I have some pride to have grown up in a Republican community, but mostly I’m proud to have grown up. I may have never voted Republican, and have never considered myself Republican. Nor would I say I grew up Republican. I just grew up among people who called themselves that. If pressed, I would likely consider myself somewhere in between a good Republicrat and a Democlipan. Face it, we only have two US parties and both are conservative, so the difference is less than we like to believe it to be. However, saying that in today’s bipartisan, highly politicized and polarized environment is a bit of a Kum-Bah-Ya moment. No one wants to hear that we have much more in common than different. It doesn’t demonize, win votes or keep us glued in between TV commercials, which are the goals of the powers that be. It is too peaceful, too productive, too predictable and too boring. But it is a way for me to hold on to my power, my sanity and my ability to find meaning in the craziness around me.
Growing up is something I thought I did quite a while ago. I was born in 1963 and my sons who are 11 and 13 are always challenging me to show up as a father and adult. That makes it easy for me to see a deficit in adult-like behavior around me. I see this particularly in the current antics within the Republican Party, though it’s not absent on the other side of the aisle with Democrats. I recall being in second grade and learning to spell and define this super hard word: antidisestablishmentarianism. That was a trap the far left fell into when I was a child in the world of prudent, rational Republicans. That tribe has now succumbed to today’s equivalent of pot smoke and mirrors of Fox News and other crazy commentary. I feel sad to see those who once seem so respectable become so fear-filled.
Looking back to my Republican-dominated past, I recall hearing a lot about “growth.” Today, however the growth is not firmly rooted for the future. Our roads are falling apart; our kids are not learning and if they manage to get to college are saddled with crippling debt. So I choose “progress” over growth. However, in reality we need both, for you cannot have one without the other.
In addition to growing up around Republicans, I was also an exchange student in German and lived with arch-conservative (from a German perspective) Bavarian farmers. My host brother is currently hiring over 500 guest farm workers a year from Romania, but he cannot imagine a system without a guest worker program and universal health care. His business would be exponentially more difficult taking on the risk of undocumented workers and providing health care. I have also lived in Sweden, the traditional bulwark of social democracy where the so-called socialists don’t understand why the US postal service wasn’t privatized (as it was 30 years ago in Sweden) or why the US government won’t let industry dinosaurs die (as happened to the Swedish auto firms Volvo and Saab).
Growing up in a Republican environment, I appreciate the belief in the US as a land of opportunity. Let us rebuild that so that our youth can learn to read, attend the university and have some elbow room around student debt and health insurance to start companies. Let us stop subsidizing our dinosaur industries such as fossil fuel and commodity crops to leave room for innovation. Let us engineer things which add value and not just rules and finances. Let respect the core of our faith (at least in the Abrahamic traditions of Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions, leaving options open for others) of the Golden Rule: Love and respect one another. All of these values I appreciate from my Republican past. I feel sorry that we all seem to have lost our way, and they have been the leading the pack in seeing evil all around them. I see my children, and it is good.
We are not competing Republicans against Democrats. We are competing as the US against the rest of the world. We are competing with old, irrelevant ideas against youth who will take over one way or another since time is on their side. Are we thinking of them and preparing them for their—and our future? I grew up around Republicans, but mostly I grew up. Now I want my sons to grow up in a society that believes in them and their future. So can we put aside the acrimony and just let them grow up?