As parents we should be alarmed, incensed, and demand change to build a safe and healthy society for our children. But how do we know what to fight for? This can be tricky, especially because the same corrupting powers influencing politicians are also working hard to influence our views. As parents, we have to break free of the influence of those powerful lobbying groups to think for ourselves, and to gain clarity. Only you can decide what is most important to you and your family, but I will present my thoughts on a few issues that are worth fighting for in America.
Legislation to Prevent Senseless Massacres
(of our children)
This is a hot button issue and people are primed up to jump on it one way or the other. Why is that? Why is it so important for fellow Americans to own military grade assault rifles like the AR15, high capacity magazines, and bump stocks (which modify rifles to fire like a machine gun)? No one can seriously suggest any of these are needed to hunt or even to protect one’s life, family or property (do you live in a live war zone of attacking militias? if so, consider other fixes). So what does regulating or banning such weapons and accessories have to do with parenting? Do you remember the massacre of 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7 at their elementary school named Sandy Hook in Connecticut? As a parent, that was one of the saddest days of my life and it still fills me with sadness. I’ve never been to Connecticut, I didn’t know any of those kids or their parents, but as a parent, I know what it is like to drop your kids off at school and can imagine the unspeakable horror to have my own beautiful innocent children taken away in such senseless violence. How did this happen? How did it happen in Parkland, FL? In Vegas? And so many other places? I’m no expert, but one of the common threads in the massacres mentioned is use of the AR 15 which is designed to kill humans by tearing up their internal organs. Those conducting autopsies on the victims in Parkland said they’d never seen anything like it. It is easy to use and once hit there is little to no chance of survival which is why it is increasingly the weapon of choice for mass murder.
As parents, we should ask ourselves would we rather work now to prevent future massacres of our own children or wait until it happens to one of our children, like the father of Jamie Guttenberg, gunned down at her high school in Parkland, FL? NO, we should educate ourselves now, write emails, make calls, donate money. Those are the basic ways to be a participant in our democracy. Because powerful organizations like the NRA do this, it requires all parents to stand up together to fight for our children and their safety. It’s not easy to become an expert, and so we have to rely on others at some point to make the best decisions about gun control. But the wrong positions are easy to identify and protest; the talking points of the NRA and their proxies are usually in the interest of making more violent weapons more widely available (facilitating more massacres).
Legislation to Protect the Environment
Another important issue for parents to be informed about and active on is the environment. Once again, it has become politicized thanks to powerful corporations who have full time lobbyists to influence politicians and marketing teams to confuse the public. As parents we have to recognize that we want to ensure our children have clean air and clean water and not let corporations or politicians stand in our way. How would you feel if you were among those families in Flint, MI exposed to lead in your drinking water, harming your children? We have to keep up the fight for high environmental standards. We also have to become educated about climate change and work to address it in the name of our children and grandchildren. Again, Parents stand the most to lose on these issues, we should STAND UP and BE HEARD. We should organize as PARENTS fighting for our CHILDREN and their FUTURE. The political parties have just paid lip service to our needs; we need to demand more of all of them. We can do it together.
Healthcare Reform
Maybe you are happy with your healthcare, maybe you have good insurance, or maybe you have found it prohibitively expensive. As parents we need to ask ourselves what we want for our kids and fight for it. Polls suggest that most Americans are interested in universal coverage such as is found in Canada and most other developed countries. America is the outlier on this, as it is on guns, because of the corruption of our political system. Do you want to go broke getting medicine for your child? Do you want them to go broke after they are grown? No, it’s not right and there is a better way.
Other Issues
As parents we have many other concerns: internet safety, drugs, education, sexuality, money, racism and more. There is much we can do on our own to protect and educate our children, and some issues may not have clear legislative fixes. We should be careful not to think everything can be legislated. Some things are left to us and our wits and responsible actions. What we want to work on at the political level are those threats that are more difficult to protect ourselves from through our own wits and efforts, which is why I’ve listed three: guns, climate, healthcare. These three already have robust resources to explore and organizations to help. I welcome thoughts in the comments below on the issues I’ve raised or ones I may have missed.
The Bottom Line
Being a good parent requires a great many things besides being political. In fact, being a good parent is MOSTLY nonpolitical in nature. BUT, due to the unbridled corruption of our political systems we the people need to fight to make the world safe for our children. This is why I think parents are a critical source for political action and change. We love our children and would do anything for them. If that is true, political action is part of our call as good parents, to ignore politics is to make the world more dangerous.
Getting Real 