(This is an experience I had about eight months ago that I had written in my journal...)
"Today I spent the evening at Barnes & Noble reading a book about a neurosurgeon. Towards the end of my evening, a couple of friends saw me and came over to chat. The blonde doctor on the cover of my book was accidentally mistaken for the author Ann Coulter. When my friends realized that I wasn’t reading an Ann Coulter Book, the disappointment was clear, and one of them ran to the front of the store to retrieve a copy of her two latest books. I don’t know much about Ann Coulter, but the titles of the books (How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must) and Godless: The Church of Liberalism) enabled me to assume her political affiliation. I’m not really sure if anyone really knows what liberal means in the first place…many people associate it with support for abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage, blue hair, piercing holes, prostitution, tattoos, and burning the American Flag. At least that’s the impression I get….anyways, my friends told me a story about this asinine-boarder-hopping-family who brought their little girl over- illegally- for a 3 million dollar surgery. Since this family didn’t have insurance, good ‘ol Cali ate the bill. My friends expressed their annoyance and utter disbelief in the unfair system, saying that their tax money was stolen to fund another lazy family who shouldn’t have hopped the boarder etc. etc. etc.
To be honest, what they said made sense. A lot of sense. Why should MY parent’s hard earned tax money be thrown down the drain to people who don’t have a job? And what about Americans? Aren’t we first priority?
........Then I went home. And then I thought about it.
I have no clue what it’s like to be a parent. I don’t have kids. I’m only 16. But I can imagine parents watching their little girl play with her barbies and run through sprinklers, knowing that next year at the same time she’ll be gone. What would it be like tucking your kid in… reading her a book, and kissing her on the forehead, and with a smile plastered on your face, looking up out the window and seeing the city lights… What would it be like knowing that your kid is sick and not too far away is a place that could offer her a chance... she might be able to grow up...
I thought about that and I got sorry. I got sorry that all day all I thought about was myself. "
When I analyze political situations I often forget that they affect real people and real families that are not so different from mine. I find that in my white-upper-middle-class arrogance, I am unable to sympathize with those who become victims of the policies that we make...the policies that I will be voting on in the not so distant future...
I'm finding it difficult to define my social obligations and responsibilities when it comes to public policy. I'm not sure where to draw the line. (not even sure what line i'm talking about...)
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2 comments:
I'm rereading The Law by Frederic Bastiat, which is the best book I've read on this subject. I can guarantee it's better than Ann Coulter. I have an extra copy or two if you wish to borrow it.
I think what these things boil down to is that we need to be fair and compassionate. I would love to see the welfare system tossed out, but the church needs to pick up the slack then. And it's easy to justify not giving now because the government is already using my taxes to do that.
as a matter of fact, we have hardbound copies of both 'Godless' and 'how to talk to a liberal(if you must)'in our library... ann may not always be right, but she is invariably interesting... from the latter volumn:
"the Jesus thing jan. 7, 2004.... what is arresting is the democrats' fantastic habit of openly talking about how they plan to fake out the american people. the democrats candidly say, how do we make sure the americans don't know what we're really thinking? let's get a southerner, let's talk about Jesus, let's talk about nascar - white southern guys seem to like that. let's see... if we could get a general on the ticket, americans will forget how much we hate the military and long to see america humiliated. never has a major political party talked so openly about their plans to fool the voters. it's the damnedest thing i've seen. they seem not to realize the people they are talking about are listening...."
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