I’m a married man with 2 young sons, aged 6 and 8. My belief is that my kids are just now opening their minds and are able to grasp bigger concepts than just self. I feel like I’m fighting an uphill battle every day in order to get them to grasp issues of responsibility, empathy, community, etc.
One issue in particular is harder than others and it’s an issue that Mitt Romney could stand to learn as well.
Like others, I was shocked and horrified by what I saw when Romney finally told the truth during that fundraiser. The first passage is the one that everyone has been talking about…
There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it -- that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.
The other quote that caught my eye concerns his plans for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…
And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say there's just no way. And so what you do is you say you move things along the best way you can. You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that it's going to remain an unsolved problem. I mean, we look at that in China and Taiwan. All right, we have a potentially volatile situation, but we sort of live with it. And we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve. We don't go to war to try and resolve it.
Follow me below the delicious orange croissant for what ties these 2 quotes together and what that means with regards to my children…
My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.
And we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve.
What these both say to me is “It’s too hard, so I’m not going to try.”
I hear this all the time from my kids and I always tell them it’s worth it to try. You never know what you can accomplish if you put some effort into it. But I know one thing for sure - if you never try, you’ll fail.
It’s one of the hardest lessons to teach my kids and I’m amazed to see their attitude echoed by someone who has aspirations to be President of the United States.
If he’s not willing to even reach out to half of the country or put forth any plan for peace in the Middle East, what else is too hard for Romney to put some effort into? What else will he “kick down the field”? What emergency will come up during his term that would be too hard to even try to solve?
As scary as a Romney presidency would be for the things that we already know, how scary is it too have a President who wouldn’t even try?