This morning, I left my house at before 7 am, as I always do, to drive my child a mile or so to her adopted bus stop. I do so (when I could just walk her to our corner) to save her over an hour of bus commute time on the bus. I do the same thing in the afternoon (to save her another hour and a half). The perk to driving her to the bus stop in the morning is that (in my working class town) I see probably 100 kids waiting at about twenty-five bus stops in that five minute drive.
Why?
Because schools are so bad in our town that knowledgable parents try to place their kids anywhere they can, to avoid the regular classrooms in our town. They look to parochial schools, private schools, out-of-town magnet schools, and non-regular classrooms (i.e., specialized program classrooms) in town schools. Many of these choices are fairly far away (geographically) and the parents in town thus contribute to the fossil fuels problem by bussing or driving their children when they could probably walk to a neighborhood school. But anything to avoid the regular classrooms in town, which are now huge (in terms of class size) and very inadequately funded. Most parents know, a good education is key to everything.
More after the fold...
Every morning, I am reminded how much is at stake in this election. Every morning when I see all those children waiting at 7 am for school buses when many of them could walk to a nearby school in our working class urban town. Every morning, I am reminded...
And yet...
And yet, with less than two months to go, we have a candidate for Vice President, truly a heartbeat away from the American Presidency, who has been thrust upon us and we are told, its OK that she won't talk to the Press. Its OK that unless they are coming to a "stop" near you, you won't get to ask them a question. Not in person, not through media opportunities, not anywhere, anytime. They are ducking you. But, it appears some feel that's OK.
I don't understand why (OK well maybe I do), but more to the point...where is the outrage? Don't people understand what is at stake? Nothing less than the future of our Country. Nothing less than our status as the World's leader in Democracy.
This is not a diary which seeks to bash the GOP Vice Presidential nominee. I don't know Sarah Palin. But she seems to have some strengths and (despite her snipey, sarcastic, at times downright nasty and divisive convention speech), she seems like a fine person. I could see meeting with her at lunch to discuss the things moms like me like to discuss (raising children, our families, how to make ends meet, local and national political issues). This is not an "I hate Sarah Palin" diary. This is a "GOP this election is not a game" kind of diary. And this is an Action Diary, because the time to act is now, not in a week, not in a month, not a day before the Election. There is no time to waste.
Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, has been derided for months now, as being a relative unknown on the American Political stage and even more so on the World stage. Yet, he has campaigned hard for the better part of a year now and had to engage in a tough tough Primary battle to win the Democratic Nomination. Many of you (here and in the MSM) correctly argued that the Primary process made him a better candidate. Certainly he was vetted over and over from media, political, and rank and file sources. He is not nearly as "unknown" now as he was. He has taken his punches and gotten up time after time. He has lived abroad, traveled abroad, and has a tremendous following world-wide from people who know who he is. He has "a world view". Even if you don't agree with it, you know he has one. Through his website, through small and large in-person settings, through many media opportunities and debates, through his website, you can find out specifically where he stands on the issues. Like him or not, he has made himself available. So has Mr. Biden, who appears to be a completely open book and never lacks for words.
Not so Ms. Palin. And apparently, that's at the direction of the McCain campaign, the RNC, or perhaps McCain and/or Palin directly. For whatever reason, there is a gag order on Ms. Palin. Why, we don't exactly know. All I know is that the GOP thinks so little of the American public that they think that they can win an election based on unveiling their surprise choice so late in the game that America won't have a chance to fall out of love with her. That they will ride to victory on a horse called Momentum. That even if we are outraged (we who are active), that we won't have time to galvanize (to community organize) the low information and ill-informed masses. And they are willing to win that way. Kind of scary, especially when you consider how Bush/Cheney have governed over the past eight years.
Say it ain't so Joe and everyone else, say it ain't so.
All of you who have been in love know...your partner can do know wrong in the first few (hours, days, months) and then reality sets in. Reality makes the difference. Some love affairs stand the test of time, some don't.
Make no mistake about it, the GOP is betting there isn't enough time left to fall out of love. They think so little of this Country that they thrust a relative unknown on us and expect to ride it out. We can't let them. Whether you now love Sarah Palin or whether you think she's not a good fit for this Country, you owe it to all of us to call her and her partner out on this. You owe it to all of us to look at her as critically as you have looked at any candidate for any important political office. She would, afterall, be a heartbeat away.
I said this was intensely personal and so it is. My children are six and eight, we live in a working class town, we are barely making IT. I have primarily been a stay-at-home mom but I presently have a part-time job which seeks to empower parents as advocates for their children (in a neutral way although some of my work can end up being partisan because we necessarily engage people in the political process). My husband has, for most of our marriage, worked two or three jobs to say afloat. He hasn't always been home a lot and he hasn't always found work geographically close to us. It has been extremely difficult and like many families, we aren't doing as well as our parents did. That hurts. We want more for our children. We take this election seriously.
I don't need to know how Sarah Palin balances work and children. I admire THAT she does it but the proof is in the pudding. Not every family in America has the support system she does. Not every family is in as good of a position as hers is. And so we can't and shouldn't vote as a referendum of how in awe we are of her. That won't put food on our table or gas in our car, that won't help all of us be able to pay healthcare expenses, that won't prevent us from engaging in unnecessary military action and sending our children into harms way, that won't make our neighborhood schools better, that won't get like-minded Judges on the federal courts.
Only informed decision-making and voting will. We need to know how Ms. Heartbeat away from the President, if elected, will help us. We can't know that if she is under a gag rule.
The time is now, we don't have time to waste.
Ms. Palin, calls herself a hockey mom. Well, I tell you...my children are primarily into the arts so I am more so "a dance mom" or "a theater mom" but my children, apparently like hers, like to play sports. So seasonally they play soccer and softball. Its fall, so I am presently a soccer mom. And for those of you moms and dads whose children play sports, you know how crazy their (and thus YOUR) schedule can be. Particularly in the Fall, particularly when your child(ren) go to schools far away to get educated.
Well, this Fall, there are more important things to do than driving the kids to soccer and hockey and dance and choir.
What will you do between now and November to shake this country into reality and out of the blind love affair?
(Thank you for reading, this is my first diary, but I just couldn't hold out any longer, I love being part of the community here, it keeps me sane).