Saving the Future for All Our Children


     I hear republican leaders, like Governor Mitt Romney, Senator Rick Santorum, Congressman Paul Ryan, Governor Scott Walker, and House Speaker John Boehner, saying it all the time: “We’re saving the future for our children,” but I am never quite sure what they mean. Their use of the first person, plural, possessive pronoun ― our, suggests that the future is being saved for all the children we have. However, their actions, rhetoric, and policies articulate messages that more accurately resemble “We’re saving the future for the children in our household ― not yours!”
     Giving them the benefit of the doubt by assuming that they are “saving the future for all children” is still very confusing. Does it mean that they are trying to insure that the United States will be more “user friendly” in 10 – 15 years to our children? And if that’s the case, why is making the United States more user friendly 10 - 15 years from now more important than making the United States more user friendly 10 - 15 minutes from now? Why is creating a United States that will afford a child wonderful opportunities ― if they live long enough to grow-up, more important than ensuring that a child, in an hour from now, doesn’t go to bed hungry, or wake-up eight hours from now, in a cold freezing apartment without breakfast and the loving comfort of grown ups? Why?
     It seems to me that the republican saying “We’re saving the future for our children,” isn’t anything more than a big, fat, juicy justification for doing absolutely nothing! It is proactive inactiveness: It makes it seems like they’re doing a great deal for all children, when in fact they’re doing absolutely nothing for most of them. Telling the democrats and others that republican plans will affect our children’s future in a positive way distracts from the fact that republican plans are creating catastrophic misery for many children at present!
     If the republicans are really serious about saving the future for our children, they should change they slogan to say “We’re going to save the future for our children by starting now! Today! This minute!
Then they should physically go into every neighborhood and literally find out ― from the children:
“Who needs the heat turned on?”
 “Who is going to be hungry an hour from now, but doesn’t have any food?”
“Whose dad/mom is out of work, and it is causing enormous stress on his/her family?”
Etc.
      The republican leaders need to know that “Saving children’s future is far more important than saving the future for children.
Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. The future is now. So in the words of the Nike slogan “Just do it!”  The rest of us will join you!

By
James A. Porter

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Republican Party and Christian Values

Image
Dear Republicans, or “God-Fearing, church-going, law abiding, moral and ethical citizens, who diligently practice your faiths by living in accordance with the word of God,” have you read Matthews chapter 5 – lately? It would be helpful if you reflect on verse 7 ( Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.), verse 8 ( Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.), and verse 9 (Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.) Instead of aggressively trying to prosecute Secretary of State Hilary Clinton for emails she erased from her personal server, it will be helpful if you recall that the last Republican President (George W.) and his secretary of state were so fast asleep at the wheel that 9/11 occurred on American soil while they were snoring. Note: The Democrats or “the secular party” showed mercy while acting as peacemakers in the months and years that followed. In spite of the fact that during that time period George W. started a war in...
Read more

An Endangered Nation

Image
          I love quality debates. I love debates in which two debaters, with opposite points of views, present their arguments – each clearly and concisely articulating interesting, informative, persuasive ideas, supported by cited respected research. Oh, I love the feelings of sitting and listening to the first debater, in a cool, calm, coherent manner convincing me that his side of the argument is correct. “This is good stuff!” I find myself thinking, as his presentation sways my thoughts in his favor. I am convinced that he's going to win! His argument is so good that I cannot envision him loosing the debate.      Of course, my opinion changes a few minutes later, as I sit and listen to the second debater delivering the opposing argument. His delivery, which is as thorough, thoughtful, interesting, and persuasive as the first debater’s, pulls my thinking in the opposite direction....
Read more

One "Christian Nation" Under God?

Image
  I am always amazed by the fact that although we call ourselves  “a Christian Nation”  and we boast about the fact that we have more churches in the United States than any other country in the world, the teachings of  God , the Father, and His Son,  Christ Jesus , play minor roles in the integrity and spiritual correctness of our moral decisions. For example, it does not appear that we ask ourselves questions like  “What grade would Jesus, who knows what’s honestly is in our hearts, give us for the policy decisions we’ve just made?”  " How would God feel about the Republican Party's intentional attempt to create a health care policy that is going to result in pain, suffering, and death for millions of Americas?"    “Are our policy decisions concerning entitlements, tax cuts, voter ID laws, immigration . . . in accordance with His teachings?”  “Are we conducting ourselves in compliance with the example He modeled on Earth?"  "Ar...
Read more