Political Pet Peeves

I have a few political pet peeves that have stuck in my craw since the '06 election.

First one that really disgusts me beyond belief is a flier I got from Right to Life of Michigan. I am pro-life, but some stuff that other pro-lifers do creeps me out. Last election I got a flier in the mail. On the front was a picture of a little girl no older than seven years old. She is holding a sign or a banner that says, "Mr. DeVos please don't let them kill babies." The Mr. DeVos this is referring to is the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Dick DeVos, who unfortunately lost. This is sick and disgusting beyond belief. When I saw this my eye went to the picture before I saw who sent it. At first I thought it was from Dick DeVos campaign. Upon thinking that, I was determined right then that I was not going to do any more volunteering for him or the Michigan Republicans either. As I was taking the flier to the trash can I looked closer and realized it was from Right to Life of Michigan. After I tore it up I spit on it.
I don't know who the parents of this child are, but they should not be allowed to have children. What kind of sick twisted people take an innocent little child to a pro-life, or pro-choice for that matter, rally? What did they tell their child about what was going on? How did they explain the words on the sign to her? When I was that age I was under the belief that, "married mommies and daddies pray to God for a baby and God puts one in the mommies tummy." So I figured that if a woman was pregnant it was because she was married and she asked God for it. Now, how does any reasonable adult explain abortion to a child? I don't think I want to know the answer to that. I want to know what was in the minds of the people who marketed this trashy flier? Did they think that if they put a cute little girl on their flier it would tug at peoples heart strings? The only thing it tugged at me was me tugging my hair out in frustration.
Conservative Republicans say that the reason they don't want sex ed taught in school is because they don't want innocent children exposed to it at such an early age and that the parents should explain it to their kids. Agree. I believe it looks rather hypocritical to let kids know about abortion at such a tender age and say they are too young to know about sex. I guess it depends on how it fits their personal agenda. I didn't know what abortion was until about late junior high or early high school.
When I was volunteering at a local phone bank one of the callers whose wife was at home brought in two of his kids that are still in elementary school to help out on the phone bank. It's not like he had to bring them because his wife was at work, a committee meeting, PTA or church meeting and couldn't get a babysitter. There were about four or five questions that callers were to ask of respondents. One of them was, "Do you consider yourself pro-life or pro-choice or no comment". First off children have no business at these phone banks. Teenagers, fine. Second, the kids should not be asking adults a question like this. The father of these children is a nice guy, so I will say that his heart was in the right place. Though a little misguided. I think most people who get these calls with the children talking feel a little uncomfortable. It's not cute to have kids act like little adults. They have enough to deal with regarding things like school violence and hoochies like Britney and Paris.

This brings me to my next pet peeve, "The Happy-ass Family." A few years ago Hillary Clinton wrote a book called It Takes a Village to Raise a Child. The Republicans made fun of her for this. I think the book idea was ridiculous too. But now it seems like Republicans act like they think it takes a village too. During the campaign I kept seeing print and TV ads and fliers with pictures of the Republican candidates posing with their wives and kids. The ads were about "I have a perfect family everything is hunky-dory." They would even list the happy-ass family as qualifications for why he should be elected. "I have been married ? years. I have ? wonderful kids. My wife is a member of the Junior League. I am coach of my sons soccer team. My daughters are in ballet/cheer leading." That's nice. How is this going to help with the person being elected? As long as the person isn't an alcholic, drug addicted, wife beating, child abuser I really don't care about his family life. In fact the more I see of the politician pushing his family life in my face the more I think he is a lyin, cheatin, adultaratin dog. It's like he has to prove something to everyone. Maybe I am just the village idiot for not wanting to raise the village children. Don't get me wrong, I think it is nice to see the candidate and his family. My point is there is a difference between bringing the family along during campaigns and shoving them in my face to have him say, "Look at my kids. Aren't they cute?".
Ohhh, those Christmas cards the guys who have been eyein the Presidential race for quite a while now. When I get Christmas cards I like them to have nice wintry or religious pictures on them. The candidates send cards that have the happy-ass family on them or the couple. Please, if they want to get peoples attention they shouldn't be so egotistical on their cards. "Jesus is the Reason for the Season." Or so I'm told, by these same people. Why not send me a card that has a Christmas scene on it and the picture inside.
Believe it or not I have more pet peeves. Even though I am a Republican and most Republican bloggers write about what is wrong with the Democrats I think that sometimes my own party needs a good makeover and I will tell it like it is, nor matter the party affiliation. When I was a kid and me and my little friends got caught for doing something wrong I would tell my mom, "but 'Suzy' did it too". My mom would tell me that she didn't care what Suzy did. I was her kid and that I was her responsibility. I think Republicans should stop worrying about "Suzy and Johnny" and worry about themselves. I am positive that there will be a change, for the better. Hopefully sooner than later.

God Bless from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan!