So I went to Lucas' parent/teacher conference this afternoon (it's Lucas' first report card for the Fourth Grade). He got 5 A's and a B! Made the Honor Roll for the very first time in his young life. Needless to say, his mom and I were very proud and I took him to the Dairy Queen to get him a treat. On our way there, Lucas mentioned that they'd had an election today at school. I asked him who won..."Obama. But I voted for McCain." "And why," I asked, "did you vote for McCain? Because he was in the Navy?" His reply was that no, he voted for McCain because he had more knowledge and Obama is a socialist. "Where did you hear that?" I laughed. (Certainly not at a public school) "And," I continued, "do you even know what a socialist is?"
He admitted that he didn't. So....on the way to get my son some ice cream for a job well done, I gave something even more rewarding than a frozen treat. I gave him a lesson in politics.
"Did you work hard for those good grades?" I asked.
"Sure did," he nodded.
"Was there someone in your class who didn't get as good a report card as you?"
"Yeah, (name withheld) got all C's."
"Did (we'll call him...Joe) work as hard as you?"
"Well...sometimes. But sometimes he talks and doesn't pay attention."
Thus began the lesson.
"Imagine your school is the United States and your teacher is the President. Now your teacher, as President, wants everyone to have a good life and make good grades so they can all get good jobs when they are grown. He looks and your 5 A's and a B, knows you work hard, are smart, and have parents that care about your school work. The president thinks you're pretty blessed. But Joe only has C's. Maybe his parents are too busy to make sure he gets all his homework done. Maybe he doesn't have a computer at home to look up stuff on the internet to help him. So to make things fair...Your teacher says, "Lucas. Americans are all equal. Everyone deserves to have good jobs. Since Joe doesn't have it as good as you, and you've got 5 A's and a B, I'm going to take one of your A's and your B and give it to him."
Now the first time...you might think, "Okay, Joe needs help. I've got enough A's. I don't care if he takes one of mine." Makes you feel good to help him out....
except...over the next six weeks, you work even hard because you want 6 A's...but you notice that well...Joe doesn't seem to be working any harder than he did last month. In fact, he's cutting up in class even more than usual.
The next report card, you get your six A's. But Joe still has just C's. This time the teacher says, "Lucas, that one A and B just wasn't enough to help Joe. This time, I'm going to take half your A's and give them to Joe."
"Would you like that?" I asked.
"No..."
"Would you work as hard the next time, knowing that maybe when you get your report card...your teacher might give Joe two A's, then...this time give Sally a couple of A's because she didn't have any either, and leave you only two?
"Nope."
"That's socialism, Lucas."
Tomorrow, November 4th, America get's to decide on who we want running our school. Do I think Barack Obama is a true, honest to goodness socialist? I don't know...No one does. And for some unexplainable reason...a lot of good, decent, hardworking Americans don't really seem to care they don't know that much about him except he's different, he's exciting, he wants to "spread the wealth" and he wants to change my country.
Well guess what? I love my country the way it is...It's not perfect. I know that. But I've sweat, and sacrificed, and bled and fought for America. I've stood beside others who were different than me. We weren't African-American or Asian-American or Irish-American or any other hyphen. We were all Americans. We worked damned hard to make sure you could sleep at night without having worry that someone was going to take your country away from you or tell you how the hell you should think, or feel or worship or live, or even which group of less fortunate Americans you choose to help. John McCain knows what that kind of sacrifice means. He's spent more time being tortured for his country than Senator Obama has spent in public "service." John McCain isn't perfect. I don't agree with many things he's tried to do. But I know John McCain will be someone I'll be proud to salute and I trust him to do what's right with all my son's A's.
That's my final thoughts on the matter. If you disagree with me, I sacrificed twenty years of my life giving you that right. Tomorrow you can close the curtain and elect a junior senator from Illinois to lead our country. I'll salute him too. So long as he swears to support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. If he doesn't? God help America because no one else will.
I'll end with this final thought for everyone who wants free health care, and free college and all the other things politicians promise you to get your vote.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have."
Thomas Jefferson
