What's on Katie's Mind? Katie: The artist, teacher, and social commentator.

To me this looks a lot like child abuse. What parent would want their child involved in a political rally this way?

My students have just finished making a six page art journal.  I was busy grading them today when I came across a sixth grade boy’s journal that made me laugh.  The art journals are meant to be personal and tell something about the person creating it.  On one page this sixth grade boy drew an American flag, stated he is a patriot and then stated he is a Republican.  This made me crack up because for years the Republicans have always made that “patriot” label seem like it belongs to them.

After September 11^th the Democrats resented the fact that Republicans thought of themselves as being “more” patriotic.  All the politicians had to run out and buy flag pins to prove they are patriots.  It is rare these days to catch a politician without their little pin that supposedly confirms they are a patriot.  I thought it was funny that this boy called himself a patriot and a Republican.  I was raised by two strong Democrats.  I don’t remember being that aware of politics when I was in sixth grade.  I was more into kickball, reading and the Monkees.  I really got into politics when I began high school.  However, the thing that I find most interesting is this idea that a patriot is a Republican.

I think Republicans must be starting out quite young indoctrinating their children.  Democrats and liberals probably have that “open minded” thing that gets in the way of indoctrination.  As a liberal person I know I wanted my son to be a “free thinker”.  I may be paying for that now as my son doesn’t always do everything the way I would like him to do things.  However, I know in my heart I feel it is best to teach in a non judgmental way and he is an adult now and free to live the kind of life he chooses.  Free thinking and that open minded thing can sometimes appear like a person can be easily swayed to a compromise.  Republicans tend to think they are right and anyone that doesn’t think like they do is wrong.  I know this because I have a lot of Republican relatives!

With all of this in mind, I think it’s interesting to think about the make up of the new congress in January.  Already President Obama is talking about compromise.  Standing firm doesn’t seem to enter into any of the Democrats lingo.  There is a famous quote by Alexander Hamilton, “”Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.”   If you think about it, the current Democrats haven’t really shown us what they stand for, so I will not be surprised if they fall for whatever the Republicans want.  They have two strikes against them.  The first is that fact that most of them were raised to have an open mind and listen to the other side.  Second, most don’t seem to have strong convictions.  Yes, I know there is always Representative Dennis Kucinich, but he’s a rarity in this Democratic Party.

I’ve always considered President Obama to really be a Republican anyway, so I don’t expect that he will hold out for much.  Senator Kennedy is dead, so a lot of the blow back we would usually feel when these discussions get heated just won’t happen.  There is no one left like Teddy Kennedy that will show their outrage at anything.  Oh, Republicans you think we need to change Social Security and give those tax breaks to the wealthy?  No problem.  We just want to get along!

This morning on “Morning Joe” I had to listen to Joe tell me that the American people really get it.  They know that we have to have the tax cuts kept in place for the wealthy to grow our economy.  I’m lucky I didn’t spit out my coffee.  The American people don’t know any such thing.  They are currently being indoctrinated by the media which includes Joe to think this is the right thing to do.  However, it doesn’t make any sense.  If those so called tax breaks were so great, then why are we in so much trouble?  Those tax breaks have lead to our giant deficit.  If the Republicans get their tax break rest assured, they will have to cut something.  Just do the math!  Logic tells me there is an imbalance.  We can’t keep running into the red, so they will make cuts.  They will cut everything they can for the little guys, but they won’t touch the wealthy or big business.  I don’t know where you are on this scale but I can tell you most of you are part of the 98%.  The Republicans will pass that pain to all of us and save the wealthy 2 % from the pain the rest of us will feel.  Those Republicans will expect us to be “patriotic” and indoctrinate us to suffer our own losses in silence.

Right now the media is also indoctrinating us about those crazy Europeans that are protesting everything from the rising retirement age to the cost of college tripling.  We have been told that Americans don’t act like those socialists!  Americans wouldn’t take to the street like that and smash windows and cause chaos because they want to prove a point.  However, they forgot about our own history.  The real question is how much will the American people put up with from these corrupt Republicans and Democrats that continue to do the bidding of big business and the wealthy?  Will we ever get really mad and take to the streets or are we lulled into a false reality that we have no choice but to live with whatever our representatives decide to throw our way?  Democrats and Republicans are labels that don’t seem to really fit any more.  What are they?  What do either party stand for?

The Republicans used to stand for a smaller governmental footprint and states rights, and a form of conservative governing.  They certainly wouldn’t be out “saving” the world and policing it.  However, President Bush changed all of that.  Under the last administration government grew and grew to the point that Republicans can no longer claim to be conservative.  Oh, they can say it, but they certainly don’t live it!  Democrats used to be different than the Republicans.   We could always count on the Democrats to stand up for the rights of people.  Those personal issues of freedom were always really important.  Helping people get a hand up was also important.  We could easily say, “Don’t leave anyone behind.”  It’s kind of like the motto from the military of “Leave No Man Behind”.  However, in recent times the Democrats have left us all behind.  They haven’t stood up for the little guy, the working stiff, the laborer.  They’ve talked about it, but they haven’t walked the walk!

Neither party stands for much of anything any more except for taking care of business.  They take care of the lobbyists and then when they’re out of office they continue to take care of themselves.  Hell, when they’re in office they take care of themselves.  Wouldn’t you love to name your own raise?  I’m taking a class right now because I want to get a raise.  I don’t think the politicians are required to do much of anything to get their raises but they sure do get them.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/congresspay.htm

All of these politicians want the American people to think they are politicians because they are such great patriots!  The truth is we are all patriots.  Being patriotic might mean taking to the streets to protest just as much as wearing a pin and proclaiming your patriotism.  Being patriotic is more than waving a flag and blindly supporting war, any war.  Being a patriot means that you love your country enough to question the politicians.   It might mean working hard at holding their feet to the fire to get them to get something done.  We are all patriots, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, Green Party, Tea Party, Coffee Party, Independent or whatever party we come from.  Patriots aren’t just Republicans.  In fact patriots can even be gay and lesbians and that just makes those Republicans crazy!