.” In fact, many parents are being encouraged to keep their children home that day to prevent such a possibility. So how does this mother see it? Unfortunately, I see this entire over-reaction as one more dangerous example of feverish partisanship gone wrong. This particular round of hoopla began when Jim Greer, Chairman of the Florida Republican party, expressed his opinion stating that children need to stay home and away from any influence of the President. “As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology.” And since then, conservatives, bloggers, television pundits and everyday American citizens have all jumped on board with his train of thought. They are taking his spouts over apparent socialist agendas seriously. And now fellow citizens are keeping their children home that day, away from any influence at all from their own president. Honestly? This is simply one more example of how out of hand partisanship has become in this country. Fear and anger are fueling extraordinary threats and suggestions. Discourse seems rarely productive, finger pointing is at an extreme and we all seem more polarized than ever before. It’s human nature to pick … Continue reading →